The first product using Oracle Utilities Application Framework V4.2.0.1.0 (a.k.a. FW4.2 Service Pack 1) has been released. Just to remind you all, Service packs for the OUAF are now released with service packs for individual products that are certified for the OUAF Service Pack. You cannot apply a OUAF service pack to a product not certified for the service pack.
OUAF V4.2.0.1.0 has the following features:
- Oracle Service Bus Adapters - Adapters for Oracle Service Bus are available for Outbound Messages (and Notification Download Staging for older products). Refer to Oracle Service Bus Integration Oracle Utilities Application Framework (Doc Id: 1558279.1) available from My Oracle Support for more information.
- Attachment Object Support in Email Adapter - The Attachment object can now be used as attachments in the Email Adapter. This extends the Email Adapter which previously used external files as attachments in emails.
- Schema Designer - A new Schema Designer has been implemented that supports property sheets, drag and drop, UI Hint management, context menus etc. This will make schemas easier to build and maintain. The raw XML format is still supported as an alternative for developers who prefer this view.
- Enhanced Schema Default and Currency Support - The schema mnemonics have been expanded to support enhanced defaulting and currencies. Defaults for formats and currencies can be set as installation defaults as well as overrides for particular business rules. This allows support for multiple currencies.
- EAR Independence - Over the last few releases the configuration settings within the EAR file have been progressively been externalized to allow for independence to enhance support for clustering and cloud deployment. This release concludes the initiative to remove environment specific configuration from the EAR file (it can be included if desired) and externalized.
- Accessibility Enhancements - As with other Oracle products, accessibility is assessed with each release and additional facilities are provided for accessibility. In this release, the behavior of tab stops on query zone headers, general tab stops and automatically generated title tags are configurable.
- Miscellaneous Enhancements - A number of smaller enhancements have been implemented:
- A new internal encryption/decryption algorithm has been implemented. This is largely internal but will be externalized in a future service pack.
- Internal program names are now included in TKPROF traces for increased traceability.
- Patching utilities have been updated to include enhanced lookup patching for product installations.
- Automatic formatting can be disabled for numeric fields using the new alphaFormat schema attribute.
Over the next few weeks expect some interesting articles on specific changes with examples to illustrate the above features.