Oracle Forms Record and Play - Background

Oracle Forms can record all the events in a forms session to a text file, which can then be replayed by the forms software at a later date. By using DataLoad to edit the file produced the Oracle Forms software will replay your data and make your changes or data loads for you.

Before this functionality can be used your forms software must be enabled to run in this mode. This is achieved by adding a parameter to the command line which starts Oracle Forms. Furthermore, one parameter will be required for recording and another for playback. This step may require the involvement of your DBA and is fully described on the Setup page.

Before recording an Oracle Forms session you should plan exactly what you are going to do. Since your recording will be replayed many time over any mistakes you make will also be replicated for each row of playback later. Furthermore, there are certain rules you must follow to ensure DataLoad can know which actions you will wish to repeat multiple times. This is documented in the section called "Create a Load".

Once your load is built it must be tested. This involves copying the file produced by DataLoad to a location accessible to your forms software and running Oracle Forms using the playback parameter previously setup. This is documented in Running the Load.