Oracle Application Framework User Manual

Oracle® Application Framework

Personalization Guide
Release 12.1

Part No. E12646-02

March 2009

Oracle Application Framework Personalization Guide, Release 12.1

Part No. E12646-02

Copyright © 2000, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Primary Author:  Siu Chang, Lauren Diana Cohn

Contributing Author:  David Weld

Contributor:  Jeremy Liu, Charu Chandra, Yuanjing Xu, Sara Woodhull

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Send Us Your Comments

Preface

1 Customization Primer



Contents

Customization Overview

Configuration............................................................................................................................ 1-2

Personalization.......................................................................................................................... 1-4

Extensibility............................................................................................................................... 1-7

Interoperability......................................................................................................................... 1-9

.......................................................................................................... 1-1

2 Personalizing OA Framework Applications

Branding.................................................................................................................................... 2-1

Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF)......................................................................................... 2-4

......................................................................................................................................... 2-26

Icons

Responsibilities and Menus................................................................................................... 2-27

Messages

Lookup Codes.......................................................................................................................... 2-27

Style Sheets

.................................................................................................................................. 2-27

..............................................................................................................................2-28

3 Personalizing Your Pages and Portlets

Overview

Personalization Levels

OA Personalization Framework Features

Profile Options Used By OA Personalization Framework

................................................................................................................................... 3-1

...............................................................................................................3-2

................................................................................. 3-5

.......................................................3-8

 iii

4 Administrative-Level Personalizations

Overview................................................................................................................................... 4-1

Creating Admin-Level Personalizations................................................................................... 4-3

Using the Page Layout Personalization Page....................................................................... 4-6

Using the Page Hierarchy Personalization Page................................................................ 4-16

Examples: Creating New Items Using the Personalization UI........................................... 4-23

Function-Level Personalizations............................................................................................. 4-26

Known Issues.......................................................................................................................... 4-27

Related Information................................................................................................................ 4-28

5 Administrative-Level Personalization User Interface

Overview................................................................................................................................... 5-2

Focused Page Hierarchy Personalization Page......................................................................... 5-2

Choose Personalization Context Page.......................................................................................5-5

Personalize Page........................................................................................................................ 5-8

Create Query Page................................................................................................................... 5-16

Page Hierarchy Personalization Page: Expanded Search Region...........................................5-19

Update Layout Page................................................................................................................. 5-22

Reorder Contents Page

Add Content Page

Create Content Page

Create Item Page...................................................................................................................... 5-27

Update Item Page.................................................................................................................... 5-48

Manage Personalization Levels Page...................................................................................... 5-50

Extract Translation Files Page................................................................................................. 5-52

Upload Translations Page....................................................................................................... 5-53

Translate Page..........................................................................................................................5-54

Choose Languages Page

Personalize Views Page........................................................................................................... 5-56

Create View, Update View, and Duplicate View Pages

Rename Columns / Totaling Page

Setting the Record Set Size for nodeDefinition under a HGrid

Hiding the Save Search and Personalize Buttons

Change Display Size for Various TextInput fields

Adding Search Mappings

............................................................................................................ 5-23

.................................................................................................................... 5-25

................................................................................................................ 5-27

.......................................................................................................... 5-55

......................................................... 5-58

........................................................................................... 5-65

............................................ 5-67

.................................................................. 5-67

................................................................ 5-68

....................................................................................................... 5-68

6 User-Level Personalization User Interface

Overview

Personalizing the Views Panel of a Search Page

iv

................................................................................................................................... 6-1

...................................................................... 6-1

Personalizing a Table Region at the User Level....................................................................... 6-2

Personalize Views Page............................................................................................................. 6-3

Create View, Update View, and Duplicate View Pages........................................................... 6-4

Rename Columns / Totaling Page............................................................................................. 6-8

Personalizing an LOV Choice List............................................................................................ 6-8

Known Issues............................................................................................................................ 6-9

7 Portlet-Level Personalization User Interface

Overview................................................................................................................................... 7-1

Personalizing a Portlet.............................................................................................................. 7-1

Create View and Update View Pages....................................................................................... 7-2

Rename Columns / Totaling......................................................................................................7-4

Known Issues............................................................................................................................ 7-4

8 Translating Personalizations

Overview................................................................................................................................... 8-1

Translating Personalizations Stored in MDS........................................................................... 8-1

OA Extension Translation Toolset............................................................................................ 8-7

XLIFF Extractor.................................................................................................................... 8-7

XLIFF Importer

Mapping a Language Code to a Language-Territory Code

Known Issues

Related Information................................................................................................................ 8-16

.................................................................................................................. 8-13

.................................................... 8-14

.......................................................................................................................... 8-15

9 Deploying Personalizations

Overview

Deploying Personalizations Using the Functional Administrator Responsibility................. 9-1

Deploying Personalizations Using the Import/Export Command Line Tools.........................9-4

Known Issues.......................................................................................................................... 9-15

Related Information

................................................................................................................................... 9-1

Export Tool.......................................................................................................................... 9-5

Import Tool

........................................................................................................................ 9-11

................................................................................................................ 9-15

10 Migrating AK Personalizations

Overview

Migrating Customer Personalizations.................................................................................... 10-2

Known Issues

Related Information

................................................................................................................................. 10-1

.......................................................................................................................... 10-4

................................................................................................................ 10-4

 v

A Personalization Considerations

Overview................................................................................................................................... A-2

Attachments.............................................................................................................................. A-2

Auto-Repeating Layout............................................................................................................. A-3

Bound Values............................................................................................................................ A-3

Branding ................................................................................................................................... A-3

Buttons (Global)........................................................................................................................ A-3

Charts and Graphs.................................................................................................................... A-4

Concurrent Processing.............................................................................................................. A-5

Configurable Pages................................................................................................................... A-5

Custom HTML.......................................................................................................................... A-6

Date Picker................................................................................................................................ A-6

Declarative Page Flow............................................................................................................... A-6

Dialog Pages.............................................................................................................................. A-6

Dynamic User Interface............................................................................................................ A-6

Flexfields

Forms / OA Framework Page Integration

formValue

HGrid........................................................................................................................................ A-7

Hide/Show................................................................................................................................. A-7

Images in Your Pages................................................................................................................ A-7

List of Values (LOV)................................................................................................................. A-7

Locator Element: Breadcrumbs................................................................................................. A-7

Mobile Applications................................................................................................................. A-7

Page Contents Bottom Line.......................................................................................................A-8

Page Footer................................................................................................................................ A-8

Printable Page

Processing Page......................................................................................................................... A-8

Rich Text Editor

Save Model (Warn About Changes)

Shuttle

Standard Web Widgets

SubTab Navigation................................................................................................................... A-9

Switchers (Application, Context and Table Content)

Tables - Advanced..................................................................................................................... A-9

Tables - Classic

Tree ......................................................................................................................................... A-14

Workflow Worklist

................................................................................................................................... A-6

.................................................................................A-6

................................................................................................................................. A-7

........................................................................................................................... A-8

.........................................................................................................................A-8

......................................................................................... A-8

....................................................................................................................................... A-8

............................................................................................................. A-9

............................................................. A-9

........................................................................................................................ A-12

................................................................................................................. A-14

vi

B OA Framework Personalization and Customization Known Issues

Overview................................................................................................................................... B-1

Personalization/Extensibility.................................................................................................... B-1

Translation................................................................................................................................ B-2

Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF)........................................................................................ B-2

C OA Framework Personalization Caveats

Overview................................................................................................................................... C-1

Personalization Caveats - for Customers................................................................................. C-1

D Personalization FAQ

Overview

Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF)

................................................................................................................................... D-1

Index

........................................................................................ D-1

 vii



Send Us Your Comments

Oracle Application Framework Personalization Guide, Release 12.1

Part No. E12646-02

Oracle welcomes customers' comments and suggestions on the quality and usefulness of this document.
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 ix

Intended Audience

Welcome to Release 12.1 of the Oracle Application Framework Personalization Guide.

This guide assumes you have a working knowledge of the following:

• The principles and customary practices of your business area.

• Computer desktop application usage and terminology.

This documentation assumes familiarity with Oracle Applications. It is written for the
consultants and administrators who oversee the functional requirements of these
applications and deploy the functionality to their users.



Preface

If you have never used Oracle Applications, we suggest you attend one or more of the
Oracle Applications training classes available through Oracle University.

Some of the screenshots used in this guide depict Oracle's default

Note:

corporate browser Look-and-Feel (LAF), while others depict an
alternative LAF. Although the colors and interface elements of these
images may vary, the underlying functionality they illustrate remains
the same, regardless of the LAF that you have implemented.

See Related Information Sources on page xiii for more Oracle Applications product
information.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Access to Oracle Support Services

To reach Oracle Support Services, use a telecommunications relay service (TRS) to call
Oracle Support at 1.800.223.1711. An Oracle Support Services engineer will handle
technical issues and provide customer support according to the Oracle service request
process. Information about TRS is available at

 xi

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/trs.html, and a list of phone numbers is
available at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/trsphonebk.html.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible
to all users, including users that are disabled. To that end, our documentation includes
features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This
documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by
the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and
Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address
technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers.
For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at
http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/.

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The
conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise
empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that
consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations
that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any
representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

Structure

1 Customization Primer
2 Personalizing OA Framework Applications
3 Personalizing Your Pages and Portlets
4 Administrative-Level Personalizations
5 Administrative-Level Personalization User Interface
6 User-Level Personalization User Interface
7 Portlet-Level Personalization User Interface
8 Translating Personalizations
9 Deploying Personalizations
10 Migrating AK Personalizations
A Personalization Considerations
B OA Framework Personalization and Customization Known Issues
C OA Framework Personalization Caveats
D Personalization FAQ

xii

Related Information Sources

This book is included on the Oracle Applications Documentation Library, which is
supplied in the Release 12 Media Pack. You can download soft-copy documentation as
PDF files from the Oracle Technology Network at http://otn.oracle.com/documentation,
or you can purchase hard-copy documentation from the Oracle Store at
http://oraclestore.oracle.com. The Oracle Applications Release 12 Documentation
Library contains the latest information, including any documents that have changed
significantly between releases. If substantial changes to this book are necessary, a
revised version will be made available on the "virtual" documentation library on My
Oracle Support (formerly OracleMetaLink).

If this guide refers you to other Oracle Applications documentation, use only the latest
Release 12 versions of those guides.

Online Documentation

All Oracle Applications documentation is available online (HTML or PDF).

• Online Help - Online help patches (HTML) are available on My Oracle Support.

• PDF Documentation - See the Oracle Applications Documentation Library for

current PDF documentation for your product with each release. The Oracle
Applications Documentation Library is also available on My Oracle Support and is
updated frequently.

• Oracle Electronic Technical Reference Manual - The Oracle Electronic Technical

Reference Manual (eTRM) contains database diagrams and a detailed description of
database tables, forms, reports, and programs for each Oracle Applications product.
This information helps you convert data from your existing applications and
integrate Oracle Applications data with non-Oracle applications, and write custom
reports for Oracle Applications products. The Oracle eTRM is available on My
Oracle Support.

Related Guides

You should have the following related books on hand. Depending on the requirements
of your particular installation, you may also need additional manuals or guides.

Oracle Applications Concepts

This book is intended for all those planning to deploy Oracle E-Business Suite Release
12, or contemplating significant changes to a configuration. After describing the Oracle
Applications architecture and technology stack, it focuses on strategic topics, giving a
broad outline of the actions needed to achieve a particular goal, plus the installation and
configuration choices that may be available.

Oracle Applications Developer's Guide

This guide contains the coding standards followed by the Oracle Applications

 xiii

development staff. It describes the Oracle Application Object Library components
needed to implement the Oracle Applications user interface described in the Oracle
Applications User Interface Standards for Forms-Based Products. It provides information to
help you build your custom Oracle Forms Developer forms so that they integrate with
Oracle Applications. In addition, this guide has information for customizations in
features such as concurrent programs, flexfields, messages, and logging.

Oracle Applications Flexfields Guide

This guide provides flexfields planning, setup, and reference information for the Oracle
Applications implementation team, as well as for users responsible for the ongoing
maintenance of Oracle Applications product data. This guide also provides information
on creating custom reports on flexfields data.

Oracle Application Framework Developer's Guide

This guide contains the coding standards followed by the Oracle Applications
development staff to produce applications built with Oracle Application Framework.
This guide is available in PDF format on My Oracle Support and as online
documentation in JDeveloper 10g with Oracle Application Extension.

Oracle Applications Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install

This book is intended for use by anyone who is responsible for installing or upgrading
Oracle Applications. It provides instructions for running Rapid Install either to carry
out a fresh installation of Oracle Applications Release 12, or as part of an upgrade from
Release 11i to Release 12. The book also describes the steps needed to install the
technology stack components only, for the special situations where this is applicable.

Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide Documentation Set

This documentation set provides planning and reference information for the Oracle
Applications System Administrator. Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide -
Configuration contains information on system configuration steps, including defining
concurrent programs and managers, enabling Oracle Applications Manager features,
and setting up printers and online help. Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide

- Maintenance provides information for frequent tasks such as monitoring your system
with Oracle Applications Manager, administering Oracle E-Business Suite Secure
Enterprise Search, managing concurrent managers and reports, using diagnostic
utilities including logging, managing profile options, and using alerts. Oracle
Applications System Administrator's Guide - Security describes User Management, data
security, function security, auditing, and security configurations.

Oracle Applications User's Guide

This guide explains how to navigate, enter data, query, and run reports using the user
interface (UI) of Oracle Applications. This guide also includes information on setting
user profiles, as well as running and reviewing concurrent requests.

Oracle E-Business Suite Diagnostics User's Guide

This manual contains information on implementing, administering, and developing
diagnostics tests in the Oracle E-Business Suite Diagnostics framework.

xiv

Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway User's Guide

This guide describes the high level service enablement process, explaining how users
can browse and view the integration interface definitions and services residing in
Oracle Integration Repository.

Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway Implementation Guide

This guide explains how integration repository administrators can manage and
administer the service enablement process (based on the service-oriented architecture)
for both native packaged public integration interfaces and composite services (BPEL
type). It also describes how to invoke Web services from Oracle E-Business Suite by
employing the Oracle Workflow Business Event System; how to manage Web service
security; and how to monitor SOAP messages.

Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway Developer's Guide

This guide describes how system integration developers can perform end-to-end service
integration activities. These include orchestrating discrete Web services into meaningful
end-to-end business processes using business process execution language (BPEL), and
deploying BPEL processes at run time.

It also explains in detail how to invoke Web services using the Service Invocation
Framework. This includes defining Web service invocation metadata, invoking Web
services, managing errors, and testing the Web service invocation.

Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator Implementation and Administration
Guide

Oracle Web ADI brings Oracle E-Business Suite functionality to a spreadsheet where
familiar data entry and modeling techniques can be used to complete Oracle E-Business
Suite tasks. You can create formatted spreadsheets on your desktop that allow you to
download, view, edit, and create Oracle E-Business Suite data that you can then upload.
Use this guide to implement Oracle Web ADI and for information on defining
mappings, layouts, style sheets, and other setup options.

Oracle Workflow Administrator's Guide

This guide explains how to complete the setup steps necessary for any product that
includes workflow-enabled processes. It also describes how to manage workflow
processes and business events using Oracle Applications Manager, how to monitor the
progress of runtime workflow processes, and how to administer notifications sent to
workflow users.

Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide

This guide explains how to define new workflow business processes and customize
existing Oracle Applications-embedded workflow processes. It also describes how to
define and customize business events and event subscriptions.

Oracle Workflow User's Guide

This guide describes how users can view and respond to workflow notifications and
monitor the progress of their workflow processes.

 xv

Oracle Workflow API Reference

This guide describes the APIs provided for developers and administrators to access
Oracle Workflow.

Oracle Workflow Client Installation Guide

This guide describes how to install the Oracle Workflow Builder and Oracle XML
Gateway Message Designer client components for Oracle E-Business Suite.

Integration Repository

The Oracle Integration Repository is a compilation of information about the service
endpoints exposed by the Oracle E-Business Suite of applications. It provides a
complete catalog of Oracle E-Business Suite's business service interfaces. The tool lets
users easily discover and deploy the appropriate business service interface for
integration with any system, application, or business partner.

The Oracle Integration Repository is shipped as part of the E-Business Suite. As your
instance is patched, the repository is automatically updated with content appropriate
for the precise revisions of interfaces in your environment.

Do Not Use Database Tools to Modify Oracle Applications Data

Oracle STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that you never use SQL*Plus, Oracle Data
Browser, database triggers, or any other tool to modify Oracle Applications data unless
otherwise instructed.

Oracle provides powerful tools you can use to create, store, change, retrieve, and
maintain information in an Oracle database. But if you use Oracle tools such as
SQL*Plus to modify Oracle Applications data, you risk destroying the integrity of your
data and you lose the ability to audit changes to your data.

Because Oracle Applications tables are interrelated, any change you make using an
Oracle Applications form can update many tables at once. But when you modify Oracle
Applications data using anything other than Oracle Applications, you may change a
row in one table without making corresponding changes in related tables. If your tables
get out of synchronization with each other, you risk retrieving erroneous information
and you risk unpredictable results throughout Oracle Applications.

When you use Oracle Applications to modify your data, Oracle Applications
automatically checks that your changes are valid. Oracle Applications also keeps track
of who changes information. If you enter information into database tables using
database tools, you may store invalid information. You also lose the ability to track who
has changed your information because SQL*Plus and other database tools do not keep a
record of changes.

xvi

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Customization Overview

• Configuration

• Personalization

• Extensibility

• Interoperability

Customization Overview

Oracle Applications has a layered architecture, where each layer encapsulates the
maximum reusable set of features without creating dependencies on higher layers. Such
architecture enhances reusability of functionality and makes possible global
customizations. The task of customizing an Oracle Application can fall into one of a few
categories:

1

Customization Primer

• Configuration, page 1-2: using pre-built features to fine-tune the application to
match the business and deployment practices of a particular customer.
Configuration examples:

• Setup of a chart of accounts.

• Setup of business groups or organizations.

• Setup of logging and auditing profiles.

• Personalization, page 1-4: declaratively tailoring the user interface (UI)
look-and-feel, layout or visibility of page content to suite a business need or a user
preference. Personalization examples:

• Tailor the color scheme of the UI.

Customization Primer 1-1

• Tailor the order in which table columns are displayed.

• Tailor a query result.

• Extensibility, page 1-7: extending the functionality of an application, beyond what
can be done through personalization. Extensibility examples:

• Add new functional flows.

• Extend or override existing functional flows.

• Extend or override existing business logic.

• Interoperability, page 1-9: interfacing Oracle Applications with third party
applications and service providers. Interoperability examples:

• Interface with a single sign on server.

• Interface with a credit rating service.

• Interface with a legacy application.

These customization categories aren't always clear cut. Certainly, in some cases,
customization tasks can even span a couple of categories. This book is designed to give
a high level perspective of the various customization categories, and discusses only
those categories that OA Framework facilitates. References to other resources are
provided, where other customization categories are discussed in more detail.

Configuration

Configurations exist almost in every layer and every application. Broadly,
configurations can be classified into three classes, as follows:

Deployment Topology Configurations

Deployment topology configurations map closely to the hardware topography of a
deployment and are mostly done through technology stack configuration parameters.
Examples:

• Setting up the number of Java Virtual Machines (VM) to run on each middle-tier
server.

• Setting up the number of database connections.

• Setting up the JServ parameters.

Configurations under this category are documented in greater detail in each technology

1-2 Oracle Application Framework Personalization Guide

stack layer's respective administration manuals, which include the following:

• Oracle Applications Maintenance Procedures

• Oracle Applications Maintenance Utilities

• Oracle Applications Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install

• Oracle Applications Upgrade Guide

Global Functionality Configurations

Global functionality configurations cut across application families and are mostly done
through shared technologies such as AOL (Applications Object Library), TCA (Trading
Community Architecture), Tasks, Notes, and so on. Examples:

• Setting up the multi-org hierarchy.

• Setting up the various party business relationships.

• Setting up various Profiles and Responsibilities.

Configurations under this category are documented in greater detail in the respective
layer's implementation and administration manuals, which include the following:

• Oracle Applications Multiple Organizations Implementation Guide

• Oracle Applications Flexfields Guide

• Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide Documentation Set

• Oracle Workflow Administrator's Guide

Application or Functional Area Configurations

Configurations associated with a particular functional area (such as accounting) or
application. Examples:

• Setting up General Ledger chart of accounts.

• Setting up employee benefit packages.

• Setting up an online catalog.

Configurations under this category are documented in a greater detail in a respective
application's implementation manual, grouped under:

• ERP product manuals

Customization Primer 1-3

• CRM product manuals

Personalization

OA Framework was designed with durable personalization capabilities. Durability of
OA Framework personalization is largely attributed to the declarative architecture and
the object-oriented approach underlying the implementation. Declarative UI component
definitions are stored in the form of meta-data in a database repository.
Personalizations are translated into offsets from the base meta-data definition and
stored separately. At runtime, the applicable personalizations meta-data is uploaded
from the repository and layered over the base meta-data definition to produce the net
effect. Product upgrades and patches affect only the base meta-data definition, so
customer personalizations continue to function properly as applicable.

Personalization Levels

The built-in personalization UI facilitates a variety of personalization features at a
number of different levels within the following user groups:

Oracle's In-House E-Business Suite Developer

• Seeded Function Level - like the Function Level available to Administrators (see
the following section), but personalizations made at this level can only be changed
or deleted by Oracle.

• Seeded User Level - like the User Level available to End Users (see the following
section), but personalizations made at this level can only be changed or deleted by
Oracle. (Also referred to as "Oracle-seeded user-level" personalizations.)

• Other seeded levels - Oracle Applications Developers can create and ship
personalizations at any of the Administrator personalization levels discussed in the
following section, but these are not protected against change and deletion by
Administrators at the customer site.

For additional information, refer to Chapter 4: Implementing Specific UI Features:
Personalizable Pages in the OA Framework Developer's Guide.

Oracle Applications Administrator

• Function Level - the customer administrator can define functions and use them as
context for granular level personalizations. For example, you can create a
function-level personalization to "hide the salary field, if the user is updating an
employee record, but not when the user is creating a new employee".

• Industry Level - the customer administrator can use the delivered set of predefined
industry categories to define personalizations according to vertical market

1-4 Oracle Application Framework Personalization Guide

distinctions.

Seeded personalizations may be provided at this level, but customer administrators
can also create their own admin-level Industry personalizations.

• Localization Level - the customer administrator can use locales as context for

personalizations such as "showing a different address field label based on country
settings".

• Site Level - the customer administrator can introduce global personalizations that

affect all users with access to the given application component, such as "setting the
number of rows shown in a table".

• Organization Level - the customer administrator can introduce personalizations

that affect all users belonging to a particular organization or business unit with
access to the application component. Example: "sort notifications by age for one
organization and by urgency for another".

• Responsibility Level - the customer administrator can introduce personalizations

that affect all users of a particular responsibility with access to the application
component. Example: "show a trend graph for the sales manager responsibility".

• Seeded User Level - like the User Level available to End Users (see below), but

personalizations made at this level are visible to all users and can only be changed
or deleted by the customer administrator. (Also referred to as "admin-seeded
user-level" personalizations.)

• Refer to Personalizing Your Pages and Portlets, page 3-1 for additional
information.

Oracle Applications User

• Application Users can save personalized views of a query results region and
retrieve them at a later time. User level personalizations aren't seen by other users.

• Refer to Personalizing Your Pages and Portlets, page 3-1 for additional
information.

Available Personalizations

The following administrator and end user personalizations are available:

Administrator Personalizations

• Change number of rows displayed in a table.

• Change product branding (image).

Customization Primer 1-5

• Change region header icon.

• Hide or show regions and items.

• Change layout order of regions and items within the boundaries of the parent
region.

• Include or exclude descriptive flexfield segments.

• Define up to three sorting levels for tabulated data.

• Filter (restrict querying of) tabular data.

• Change item labels and region headers.

• Change required state of non-mandatory items.

• Update allowed state for updateable items.

• Enable totals for table columns, when applicable.

• Alter the item cascading style sheet (CSS) - to personalize the look and feel of an
item.

• Set a default value for an item.

• Define tips (in line instructions and usage help) for associated items.

• Add new items to an existing region. Typically, as part of an extensibility project,
where new items are limited to specific styles.

• All administrator personalizations are visible to the end user.

• System Personalizations - in addition to the above, the following are some cross
application personalizations facilitated by both OA Framework and Application
Object Library:

• Branding

• Style sheets

• Images

• Responsibilities

• Menus

• Messages

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• Lookup Codes

• Pre-packaged Flexfields

• Customizing Look and Feel

End User Personalizations

Unlike Administrators, Users can create and save several personalized viewsthat can be
retrieved conveniently at a later time. That said, end-user personalized views are
limited in scope to Query regions with search results tables. For these regions,
end-users can personalize any of the following features:

• Change the number of rows displayed in a table.

• Hide or show regions and items (results table columns are a popular example).

• Change the layout order of regions and items within the boundaries of the parent
region (order of results table columns are a popular example).

• Define up to three sorting levels for tabulated data.

• Filter (restrict query) tabular data.

Extensibility

• Change item labels and region headers.

• Enable totals for table columns, when applicable.

OA Framework was designed with durable extensibility capabilities. Durability of OA
Framework extensibility is largely attributed to the declarative architecture and the
object-oriented approach underlying the implementation. The JDeveloper wizards and
built-in personalization UI make it easier to extend Oracle Applications. In addition,
Oracle customers can take advantage of the extensibility offered by Flexfields (Oracle

Applications Flexfields Guide) and Oracle Workflow (Oracle Workflow Administrator's
Guide).

OA Framework extensibility is geared to enable customers to add new functionality and
override or extend existing business logic beyond what can be accomplished via
personalization. This includes the following extensibility scenarios:

• Adding new pages or complete flows.

• Adding a new attribute (i.e. field) to a prepackaged page.

• Extending attribute defaulting logic.

Customization Primer 1-7

• Extending validation logic.

To understand how extensibility works, one must understand how OA Framework
applications are built. Please refer to the following sections in the OA Framework

Developers Guide:

• Chapter 2: OA Framework Essentials: Anatomy of an OA Framework Page

• Chapter 3: Building an OA Framework Application: Implementing the Model

• Chapter 3: Building an OA Framework Application: Implementing the View

Extensibility is often observed in the UI, but implementation is mostly centered on the
underlying business objects. The following diagram depicts the BC4J objects involved
when extending an OA Framework application.

The first row of the diagram represents an exhaustive list of all possible objects a
developer might create when creating an entity object. The first box illustrates that
when creating an entity object, two files are generated: the meta-data definition XML
file and the actual implementation Java class file. Entity Objects handle attribute level
and record level validations. These validations often need to use other View Objects,
called Validation View Objects (VVO). Validation View Objects are grouped under a
Validation Application Module (VAM). Like Entity Objects, creating a VVO and a VAM
generates a meta-data definition XML file and an implementation java class file for each
object.

Finally, the Entity Object sometimes relies on a helping class to offer, among other
services, a validation service optimized for usage by other Entity Objects. This helper
class is called the Entity Expert and is linked to the Entity Object through an Entity
Object property.

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For example, you may be satisfied with extending the Entity Expert to override a
validation method such as isSupplierValid. In such a case, it is not wise to reference the
extended Entity Expert (MyEntityExpert) directly from the base Entity Object
(EntityEO.XML), as such an approach does not survive upgrades.

A durable approach requires extending the base Entity Object (using the JDeveloper
Wizards) and updating the entity expert property on the extended Entity Object to
point to the extended Entity Expert.

Interoperability

Implementing Oracle Applications for established customers sometimes involves
interfacing with legacy applications or third party services. Interoperability scenarios
can be classified into three levels:

Note: The diagram illustrates a case in which all objects are extended,

which is not always the case. In most of the situations, you may be
satisfied with extending just a portion of these objects.

Caution: Never edit the base definition of an object or make a copy of a

base object. Always extend the relevant object and use BC4J
substitutions to reference the extended object.

• Deployment Wide - these involve cross application services that can be interfaced
transparently from the application. Example: integration with a single-signon
server.

• Application Specific - these involve special interoperability features that the
application is directly aware of. Example: integration between Oracle iPayment and
credit card processors. These are documented in the respective application
implementation manuals.

• Function Specific - these involve industry standards for publishing a variety of
interfaces used to interoperate with third party applications and services. Such
industry standards include Web Services, Enterprise Java Beans, MIME, and so on.

In addition to the above, the Oracle Applications technology stack is consolidating
around the OA Framework technology stack. In the interim, some CRM applications are
not migrated from the JTT technology stack. Instead, OA Framework has created
interoperability solutions that allow for these technology stacks to coexist and facilitate
a smooth user experience upon transition between technology stacks.

Customization Primer 1-9

2

Personalizing OA Framework Applications

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Branding

• Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF)

• Icons

• Responsibilities and Menus

• Messages

• Lookup Codes

• Style Sheets

Branding

As described in the Browser Look-And-Feel (BLAF) guidelines for branding on the
Oracle Technology Network (OTN)
[http://otn.oracle.com/tech/blaf/specs/branding.html], every OA Framework page
reserves the upper left-hand corner for either of the following:

• Basic (Non-Contextual) Branding, page 2-1 - includes corporate ("Oracle") and
product brand names

• In-Context Branding, page 2-3 - includes user-selected contextual information in
addition to the corporate and product brand names

All OA Framework pages must provide basic branding support. In-context branding
may be used in select cases.

Basic (Non-Contextual) Branding

Basic branding includes the display of corporate ("Oracle") and product brand names. It
displays the product branding as text drawn from one of several possible sources. The
global buttons are displayed as text links only. It supports a regular layout style, as in

Personalizing OA Framework Applications 2-1

the following example.

Basic branding (corresponds to BLAF "Regular" layout)

Personalizing the Corporate Branding Image

Every page contains a corporateBranding page element that has an Oracle corporate
image file assigned to it. That image file is /OA_MEDIA/FNDSSCORP.gif, which
contains the Oracle corporate image. You can change the corporate branding image that
appears on your pages in one of two ways:

• To globally override the Oracle corporate branding image with your own corporate

branding image, set the profile option Corporate Branding Image for Oracle
Applications (FND_CORPORATE_BRANDING_IMAGE) to the name of an image
file (GIF) that contains your corporate image. For example, MyCompanyImage.gif
. The image file MyCompanyImage.gif should be placed under the $OA_MEDIA
directory. This profile option should be set at the Site level and does not have a
default value.

• Or, create an administrative-level personalization, page 5-8 for a specific page by

setting the Image URI property on the corporateBranding page element to a
different image file. This updates the image only for the specific usage on that page.

Warning: Do not attempt to globally override the corporate branding

image by renaming your custom corporate branding image file as
/OA_MEDIA/FNDSSCORP.gif. This results in distortion of your
corporate image. When you render a page, OA Framework checks
whether a value is set for the profile option Corporate Branding Image
for Oracle Applications. If no value is set, it renders
/OA_MEDIA/FNDSSCORP.gif as the corporate branding image and
sets the image area size to 134 x 23 (which is the actual size of the image
in FNDSSCORP.gif). If this profile option has a value set, it renders the
content of the specified image file without specifying an image area size
since the image size is as yet, unknown.

Personalizing Product Branding

The product branding is derived in one of three possible ways:

• Default behavior - If your OA Framework page is launched from the Navigator in

the E-Business Suite Personal Home Page, OA Framework automatically sets the

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branding text for you based on the current selected responsibility and page link.
This ensures consistency between the options presented in the Navigator and the
branding text displayed on the application page.

Note: The default branding is set only if the FND:Framework

Compatability Mode profile option value is set to 11.5.10.

• Declarative branding behavior - A developer may set the product branding
declaratively on the page itself and override the default branding behavior. If this is
the case, you can personalize the product branding text by creating an
administrative-level personalization, page 5-8 for the page which sets the Text
property on the productBranding: formattedText page element to the product
name you want to display.

• OAPB override behavior - A developer may also define a form function and call it
using the OAPB URL parameter with the page to specify the product branding text.
When a developer specifies an OAPB parameter programmatically, it overrides
both the default and the declarative branding behavior, if any. The only way to
personalize the product branding text in this case is by logging into Oracle
Applications and updating the User Function Name value for that branding
function, using the Form Functions screen.

In-Context Branding

The in-context brand includes the corporate and product brand images. Additionally,
contextual information renders below the corporate and product information, as shown
in the following example.

Example of In-Context Branding

To personalize in-context branding, create an administrative-level personalization, page
5-8 for the page that sets the Text property on the productBranding: formattedText
page element to the product name you want to display. Then set the Text property on
the inContextBranding: formattedText page element to the context you wish to
display. For example, the Text property of the inContextBranding: formattedText page
element displayed in the preceding example is "Customer <b>Sun Microsystems -

Note:

This style of branding is intended to be used only for cases where
the user makes a contextual selection when starting work that remains
unchanged for the life of the application or task.

Personalizing OA Framework Applications 2-3

Menlo Park</b>".

Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF)

Oracle E-Business Suite applications are currently shipped with Oracle's corporate
Browser Look-and-Feel (BLAF), which supplies a rich set of components for web-based
applications. Although OA Personalization Framework provides you with the ability to
change the look of a page by changing user interface (UI) component properties, adding
UI components, and so on, it does not allow you to create and apply an entirely new
Look-and-Feel to an application.

The Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF) feature addresses this issue by providing a
self-service based UI to modify the Look-and-Feel of an application. The feature
enhances OA Personalization Framework by allowing personalization administrators
to:

• Create a new Look-and-Feel (LAF).

• Register the new LAF.

• Apply the LAF at the Application, Responsibility, Site, Organization or User levels.

• Update a custom LAF.

UIX currently provides OA Framework with the following LAFs, which can be used
directly in web applications:

• Browser Look-and-Feel (BLAF) - the default LAF that conforms to Oracle's

corporate UI guidelines.

• Minimal Look-and-Feel (MLAF) - a simplified version of BLAF with a lightweight

UI.

• Base Look-and-Feel - the root of all LAF implementations.

• Simple Look-and-Feel (SLAF) - a LAF built on top of Base Look-and-Feel to offer

more customization features, and to serve as an illustration of how to create LAF
extensions on top of a base LAF.

You can build custom LAFs by extending Base LAF, Simple LAF, or another custom
LAF.

Note:

You cannot extend BLAF or MLAF.

Infrastructure of a Look-and-Feel

A Look-and-Feel is defined by three major components: style sheets (XSS), page 2-5,

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