Purpose

This document describes Oracle Corporation's statement of direction to support Oracle Forms applications on multiple client platforms.

Broadened Certification Efforts

In general, the strategy for supporting Java UIs with Oracle Forms has been to provide Enterprise-level, 24x7 support to all Oracle customers, and out of this JInitiator has resulted as the primary solution for the Windows platform. In parallel, the Oracle Forms team, in conjunction with the Oracle Product Lines and Oracle Support, is promoting as many platforms as possible. For a platform to even be considered for certification, it must (at a minimum) be based on the JavaSoft 1.3 reference implementation. Our long-term direction is to partner with Sun, such that we share the Enterprise-level, 24x7 support for all Oracle customers, which will result in the certification of the JavaSoft standard Plug-in/JDK on Windows, as well as shorter certification paths to platforms like Solaris, Linux, and Macintosh.

Certification Model

The new certification model is based on three levels:

• Level 1, JVM certified with Oracle Application e-Business suite
• Level 2, JVM certified with custom applications
• Level 3, JVM certified with Forms functional tests.

With this change it will be easier to understand the way Oracle Corporation’s certifications work.

Level 1: Certified with Oracle E-Business Suite

The JVM has been tested in depth with Oracle Applications e-Business Suite. All Oracle Forms applications (either Oracle Applications or custom applications) deployed using the JVM are also deployable, unchanged, to wherever the JVM is ported.

Level 2: Certified with custom applications

This level means that the JVM has been tested with custom applications. Oracle Forms applications can be deployed without significant changes to all platforms where the JVM is ported. In the case of any platform limitations, some customers may need to slightly re-architect their applications to work around bugs related to the JVM. But the implementation is robust enough to support Web deployment of Oracle Forms applications.

Level 3: Certified with Forms functional tests

This level means that the JVM has been tested with a suite of tests used to certify Oracle Forms. This is a comprehensive suite of test which will prove the basic functionality and features but without testing to the extent of a fully functional application.

Oracle Forms 10g:
Matrix of the current status of certified browsers/client platforms

The following matrix will give you an overview of the certified client platforms and browsers. When a client platform is certified with a specific patch release it is implicitly certified with all subsequent patch releases. Information in this matrix is always undergoing changes and you should always cross check this information with http://metalink.oracle.com

Browsers Client Platform Level Forms Patch set Safari 1.2 (Sun Plug in 1.4.2) (7) Mac OS X (1.4 JDK) 2 Certified with Patch 2 (6) Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (5) Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.25(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 3 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.22(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 2 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.13/14(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Production release Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (Microsoft VM 5.5(4)) 2 Production release Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (Sun Plug-in 1.4.2) 2 Certified with Patch 2 Mozilla 1.5 Linux Red Hat AS 3.0 (Sun Plug-in 1.4.2) 2 Certified with Patch 2 Mozilla 1.7 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.25(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 3 Java Sun Plug in1.4.2_08 Java Plug-in 2 Certified with Patch 3 Firefox 1.0.7 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.25(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 3 Java Sun Plug in1.4.2_08 Java Plug-in 2 Certified with Patch 3 Netscape Navigator 7.2 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.25(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 3 Java Sun Plug in1.4.2_08 Java Plug-in 2 Certified with Patch 3 Netscape Navigator 7.0x Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.22(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 2 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.13/14/17(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified Production release Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.18(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 1 Netscape Navigator 4.7x Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.22(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 2 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.18(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x) 2 Certified with Patch 1 Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.13/14/17(2) (Win32(1), based on JDK 1.3.x)   Certified Production release JavaSoft 1.4.1 Java Plug-in, Solaris 2.8/2.9 (3) 3 Production release

Notes:

1. Win32 refers to 2000 and XP.
2. See Metalink Note:260332.1
3. Certified for running from Forms Builder using One Button Run and Debugger
4. When using the signed CAB file shipped with Forms Services. No browser-specific configuration is necessary.
5. See Microsoft Statement of Direction.
6. As of patch 2 the following know issues are documented in bugs 4184632, 4184550, 4184628
7. Webutil currently not certified with Mac clients.

Additional Reading

Refer to the Metalink Web site - http://metalink.oracle.com - for information regarding which release of Oracle JInitiator is certified with which version of Oracle Forms. All information regarding client certification for Oracle Applications is also available on Metalink. Papers on related topics can be downloaded from Oracle Technology Network.