DataLoad Community

[Tim]

We're on Oracle 11.5.10.2 and would like the .fdl files to be written to a directory that is open to our users as opposed to $COMMON_TOP... The help page titled 'Oracle Forms Playback Advanced Setup' refers to a 'Shared Disk Location'. I'd like to clarify how that works. Do we put the shared disk pathname in $FORMS60_TRACE_PATH or $FORMS60_PATH or somewhere else??

Has anyone installed DataLoad Professional so that no new user accounts were created and the IT department is not involved with any data loads?

Thanks

[DataLoad]

Tim,

By default, in 11.5.10.2 Oracle will only use the following directory for Forms Playback files:

$COMMON_TOP/admin/log/[Context Name]

If you want to change that location then do the following (a DBA will need to do this):

1. Open the system's XML context file for editing
2. Find the variable named forms_trace_path
3. Change that variable's value to be the directory you want to use for forms playback files
4. Run AutoConfig to make this change effective

Those are the steps to follow whenever you wish to change the location used for Forms Playback files.

You also asked about a shared disk location. When we talk about shared disk locations we are thinking about a disk area that is accessible from multiple application servers to enable Forms Playback to work with load balanced application servers.

If you have more than one application server then each one must use the same directory path for Forms Playback files, e.g. /dataload, and that filesystem must actually point to a single, shared disk area. That approach means that regardless of which application server is running a user's session you can be certain that the Forms Playback files will be recorded to and played from the shared disk area.

For most organisations if the IT dept is required for data loads then it is to copy Forms Playback files to/from the server. That is probably because they are not happy for users to use FTP, or similar, to copy the files themselves. Of course, if the directory used for Forms Playback files is changed to a dedicated location, as described above, then users can be given FTP access without this being a security risk. In my opinion, the best way to handle this is to create a Samba share that gives users a Windows drive letter through which they can access the server directory. They can then copy Forms Playback files to/from the server very easily and securely and without involving the IT dept.

Not creating new user accounts is a bit more tricky because dedicated record and playback user accounts are the easiest way to control whether your Oracle session is running record or playback. Whether or not you have additional user accounts is a trade off between simplicity and the need to minimise/control user accounts. You can just change the ICX: Forms Launcher profile option value as required (although beware of the profile option value caching in R12); alternatively you can setup Forms Playback such that the recording & playback of files is controlled by the presence of a file on the server. That is neat but requires the users to be careful to control that file to control their record/playback status. I can give more details about that if it is of interest.

Thanks,

Jonathan Stuart