Can i use the Forms/reports server instead of 9iAS ? 1

[vrcatherine]

I am completely new to the web technolgy.
We have an client-server application
(oracle forms/reports 6i and 8i database)

We wanted to move to the web technology,
so that we can use the browser only to access
our forms.


Can this FORMS/REPORT server in forms developer cd used instead of 9iAS ?



Forms & Reports builder cd's has FORMS/REPORTS server in it,
whenever we are installing it asks whether you need to install it.

If i install this forms/reports server (which is coming in
Oracle forms/reports 6i cd) along with Oracle database,
can i use the same way as 9iAS ( web version) ?

Do i need iAS to run the forms/reports on web ?

Just the forms/reports server in forms/reports 6i cd is enough ?

--Thanks
Cathy

 

[upthorpe]

Forms server can be used to web-enable an Oracle Forms application - we've just done it and it works extremely well accessing the Oracle App in browser (Forms 6 & Oracle 9i) - theres various configurations that need to be done for the Apache webserver (location of forms etc) but we're very pleased with the results.

I believe that this method of web enabling has now been largely superceeded by 9IAS which we did look into but found the java classes configuration extremely involved and as time was pressing we went for the much simpler 6 solution.

If you use the 6 solution then theres no need to use IAS at all, its all on the CD!

Hope this helps - I have documented our process for doing this if you're interested.

 

[vrcatherine]

Thanks for the reply.

So you mean to say that i can use just the forms
server and reports server which is there in
oracle developer cd to make our application web-enabled.


We currently have an Oracle client-server technology,
where oracle 817 database is installed on SERVER I
and all the client machines need the Oracle run times
or even the oracle developer software installed.

I keep installing the oracle forms/reports runtimes on each
client machine with the Oracle forms/Reports 6i cd.


Now i wanted to make the entire application web-enable so that i dont have to do the client installti

 

[vrcatherine]

continued.......

installation anymore.

So can i do this to make my entire application web-enabled.

1) Install the Oracle database on SERVER I
2) Install Oracle Forms Server, Reports Server on SERVER I


And just with the browser can i run my application from any of the client ?



--Thanks

 

[upthorpe]

Cathy,

The Oracle recommended solution is three tier - you have the Oracle database server, the Oracle Apache webserver and the client machine with web browser.

The recomendation is that the first two are on physically different machines, but we have both running on one Compaq DL360 server and it works just fine, although its not a very intensively used application.

There is nothing extra you need to explicitly install on the client machine, i.e no Oracle runtime or even TNSNAMES.ORA - it all happens on the middle tier.

What happens is that the first time the browser accesses the webserver it initiates a Java applet download and then you are away.

I think its an extremely neat and elegant solution to client based installs, the users love it and its easy to rollout as you only need to publish the URL.

We built ours on a test server as it took a while to get it all sorted - a few wrong turns and re-installations happened
which allowed us to document the steps necessary before setting it up in the live environment.

 

[vrcatherine]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[bookouri]

Why would you use 9ias if all you have to do is install Apache and the 6i reports and forms servers? If Im understanding this thread, I dont REALLY need 9ias? am I giving something up if I dont use it?

Cathy, did you ever solve your problem and get up and running? What was the final outcome?

thanks