PCS: Starting a process instance remotely

While implementing an Oracle Process Cloud Service PoC we had the requirement to allow users to start an instance using a form in their custom mobile application and also using the workspace.

We have a 'Form Start Event' so users can start the instance thought the workspace. We also added a 'Message Start Event' in order to publish it as a web service.

Having that process deployed, if we head to 'Deployed Applications' in workspace main page.

And click on the button in 'Actions' column.

We can see the web services exposed.

ADF: Display Map values in af:table

When we want to populate an af:table programatically we usually use a collection based on a java bean (e.g. List<MyObject>) but in this post of JDeveloper & ADF the developer required to populate the table with Map values.

First we need to create a Map in our bean and add the values that we are going to show in the table.

If we try to populate the table we can see tat we need to know the keys of the Map to get the values.

As you can see Value Columns displays the value in the Map for 'Key 1' key, but using this method we can not dynamically display all values.

To solve this issue we need to create an array in our bean where we will have all keys of the Map.

Now that we have created in our bean all that we need, we can start building the table structure.

On the table of the second image we need to make some changes. First, instead of using Map property, we have to use the key array we have just created as value property of the table.

And, as we have to access Map values, we have to add an af:iterator inside the table and add the columns we need inside this iterator. The value property of this iterator is the Map property in the bean.

This way, to retrieve keys we are going to use #{row} and to retrieve values asociated to a key we are going to use #{var[row]}.

Oce we have finished with the changes, if we run the application we can see that all the values of the Map are displayed in the table without the need of knowing the keys of the Map.

ADF: Switching between skins on runtime based on the url

Andrejus posted a couple of months ago how to switch between alta and skyros in ADF 12c. This is a cool way to start the migration from 11g to 12c and Alta UI. I am going to show you another way to use one skin or other based on the page you are.


Firstly we have to create a bean and a property inside it where we are going to store the current skin. We have to set this bean as sessionBean.

After that we have to set a bean property in skin-family in our trinidad-config so we can set the skin dynamicaly.

The next step is to create a filter. In doFilter we are going to evaluate the URL and set the skin based on that value. We also have to instantiate the bean and add it to sessionScope becasuse the first time it will be null.

Once we have the filter created we have to add it to web.xml

Now that we have all setup, having multiple pages, if we test it we can see that the the page "alta" will display AltaUI skin and "skyros" page wil dispklay Skyros skin,

MCS: Custom API that calls a SOAP Web Service

In one of the other posts about MCS i showed how easy we can create an API that makes a call to an external REST web service. MCS Connectors also allows to connect to a SOAP web service. Although there is a couple of different things I am going to start the process from the beginning.

• Creating the connector

We have to head to Connectors page, click on New Connector button and pick SOAP sub menu.

In the popup we need to fill some information including the SOAP web service URL.

We are going to use a public weather service:

http://wsf.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/Weather.asmx?WSDL 

Our connector has been created. Now we can configure settings like connection timeout or add security policies.

In this example we are not going to add any extra setting so we can continue to the last step, Test.

As you can see although this is a SOAP web service, the tester let us introduce a JSON payload.

This is one of the great things of MCS, the SOAP Connector uses a JSON translator and transforms automatically the JSON that we are going to use to the xml that the SOAP web service needs.

Now if we set a zip code into the JSON and click on Test Endpoint we can see that the web service returns us the weather of that zip code.

ADF: Display current selected node in af:tree

Some times when we want to display some master detail data we use an af:tree because it is a easy and elegant way to display data. I am going to show you how to display data of the selected node in an af:tree based on a single view object.

We are going to use this data model based on Oracle hr schema.

The first thing we have to do is drag and drop the EmployeesView1 view object from the data control palette to the page.

After that we also have to add a form based on EmployeesView. Here is the problem. What view object instance are we going to use to create the form? If we use Parent instance, although we select a child node, in the form we are going to see just the parent node data.

In order to solve this issue we are going to create a new instance of the Employees view object, in this case EmployeesDisplayVO.

The next step is to create a Action Binding with setCurrentRowWithKey operation of the new view object instance in the pagedef of our page.

The last step is to create a custom Selection Listener in our bean and associate it to the af:tree
component.

In this method, a part from ejecute makeCurrent method of the treeModel, we are going to get selected keys and execute setCurrentRowWithKey method with the selected key as parameter.

When we select the first node only one key is in the list, but if we select the second or third level we will have one key per level and we will have to use keyList.get(keyList.size() - 1) in order to get the last selected key.

If we run again the application we can se that if we select any node we can see its information in the form.

ADF: Default value when editing a row

Recently one of our customers had a need to assign a default value to a field only when editing a row. This tip show you how to achieve this behavior.

Let's assume we have a simple task flow, as shown below:

In the first fragment we have an af:table based on Employees table in hr schema.

And in the second fragment we have a form based on the same view where we can edit selected row.

 

The goal is to set a different value to Email attribute when we navigate to the form. To achieve it we have to generate View Row Class in EmployeesVO.
In EmployeesVO inside 'Java' tab we have to click on 'Java Classes' edit pencil and check 'Generate View Row Class EmployeesViewRowImpl'

Once the class is created we have add a method that will set the value to Email field.

as we want to add that field to the taskflow we need to have it published by editing Client Row Interface.

Now we can drag our method from datacontrols palette and drop it in the taskflow.

 


If we run again the app, select a row and click on edit button, once the form fragments appears we can see that Email field value has changed.

 

ADF 12.2.1: Using the Theme Editor

A couple of weeks ago Oracle released ADF 12.2.1 with many cool features and one of them is the Theme Editor. With this new tool you can change the look and feel of you application by selecting the desired style of the components and see the changes automatically right in the browser. This tool can help developers who are not experts in CSS to build applications with a great look and feel.


We have to make a couple of things in order to use the theme editor.
First we have to create a new application based on an existing EAR file.

The EAR file we are going to use is located inside our 12.2.1 Middleware Home, in my installation this path is:

After that we just have to click on Finish to create the skin editor application.
To start the Theme Editor we have to run that application by runing index.html file.

Once the application is runing we will see this:

We are going to create a new skin so we have to click on 'Create Theme' button. A popup will appear where we have to put the name of the theme and also select the skin we want to use. We can choose Skyros or Alta as our base skin.

Click on 'Save and Close' and we will have our theme created. By clicking on the right button we can for example edit, delete, duplicate or export our theme. We will come back later to export the theme but at the moment we are going to edit it.

Once you click on edit, we can see some tabs in the top of the page where wecan change property values of some components, and in the bottom of the page we have a real time preview of our skin.

A quick example of what can we do is change our buttons style.

When we have finished our skin work we have to click ok 'Save and Close' in the top right of the page.

Now we can use this skin in our application by exporting the theme.

After exporting the skin we can use it by importing the jar file we have just generated in our application.

We also have to select this skin as default skin by selecting it as 'Default Skin Family' in 'ADF View' menu in project proeprties.

Now if we run the application we can see that the skin that we applied in the theme editor applies to our application.

If we don't get the look and feel that we expected using the Theme Editor we can also extend the skin we have just created and add our custom CSS rules to skin our application.

You can get more information about the Theme Editor and about using skins in an ADF Library JAR file in these links:

ADF docs: Working with the Theme Editor

Adding ADF skins from a ADF Library JAR