Grants Blog
News from the SOA, JEE, ADF, JDeveloper and Oracle Forms World

I've heard a few stories from customers in the past couple of weeks asking questions about having to re-write their Forms applications in Java. The thought is that Oracle is pushing them there. This worries me for a number of reasons.

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Firstly, we are not pushing you anywhere. Forms remains a viable option for building applications. What we are doing is showing you the options available that can complement your Forms applications(of course, you can chose if you want to replace them) . But the point remains: the market and technologies are changing and so you should explore those. But don't think you need to rush to take on these options. Just because my car dealer offers SatNav doesn't mean I have to take it - only if I think it will be useful to me.

The second point is - redeveloping in Java. What makes anyone think that Java is some Nirvana. Just because your application is written in Java doesn't make it faster, more scalable, easier to write. And it certainly doesn't mean your businesses will be more efficient or make any more money. The technology has NOTHING to do with how your business will perform.
What Java, and more specifically - the Java platform, gives you are some different options - but again - these may not be important to you. Forms is not suited to run on Mobile devices - Java gives you options here. Forms is not well suited to Intenet facing "self service" applications - JEE gives you options here.

And as for the business - as I mentioned, you don't get the benefits from the technology, you get it from how you USE the technology. SOA gives you that blueprint. And it does so in a way that is agnostic to the technology. Meaning that Oracle Forms and J2EE applications can all live in a SOA world.

So, IF you are asking about modernising or redeveloping your Forms applications, ask yourself WHY? What are you looking to achieve. If it involves getting your business and IT alligned and making them more efficient then SOA is the answer. If you are looking to spend a lot of money to get the exact same thing you had before -redevelop the application as is. If you want to leverage your Forms investment while gaining the benefits of the newer technology opportunitues, SOA might be the thing you have been waiting for!.