Building Enterprise JSF Applications with Oracle JHeadstart for ADF (10.1.3)

A step-by-step, end-to-end tutorial on how to be effective immediately with J2EE application development using Oracle tools.

Abstract

There is good chance you've heard that developing database-centric business applications for the J2EE platform is a complex endeavor. Luckily, there is hope. Over the past few years, analysts like Gartner Group coined the term "J2EZ" for a class of tools and frameworks that make J2EE application development easy. These so-called "J2EZ" tools target developers for whom time to market, low implementation costs, and productivity are driving factors, by providing a visual, declarative, and highly productive environment. This document provides step-by-step instructions to evaluate what you can achieve today using production versions of Oracle's offerings in this "J2EZ" space by combining the 10.1.3 versions of Oracle's JDeveloper 10g IDE, the Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF), and the Oracle JHeadstart 10g Application Generator for Oracle ADF.

By following this tutorial, you'll experience first-hand how Oracle JHeadstart 10g turbo-charges your developer productivity for Oracle ADF-based web applications. You will build an attractive, consistent, interactive, and skinnable web application with browse, search, insert, update, and delete functionality against six related database tables from the Oracle HR sample schema. Your application will feature single- and multi-row editing, page-by-page scrolling, master/detail handling, tabbed pages, dropdown lists, a pop-up list of values (LOV) window, a wizard, a shuttle picker, a tree control and a graph. Since no Java coding is required to implement the tutorial, even developers with minimal-to-no Java skills can follow along. This is possible because Oracle ADF-powered J2EE applications only require custom code to add application-specific business logic or to augment default framework behavior.

Contents

1 Overview of Oracle ADF and Oracle JHeadstart 10g

On their own, the Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) together with the Oracle JDeveloper 10g IDE give developers a productive, visual environment for building richly functional J2EE applications without having to implement J2EE design patterns and low-level plumbing code by hand. As its name implies, Oracle JHeadstart 10g offers a significant additional productivity advantage in creating sophisticated web-based, J2EE business applications. Standing squarely on the shoulders of the base Oracle ADF framework, Oracle JHeadstart adds an additional capability for generating fully-working JavaServer Faces (JSF) web tier for the data model exposed by your ADF application module. The ADF web applications you generate with JHeadstart leverage the powerful ADF Faces components for JSF so can easily support multi-row editing, lists of values (LOVs) with validation, tree and shuttle displays, and consistent search pages, among many other features.

JHeadstart automates creating and iteratively evolving the web tier of your ADF application based on a declarative application definition. Once you've allowed JHeadstart to generate the bulk of your application's web user interface, you can spend your time using JDeveloper's productive environment to tailor the results or to concentrate your effort on real showcase pages that need special attention.

Like all Oracle ADF-based applications, those leveraging Oracle JHeadstart are J2EE compliant and therefore easy to deploy to any J2EE application server. They also inherit Oracle ADF's implementation all of the best practice J2EE design patterns ^[3] required to implement robust, functional business applications.

As we'll see in this step-by-step demo, the JHeadstart Application Generator does not generate any Java code. Instead, it generates web pages, ADF metadata describing the data needed on those pages, JavaServer Faces (JSF) metadata describing the page flow, and translatable message bundle files. We'll also see that all of the basic functionality provided by the underlying Oracle ADF framework components in the demo does not require any generated Java code either. We hope you'll walk away impressed by what you can do without writing a single line of Java code using this powerful combination of J2EE tools and frameworks from Oracle. Any lines of code that you would eventually write in a real application would be squarely focused on enhancing all of the built-in functionality provided with your own custom business application logic.

2 Tutorial Setup

This section outlines the steps you'll need to follow to get your machine ready to go through this tutorial. We recommend not skipping any steps in this section without reading them!

2.1 Download the Tutorial Files

If you are reading this tutorial online, download the jhs-step-by-step.zip ^[5] file that contains the database setup scripts. Extracting this zip file into the root directory of your C:\ drive will create a jhs-step-by-step directory. You can browse the index.html page to read this same tutorial offline. The database setup scripts (described more in detail below) are in the hr_schema subdirectory.

2.2 Start with JDeveloper 10g, Release 10.1.3.2

This tutorial requires Oracle JDeveloper 10g Studio Edition, release 10.1.3.2 Production. If you have a version of Oracle JDeveloper installed, you can verify what version it is by selecting the Help | About option from the main menu.

If you need to download JDeveloper 10g Release 10.1.3.2 look for the correct version on this JDeveloper Downloads ^[6] page.

To install JDeveloper, create a convenient directory (e.g. C:\jdev1013) and extract the jdevstudio10132.zip file into this directory using the standard Java jar utility, WinZip, or other zip-compatible tool you prefer.

To start JDeveloper 10g, double-click on jdeveloper.exe in the C:\jdev1013 folder as shown in Figure 1. You can create a desktop shortcut for C:\jdev1013\jdeveloper.exe to make launching JDeveloper easier on future occasions.

Figure 1: Launching JDeveloper 10g on Windows

Upon starting JDeveloper 10g for the first time, the Migrate User Settings alert may appear asking "Would you like to migrate from a previous version of JDeveloper?" If it does, just click (No) to continue.

Dismiss the Tip of the Day dialog if it appears by clicking (Close).

2.3 Install Oracle JHeadstart 10g 10.1.3.1 Using "Check for Updates"

Oracle JHeadstart is an Oracle JDeveloper extension (or "plug-in") that you install using JDeveloper's "Check for Updates" functionality. If anything about these installation instructions doesn't work for you as indicated, check the JHeadstart 10g Product Center ^[4] on OTN, under the Downloads heading, for further assistance.

To install the JHeadstart 10g Evaluation Version into your JDeveloper 10g 10.1.3 environment, perform the steps below.

• Run the "Check for Updates" wizard

  With JDeveloper 10.1.3 running, choose Help | Check for Updates... from the main menu.

  
  
  

• Select the Source for Extensions

  In Step 1 of 3: Source ensure that you have selected both the Official Oracle Extensions and Updates as well as the Open Source and Partners Extensions update centers, then click (Next >).

  
  
  

• Select the Oracle JHeadstart Evaluation Version Extension to Install

  In Step 2 of 3: Updates, as shown in Figure 2 choose the Oracle JHeadstart Evaluation Version 10.1.3.1.23 extension, then press (Next >).

  
  Figure 2: Selecting the JHeadstart Evaluation Version Extension to Install
  
  

• Acknowledge the Legal Agreement

  Read and acknowledge the Oracle Technology Network license for the evaluation version of Oracle JHeadstart by clicking (I Agree). JDeveloper begins the download of the selected updates...

  
  
  

• Exit and Restart JDeveloper

  When the download is completed, on the Summary page of the wizard, click (Finish). The Confirm Exit alert appears because you need to exit and restart JDeveloper to install the service update. Click (Yes) to exit. On Windows, JDeveloper will exit and automatically restart. On Mac, Linux, or other platforms, JDeveloper will exit and you will need to launch it again.

  
  
  

• Acknowledge the Installation Alerts

  When JDeveloper restarts, you may see the Confirm Overwrite alert, making you aware that the automatic installer will be replacing a file in your JDeveloper installation. This is expected, so check the Skip this Message Next Time checkbox, and click (Yes) to continue. When the Migrate User Settings alert appears, click (No) to continue.

  
  
  

• Acknowledge the Successful Installation Alert

  After the installation is completed, you'll see the alert shown in Figure 3 confirming the successful installation. Press (OK) to continue.

  
  Figure 3: Acknowledging the Successful Install of JHeadstart
  
  

• Rename the Velocity Version 1.3 JAR File

  As noted in the successful installation alert in Figure 3, you must perform one manual step of renaming a file that is supplied with JDeveloper. This step is required because the JHeadstart extension provides a later version of this library than the one that ships with JDeveloper. To rename this file, do the following:

  • Exit from JDeveloper

    Choose File | Exit to exit JDeveloper.

  • Rename the velocity-dep-1.3.jar File in the Windows Explorer

    As shown in Figure 4, find the velocity-dep-1.3.jar in the C:\jdev1013\jdev\lib directory, and use the Rename option on the right-mouse menu to rename it to velocity-dep-1.3.jar_old.

    
    Figure 4: Renaming velocity-dep-1.3.jar to velocity-dep-1.3.jar_old in Windows Explorer

  • Restart JDeveloper

    After renaming the jar file as indicated above, you can restart JDeveloper 10g 10.1.3 to continue.

  
  
  

2.4 Setup the Oracle HR Schema and Sample Data

The demo steps are based on the standard Oracle sample HR schema of human resources information. For your convenience, this tutorial comes with the SQL scripts to create the HR schema tables if you didn't install the sample schemas when you installed your database.

2.4.1 Create the HR Schema If Necessary

If you don't already have an HR user account created in your database, you can follow these steps to create it.

C:\jhs-step-by-step> sqlplus /nolog
SQL> connect sys as sysdba
SQL> create user hr identified by hr;
created.
SQL> alter user hr default tablespace users;
altered.
SQL> grant connect, resource to hr;
SQL> connect hr/hr
connected.
SQL> quit

2.4.2 Create the HR Schema Sample Tables

In the hr_schema subdirectory of this tutorial, you'll find the hr.sql script. This script drops, recreates, and repopulates all the tables in the HR sample schema. Change directory to the hr_schema subdirectory, and run the script as the HR user, with the command:

C:\jhs-step-by-step> cd hr_schema
C:\jhs-step-by-step\hr_schema> sqlplus hr/hr @hr.sql

2.5 Define a JDeveloper Connection for the HR Schema

Select View | Connection Navigator to show the Connection Navigator and follow these steps:

• Create a New Database Connection

  Click on the Database folder, and select New Database Connection... from the right-mouse menu as shown in Figure 5.

  
  Figure 5: Defining a New Database Connection
  
  

• Enter a Connection Name

  On step 1 of the wizard, as shown in Figure 6, provide a connection name of hr and click (Next>).

  
  Figure 6: Naming Your Connection
  
  

• Provide the Username and Password Details

  On step 2, provide the username and password information for the hr connection. Make sure to check the Deploy Password option as shown in Figure 7, then press (Next>).

  
  

  NOTE:

  It's OK to deploy the password in the connection definition since it gets saved in an encrypted format.

  
  
  Figure 7: Providing Username/Password for the Connection
  
  

• Provide Host, Port, and SID Information

  In step 3, provide the host, port, and SID information for the database where you've installed the HR schema tables. The defaults shown in Figure 8 are right for a default Oracle database installation on the current machine. You may have to change the settings if you're database is on another machine or has a different SID. Press (Next>) when done with this step.

  
  Figure 8: Providing Database Connection Details
  
  

• Test the Connection

  As shown in Figure 9, click the (Test Connection) button to test the connection. If you don't see the "Success!" message, press (<Back) and double-check the information you've provided on the previous wizard pages. When you see "Success!", click (Finish) to complete the process of defining a connection.

  
  Figure 9: Testing the Database Connection
  
  

2.6 Set ADF Business Components Java Generation Preferences

By default, the ADF Business Components design time is configured to generate skeleton Java classes where developers could eventually write their code. Producing these skeleton classes by default is not required, and there is an IDE preference to control it. If you don't generate them by default, you can easily add them on a case-by-case basis should custom Java code ever become required for a given component type.

In order to better understand what ADF application functionality requires Java code and what does not, it's useful to set the ADF Business Components Java generation preferences at the IDE level so that the wizards and editors create no custom Java classes by default. By doing this, at the end of the demo we can see what Java classes actually are part of our working, finished application to get a better understanding of what combined, built-in functionality Oracle ADF and Oracle JHeadstart 10g provide.

To change this preference, select Tools | Preferences... from the JDeveloper main menu and click on the Business Components category. Uncheck any of the checked boxes in the panel at the right as shown in Figure 10, then click (OK).

Figure 10: Setting ADF Business Components to Generate No Java by Default

3 Creating a Default Web Application

In this section we will:

• Create a new workspace,
• Create the ADF Business Components to handle our backend database access, and
• Generate a default set of web pages with JHeadstart

Then, we'll run the application inside JDeveloper 10g to see what default behavior we get before starting to iteratively modify the application to further tailor it to work like our end users want.

3.1 Create and Configure a New Workspace

1. Create a new Application Workspace

   Choose File | New... from the JDeveloper main menu, and double-click the Application icon in the General category of the New Gallery. In the Create Application dialog, select the application template named Web Application [JSF, ADF BC] as shown in Figure 11. To make it easier to follow along in this tutorial, please enter the Application Name (MyDemo), Directory Name (C:\MyDemo), and Application Package Prefix (mydemo) exactly as shown. By doing this you'll make it easiest to follow this tutorial's step-by-step instructions.

   
   Figure 11: Creating a New Application Workspace

   When you click (OK) to create the workspace, JDeveloper will create your new MyDemo workspace that will contain two (initially empty) projects named Model and ViewController.

   
   
   

2. Give Your Web Application a Meaningful Web Context Root Name

   Select the ViewController project still selected in the Application Navigator, and choose Project Properties... from the right-mouse menu. Visit the J2EE Application category and notice that the default web context root name is MyDemo-ViewController-context-root. The J2EE web context root name is the first part of your application's web URL that users will see, so having a short, meaningful name is preferable to this long default name. So let's set the J2EE Web Context Root to just “MyDemo” instead. Technically, this step is optional, but it gives your application a nicer-looking runtime URL and it's nice to know where you would change it for your own applications.

   
   
   

3. Simplify Running the Application By Changing a Project Setting

   While still in the Project Properties dialog, to make it easier to quickly run the application, disable JDeveloper's default behavior of trying to run the current file. To do this, do the following:

   • Visit the Run/Debug category
   • Select the Default configuration in the Run Configurations list
   • Click (Edit...)
   • Uncheck the checkbox Attempt to Run the Active File before Default.
   • Click (OK) to dismiss the Edit Run Configuration dialog.
   
   
   

Finally, click (OK) to dismiss the Project Properties dialog, saving your changes.

3.2 Create Default ADF Business Components

The ADF Business Components handle all of the database access for you in a way that is cleanly separated from the user interface. The application module provides the transactional component clients use to browse and modify view object data. The view object performs SQL queries and coordinates with entity objects to handle updates. The entity object encapsulates business domain data and validation for rows in a table. In this step we'll use wizards to create all three types of components based on existing tables in the database.

1. Create Default Business Components for Tables in HR Schema

   • Run the Business Components from Tables Wizard

     Select your Model project and choose New... from the right-mouse menu. In the New Gallery, expand the Business Tier node, select the Business Components category, and choose Business Components from Tables.

     
     
     

   • Set the Database Connection to Use

     When the Initialize Business Components Project dialog appears, select the name of the HR connection you defined above as shown in Figure 12.

     
     Figure 12: Selecting the HR Connection to Work With
     
     

   • Create Entity Objects for Selected HR Tables

     On the Step 1 of 5: Entity Objects page of the wizard, if it is not already checked, toggle the Auto-Query checkbox to see all of the available tables.

     As shown in Figure 13 shuttle the six tables COUNTRIES, DEPARTMENTS, EMPLOYEES, JOBS, LOCATIONS, and REGIONS tables into the Selected list, and enter the Package name of mydemo.model.entities in which to create the entity objects.

     
     

     TIP:	Providing a different package name for each different kind of ADF Business Component helps make your model project more manageable.

     
     
     Figure 13: Selecting Tables for Which to Create Entity Objects
     
     

   • Create Updateable View Objects for All Entity Objects

     On the Step 2 of 5: Updateable View Objects page of the wizard, enter a Package name of mydemo.model.queries as shown in Figure 14, and shuttle all of the available entity object names into the Selected list in order to create default view objects for them.

     
     Figure 14: Creating Updateable View Objects for All Entity Objects
     
     

   • Skip Past the Read-Only View Objects Panel

     As shown in Figure 15, just skip past the Step 3 of 4: Read-Only View Objects page of the wizard since we don't need any read-only view objects for this demo.

     
     Figure 15: Skipping the Read-Only View Objects Panel
     
     

   • Give Your Application Module Component a Meaningful Name

     On the Step 4 of 5: Application Module page of the wizard, as shown in Figure 16 enter a package name of mydemo.model and choose a meaningful name for your application module like HRModule, then click (Finish) to create all of your business components.

     
     Figure 16: Naming the Application Module
     
     
   
   

   NOTE:

   For a more detailed explanation of this step, see the "Setting Up the Business Components Package" section in Chapter 2. Getting Started from the JHeadstart Developer's Guide [10].

   
   
   
   

2. Organize Your Application Navigator

   After creating your default set of business components in the mydemo.model, mydemo.model.entities and mydemo.model.queries packages, your Application Navigator may look like what you see in Figure 17. The Flat Level control in the Application Navigator toolbar controls how many levels of dot-separated package names should be flatted for presentation in the tree. The Sort by Type toggle button switches between sorting your components:

   • Alphabetically, and
   • By component type, then alphabetically.
   
   Figure 17: Model Project in the Application Navigator with Default Flat Level of 3 and Sorted Alphabetically

   For example, if you set the Flat Level to 1 and enable the Sort by Type toggle button, your navigator will change to look like what you see in Figure 18.

   
   Figure 18: Model Project in the Application Navigator with Flat Level 1 and Sorted By Type
   
   

3. Add Five-level Master/Detail to the Application Module's Data Model

   In the Application Navigator, inside your Model project find the HRModule component. It's in the mydemo.model package. Edit the HRModule application module by double-clicking it. This will open the Application Module Editor. Visit the Data Model panel, and as shown in Figure 19 you'll see both the list of Available View Objects from the current project, and the named, master/detail-coordinated usages of those view objects in this application module's Data Model. The view object usages in the data model are also known as view object instances since at runtime they represent an instance of the reusable view object component.

   
   Figure 19: Initial HRModule Data Model

   We're going to modify the default data model to add nested view object usages in order to get a 5-level deep nesting of region → country → location → department → employee.

   We start by adding a LocationsView view object instance as a child/detail of CountriesView2, by doing the following:

   • In the Data Model tree control, select the existing view instance CountriesView2 that will become the new master (for the next-level detail we're about to add).
     
     
   • Expand the CountriesView view object in the Available View Objects list
     
     
   • Select the LocationsView view object that is indented under CountriesView in the Available View Objects list. This indenting means that it is an available detail view for any instance of a CountriesView master in the data model.
     
     
   • Click the (>) button to shuttle a new LocationsView3 instance into the data model as detail of the existing, selected CountriesView2.
     
     

   We can repeat the process to add an instance of DepartmentsView as a detail of the LocationsView3, and then again to add an instance of EmployeesView as a detail of the DepartmentsView4.

   When finished adding the three extra levels, your application module's data model will look like what you see in Figure 20. Click (OK) to save your changes.

   
   Figure 20: Default Application Module Modified to Have Five-Level Master/Detail
   
   

3.3 Generate Default Web Tier with JHeadstart

The Oracle JHeadstart extension for JDeveloper uses metadata to capture the high-level definition of the layout and features of your desired web application. The JHeadstart application generator then uses that application definition metadata to generate the set of web pages that comprise your web application user interface. In this section we'll enable our project to use JHeadstart, ask JHeadstart to create a default application definition metadata file, and then kick off the JHeadstart application generator to see what kind of web application we get before proceeding to tailor the output further in subsequent steps of the tutorial.

1. Enable JHeadstart on the ViewController Project

   Select the ViewController project in the navigator and choose Enable JHeadstart on this Project from the right-mouse menu. Click (Next>) from the welcome page, then click (Finish) to proceed with enabling JHeadstart.

   As shown in Figure 21, after clicking (Finish) the first time the wizard will proceed to create a number of necessary files and configure your project appropriately to contain them. Each step it performs is listed in the text box in this panel of the wizard. When done, click (Finish) again to close the wizard. Then, click the Save All button in the JDeveloper main toolbar to save all the changes.

   
   Figure 21: Enabling JHeadstart on ViewController Project
   
   

2. Create the Default JHeadstart Application Definition

   Select the ViewController project in the navigator, and choose the New JHeadstart Application Definition item from the right-mouse menu. After clicking (Next>) to leave the welcome screen, on the next panel as shown in Figure 22, select the HRModuleDataControl to use, leave the Create default Groups for all Data Collections checkbox checked, and click (Next>) again.

   
   Figure 22: Selecting the Application Module (Data Control) to Use

   On the following panel, take the defaults for the service/application name as shown in Figure 23 , and click (Next >).

   
   Figure 23: Choosing a JHeadstart Service/Application Name

   On the next panel, take the defaults for the default layout styles as shown in Figure 24.

   Before proceeding, take a moment to notice the option to Generate LOV's instead of dropdown lists?. While we won't enable this preference for this tutorial, it's worth remembering that this option may be useful to you when you try the Oracle JHeadstart Evaluation Edition on a subset of your own production schema. JHeadstart can generate foreign key lookups as dropdown lists or as pop-up list-of-values (LOV) windows. Dropdown lists are more appropriate for smaller-sized lists of choices (e.g. less than 100 rows), while pop-up LOV windows are more appropriate to select an foreign key value when many choices exist and your end user might need to perform a search to find what they are looking for.

   Now, click (Next >) to continue.

   
   Figure 24: Choosing Default Layout Styles

   On the final panel click (Finish) to create the new application definition file. As shown in Figure 25 the wizard will display each of the steps it performs. When done, click (Finish) again to close the wizard.

   
   Figure 25: Creating the Default Application Definition File
   
   

3. Save Your Changes

   Click the Save All button in the JDeveloper main toolbar to save all the changes.

   
   
   

4. Observe the Default Application Definition

   To view the JHeadstart application definition you just created, select the ViewController project and choose Edit JHeadstart Application Definition from the right-mouse menu. This opens the JHeadstart Application Definition Editor, which is a modeless window that you can keep open while you continue to work with the main JDeveloper window.

   Notice that JHeadstart has used the hierarchical structure of the application module's data model to create the default application definition for the web tier. In practice you will end up iteratively changing the default application definition, but having a nice default definition to start with is a big plus as we'll see.

   As shown in Figure 26, you can see the 5-level nesting of the view object instances for regions, countries, locations, departments, employees . You also notice that the JHeadstart New Application Definition wizard has created you a rich set of default lookup definitions (called domains) where foreign key relationships exist in the base business component model. These domains are referenced by items in the application definition for which drop-down lists will be generated for the end-user to select a valid choice.

   
   Figure 26: Application Definition Editor Showing Default Structure
   
   

5. Generate the Application

   To run the JHeadstart application generator, select your ViewController project in the Application Navigator and choose Run JHeadstart Application Generator from the right-mouse menu as shown in Figure 27.

   
   Figure 27: Running the JHeadstart Application Generator for the First Time

   During the generation process, the JHeadstart Application Generator log window tab will display the detailed progress, including errors (if any), warnings, and informational messages. Figure 28 shows what this log window tab should look like after your first successful generation run. If you should see entries in an Errors category, which would appear at the top of the list with a "red ball" icon, the message always gives helpful details about how to correct the problem. Note that even when you see a few Warnings, these are suggestions of "next steps" you need to do as the developer or best-practices suggestions that the Generator cannot do automatically. Scrolling through the messages in the Information section gives you an idea of the amount of work that the JHeadstart application generator is saving you. In this case, it has generated twenty-two (22) JSF pages and their corresponding declarative databinding metadata, along with numerous other declarative artifacts that support the application!

   For your convenience, on future runs of the JHeadstart application generator, in addition to the right-mouse menu option we picked here, you can also just click on the Run JHeadstart Application Generator toolbar button () at the top of the JHeadstart Application Definition Editor window. Both actions do the same thing.

   
   Figure 28: Warnings and Informational Messages in the JHeadstart Application Generator Log Window
   
   

3.4 Run the Application

Run the ViewController project by selecting it in the application navigator and then pressing F11 (or clicking on the toolbar run icon ). JDeveloper will launch your default browser, startup the embedded OC4J container with your web application deployed, and show you the initial page of the application that will look like what you see in Figure 29.

Figure 29: Initial JHeadstart-Generated Web Application

TIP:

If instead of seeing the initial application page you see some kind of timeout error in your browser as shown in Figure 30, then you'll need to change a configuration property of JDeveloper's embedded J2EE container (OC4J) to avoid this problem. This typically occurs when you are on a network using DHCP to get a dynamically-assigned IP address. Figure 30: Running Web App in JDeveloper Times Out in Browser Before changing the necessary setting, terminate the currently running embedded server by selecting the Run | Terminate > Embedded OC4J Server. Next, select the Tools | Embedded OC4J Server Preferences... main menu item in JDeveloper, and change the Host Name of IP Address Used to Refer to Embedded OC4J setting to Specify Host Name, and enter a hostname of localhost as shown in Figure 31. Then, try rerunning the application and it should work this time. Figure 31: Changing IDE Preference for Embedded OC4J Host Name

3.5 Observe Default Application Functionality

By playing with the default application yourself, you can experience some of the built-in features that Oracle ADF and JHeadstart support by default, and which the Oracle JHeadstart Application Generator generates for you based on your declarative application definition file.

Highlights of these features include:

• Switch Between Top-Level Application Functionality with Tabs

  
  
  
  
• Browse Data and Drill-Down to Details or Related Information
  
  
  

• Automatic "Breadcrumbs" Provide User Hierarchical Navigation Assistance

  
  
  
  

• Create and Edit Data for Any Table Out of the Box

  
  
  
  

• Insert, Update, and Delete Multiple Rows on a Page

  
  
  
  

• Select Related Data from Automatically Created Lookups

  
  
  
  

• Scroll Through Data Without Refreshing Entire Page

  
  
  
  

• Rapidly Find Data Using Quick Search Region

  
  
  
  

• Search More Precisely Using Advanced Search Region

  
  
  
  

• Easily Set Optional Fields to Null Using Drop-Down Lists

  
  
  
  

• Avoid Accidentally Losing Pending Changes When Switching Top-Level Application Function

  
  
  
  

• Never Wonder Whether Changes are Saved with Positive User Feedback

  
  
  
  

4 Change Layout Styles and Query Behavior

In this step of the demo, we'll change a number of declarative application definition properties about the Employees, Departments, Jobs, and Regions groups to affect how the JHeadstart application generator generates the web tier pages. We'll wait until making them all before re-running the application generator.

To make the changes described here, make sure you have the JHeadstart Application Definition Editor open. If you don't, just select your ViewController project and select Edit JHeadstart Application Definition from the right-mouse menu.