GETTING STARTED

This section will provide you a roadmap of Oracle tools, including SQL Plus and Forms Builder.

Oracle Application

You will need to first enter the Oracle Applications program group via Start and Programs. In this Oracle group, you will find many useful Oracle tools and utilities. You will also find tutorials and documentation. Each time you start an Oracle tool you may need to connect to your Oracle database account. 

SQL Plus9.0

The first tool is SQL Plus9.0.

Click on Start – Programs - Oracle9i Application Server - Application Development - SQL Plus

You can use this program to enter SQL commands. This is where you will enter your SQL code to create the tables that will be the basis for your project. When you try to run SQL Plus9.0, you will be prompted for your User Name, Password and Host String.  Your professor will provide you with this information.

When you login successfully, you will see the prompt "SQL>". This is the SQL command line, and you can enter your SQL code. Your password has been set as expired so that when you first login you will be prompted to chose a new password. You can change your password later by using the command password like this:

SQL> password;

You will be asked for your current password and new password. You can also change your password by using this command:

SQL> alter user (username) identified by (newpassword);

REMEMBER TO TERMINATE ALL SQL COMMANDS WITH a";" (semicolon) except for scripts!
[To execute a script just enter the file name of the file containing the script preceded with the "@" symbol.

To execute a script at SQL command where the script you saved at C: drive

SQL>@c:\scriptname.sql

Here are some useful command to get start with Oracle database:

Developer9i

A second and very important program group is the Developer 9i environment. In order to run Form9i, we need to Start OC4J instance:
Click on Start – Programs - Oracle9i Developer Suite- Forms Developers- Start OC4J instance

Download the follow sample form:

http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/dit/oracle/other/Sample.fmb

To run the following samples, please login to Oracle using:

Username:    s04sample1
Password:    abc123
Database:     devdb

Wait for a minute, Oracle will automatically install JInitiator program.

In this class, we will focus on the utilities associated with developing a forms based interface. We use the Oracle application - Form Builder - to design and create a form in Oracle 9i. In previous versions of Oracle forms could only be executed using the Oracle application Forms Runtime.  In Developer9i, forms now may be run via your web browser.

Oracle Development Tools