Oracle Fusion Cloud's Application Composer

Extending the Oracle Fusion Cloud apps does not always means Oracle Visual Builder (formerly VBCS) or APEX web applications. You have an option to skip the VBCS fees and APEX costs if the requirement is for simple data storage and simple forms. Instead, effortlessly create custom objects with Application Composer. It's your quick, cost-effective solution for simple data storage and forms. Plus, enjoy smooth CRUD operations via REST API and seamless integration with standard tables using BIP queries.

Oracle Fusion Cloud's Application Composer is an innovative, browser-based tool designed to enable business analysts and administrators extend and configure their applications. Traditionally, making data model changes was a domain reserved for application developers. However, with Application Composer, these critical modifications can be executed without deep technical expertise, empowering a wider range of users to tailor applications to their specific needs. You may want to look into the DFFs and EFFs as well before you decide to create custom objects for extending the standard transactions in Fusion.

Follow the below steps for creating Custom Objects in Application Composer

Sandbox:

Sandboxes set apart untested configuration changes from the mainline environment. So, wherever possible, make changes to the application in a sandbox rather than making direct changes in the mainline environment, thus avoiding any impact on other users in the environment.

Create the sandbox with tools 'Application Composer' and ' Structure'.

Access application composer from the tools menu once you are inside sandbox

Change the application to ERP and SCM Cloud for this demo.

Define Object:

Application Composer allows for the modification of an application's object model. This capability is crucial for tracking and storing additional data. Administrators can add new fields to existing (standard) objects or create entirely new (custom) objects, enhancing the application’s functionality.

Record name data type can be auto generated sequence or any identifier of other standard tables that you want to extend, like invoice number, po number, transaction id etc.

You can also create the child object and relationship among objects using below screen, but for this demo I will keep it simple.

Define Fields:

Extending applications involves adding new fields to both standard and custom objects. Application Composer provides various field types to choose from, enabling the creation of fields such as text, numbers, checkboxes, choice list based out of static values/lookups or long text areas, thus offering flexibility in data capture.

You can select the existing lookup type for the list of values you want to display in this choice list. It can be a simple static list of values as well.

Once you have defined all the fields that are needed, you will need to create the pages to support Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations

Define Page:

Modifying application pages is streamlined with Application Composer. You can create new pages for custom objects or modify existing pages for standard objects. These changes can be made visible to all or selected end-users, depending on set conditions, thus providing control over user interface customization.

Select the fields that you would like to view in the page.

Set the following roles and privileges to users to enable them to perform Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations.

Once your pages are ready, you will need to publish the sandbox to access the pages. By default, the custom object page will be created under 'Others' menu, but I used 'Structure' to move the page to the 'Payables' menu.

You will see the landing page on access the 'Invoice Details' page, which has options to create, edit and delete the rows in this custom object.

BIP Query on Custom Objects:

You also have an option to join this custom object data with other standard tables using the BIP query. You table details will be stored in the FND_OBJECTS table.

SELECT
  OBJECT_ID,
  DATABASE_OBJECT_NAME,
  PK1_COLUMN_NAME,
  OBJECT_STRIPE_CONDITION,
  CREATED_BY,CREATION_DATE,
  LAST_UPDATED_BY,
  LAST_UPDATE_DATE
FROM FND_OBJECTS
ORDER BY CREATION_DATEDESC        

SELECT * 
FROM HZ_REF_ENTITIES 
WHERE ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY = 'InvoiceDetails_c'        

Streamlining CRUD Operations with REST API:

Take a note of the 'API name' that you will be using for the API endpoint.

GET Rest API: https://<host>/fscmRestApi/resources/latest/InvoiceDetails_c        

POST Rest API: https://<host>/fscmRestApi/resources/latest/InvoiceDetails_c

Request Payload:
{
    "RecordName": "INV_BG_002",
    "TextColumn1_c": "created from postman",
    "NumberColumn1_c": 200,
    "ChoiceColumn1_c": "PRIVATE"
}        

Conclusion:

Application Composer stands out as a design-at-runtime tool, enabling real-time changes directly from the Cloud application, with most alterations taking effect immediately. This remarkable feature allows businesses to adapt quickly to evolving requirements, ensuring that their applications remain aligned with their operational needs.

While Oracle Fusion Cloud's Application Composer is excellent for straightforward customizations & extensions within the Oracle ecosystem, Oracle Visual Builder and Oracle APEX offer more robust solutions for certain scenarios:

• Oracle Visual Builder excels in creating visually rich, responsive web and mobile applications from scratch. Its drag-and-drop interface and extensive UI components make it a superior choice for projects requiring bespoke user interfaces and complex front-end interactions. It's pricing, $1.2365 OCPU per hour https://www.oracle.com/application-development/visual-builder-studio/ , in case you using bundled VB that comes with OIC then its 100 messages per concurrent user.
• Oracle APEX stands out for its data-centric application development capabilities. It's particularly effective for complex database applications, offering advanced features for detailed reporting and data visualization that go beyond the scope of Application Composer. It's pricing $0.3226 OCPU/hour or US$360 per month for 1 OCPU and 1 TB of Exadata storage (running continuously for 31 days) https://www.oracle.com/application-development/apex/faq/

I hope you liked the article, please leave your thoughts in comments.

#DigitalTransformations #Oracle #OracleFusionCloud #ApplicationComposer #OIC #OCI #EBS #OracleACE #OracleVB #orclAPEX #VBCS #OracleVB