InPowerForms RCP Animation

Introduction

.Introduction.

We at InPowerSoft initially developed InPowerForms internally to re-implement our core product, InPowerBill, from Oracle Forms to a J2EE solution. Instead of building a one-off tool to migrate InPowerBill from Oracle Forms to Java, we architected and built InPowerForms as an entire development framework to enable us to reuse it for building other commercial-class, database-driven applications in a fraction of time.

We first implemented InPowerForms in Java using Swing to build the presentation layer. We worked with Oracle to utilize their Application Development Framework (ADF) to manage the underlying data access layer. ADF is Oracle's key component in their J2EE stack, which is equivalent to their Oracle Forms data access layer rewritten in Java.

You can view more information on our website about our Swing implementation of InPowerForms using ADF, which we refer to as InPowerForms ADF.

We also implemented InPowerForms on the Eclipse Rich-Client Platform (RCP), which provides a lot of infrastructure support (e.g., preferences, properties, help, etc.) that would have taken us a lot of effort to build into InPowerForms ADF. We refer to this version as InPowerForms RCP.

Although the UI presentation is almost identical between InPowerForms ADF and InPowerForms RCP, the underlying code base is different. With InPowerForms RCP we use SWT instead of Swing for the presentation layer. We also utilize JBoss's open-source data access layer, Hibernate, instead of ADF.

Hibernate is a more simple data access layer than ADF and is also database neutral. So you can use InPowerForms RCP on any database Hibernate supports including Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL, and many others.

Why use InPowerForms?

The InPowerForms approach to application development is in the same vein as Oracle Forms, which is to automate and reuse a critical and problematic part of the application - the underlying infrastructure or plumbing.

This approach enables you to build database-driven applications in a fraction of time compared to the "build-it-from-scratch" approach where you hand-wire the plumbing for each page or form.

Whether you use Java, .NET or any other libraries to construct a database-driven application from scratch, you will not get anywhere near the productivity you would by using InPowerForms, or even Oracle Forms for that matter.

Unlike Oracle Forms that uses PL/SQL, InPowerForms uses Java, which is far more powerful, reusable, and flexible - especially at the presentation layer.

Another key advantage that InPowerForms has over Oracle Forms is that InPowerForms leverages the power of the modern IDEs. With InPowerForms you build your application utilizing the advanced programming tools and features included in modern IDEs such as Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, JDeveloper, or JBuilder.

From debugging to refactoring to code navigation and comprehension, the modern IDEs are leaps and bounds ahead of Oracle Forms' antiquated development environment. Moreover, as the modern IDEs continue to evolve and make further advancements, Oracle Forms is falling further behind.

We compared the productivity of using InPowerForms to Oracle Forms while re-implementing InPowerBill using InPowerForms. The result was that we experienced significant productivity gains using InPowerForms over Oracle Forms.

We discovered that, in general, a seasoned InPowerForms developer is twice as productive as a seasoned Oracle Forms developer. A seasoned InPowerForms developer can build many full-functioning, commercial-class forms in a day, including time for foosball.

Because the InPowerForms framework automatically takes care of the underlying infrastructure support, an InPowerForms developer does not spend time working on the data binding and other complex plumbing of an application. Instead an InPowerForms developer primarily maps the application's presentation layer to the data access layer.

Because the scope of programming needed to develop InPowerForms is limited, the learning curve for InPowerForms is small. A seasoned Oracle Forms developer with no Java experience or OOP background can become a proficient InPowerForms developer with just six to eight weeks of training. A seasoned Java or other object-oriented programmer can become a proficient InPowerForms developer even faster.

We invite you to learn more on how InPowerForms can help you build commercial-class, database-driven applications in a fraction time and find out why we like to say about InPowerForms, "Building is believing."

General Concepts

Master Detail Form

Cell Editors

Security Model

Presentation Concepts

Presentatin Concept