Best Practices for Online-Offline ADF Solution

[Nikhil]

Here is Our scenario ::

The customer is not exposing the Database, hence we are creating SOAP Web Services for accessing the Database for accessing the

Data and subsequently ADF UI pages to perform UI activities in Online Mode.

For Offline Mode, the customer wants to either same UI forms maintaining either a Lightweight DB or No Database/

have different UI forms (may be HTML5 with inbuilt Data cache) . By Offline Mode he does not refer to

Tablets or Mobiles, but Only Normal Laptops which no network connectivity(so ADF mobile solution

is out of question)

My Questions ::

a) What are the Best practices to implement such a solution ?

b) I know that ADF Forms support Offline Database also , but how to access those ADF forms in Offline Mode where there is no Internet connectivity ?

User laptops will not be having Inbuilt Server on their machine where we can deploy the Application.

c) Is re-creating the Offline(may be HTML5) solution separately the best approach to build such a solution?

d) What is the best practice for Data Synchronization ? Here the problem is not just the form Data entered

in the UI forms in offline Mode but also any changes in data(e.g Addition of a New product ) should reflect

in the Offline UI as soon as the Network is available?

Any Good Architectural/design pointers will be of Great help

Regards,

Nikhil Misra

[Raed Turkmani]

Question Nikhil,

 

For offline access, how will you authenticate a user without a connection? does your app hold credentials locally? or not require authentication at all? I know I am not answering your question, but wanted to know how will you address this issue?

 

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[Niks]

For the offline app you can assume there is no authentication.

[Vishal Sanganaboina]

I remember we made an offline time card which consisted of javascript(ajax)+html+xslt was chosen. Whenever the user enters and save, it will be saved in the xml, and when user connects to the network we provided the sync button(enabled dynamically), which will upload the xml into the ERP and process the xml.

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cheers,
Vishal

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[krithika]

Hi Nikhil,

I had a similar situation for one of our client. We went with an light version of desktop app to capture the data and store it in SQLLite (local database). When the device comes online, the user can Synchronize the desktop application data which will generate an xml file with the latest data available locally and update their database.

For the changes from production data, again we had a folder in the server in which there will be simple file(for each user) to point which table has been updated. So, when the desktop user comes online if there is an entry in this folder for a particular user, the data will be synchronised back. Note we had to go for such solution as there was no SOA systems in place.

However, if you have complex business validations for the data, this solution will fail at the first instance.

Why not evaluate ADF desktop integration for your scenario? I never had a chance to try this personally but looks like will suit your scenario.

Hope this helps.

Thanks &Regards
~Krithika

[Vishal Sanganaboina]

For the first time login, you have to be on network, during that time we do one way encryption of the user and password and store it locally, if any user opens that file we read the last accessed date of that file if that does not match with the modified file then we will not let the user login.

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cheers,
Vishal

[Wilfred van der Deijl]

We did something similar in the past (version 10g) for an offline ADF Swing application that uses a bean datacontroll against local (XML) files. When network connectivity exists the XML data can be submitted to a web service. ADF Swing is deprecated and I'm not sure it even exists in later ADF versions. Developing and maintaining an Swing application proved to be a pain in the ***

You could go for a non-ADF approach but I'm assuming you want to re-use your existing ADF skills. Going for a non-ADF approach would be beyond the scope of this group.

You might look at ADF Desktop Integration but that is an Excel based solution and doesn't allow you to reuse existing ADF taskflows.

Another option would be to use ADF Essentials. As this does not require a license you could run a small glassfish server on the laptops with a locally deployed ADF application. It could work with POJO datacontrol against local files, a simple database (H2, MySQL, or BerkleyDB), or even a local Oracle XE database if you need that sort of power (and administration). You would need a solution for software updates/distribution but their are plenty of solutions for that. Perhaps talk to your windows administrators for existing solutions. 

A third alternative would be to actually look at ADF Mobile. Technically ADF Mobile just needs a JVM to run and a browser that can render HTML5. I now Oracle has tested internally with a MS Windowd based setup and it can work. Perhaps you could contact ADF Mobile Product Management and see of they have any plans in that direction and of they want to work with you on that. Keep in mind that the development experience of ADF Mobile is very similar to "big ADF" but you cannot reuse existing "big ADF" taskflows in Mobile.

Op dinsdag 6 augustus 2013 schreef Nikhil (nikhil...@gmail.com):

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[Niks]

Vishal,

Good option for Security Implementation.

One Good news is that Customer is ready for an offline Lite Database version.

What is the underlying technology choices we have for an Offline solution with minimal server installation requirements ?

Krithika,

ADF desktop integration , i Don't see  offline App being talked about in ADF Desktop Integration. Also Customer is expecting

UI forms similar to the ADF forms in offline mode.

If I think of ADF with offline Database, how do I access my ADF application in offline Mode(is there any small packaged version

of ADF runtime which we can install for few pages only locally )

Other technology choices i can think of is HTML5. and Ajax+Html+xslt as suggested by Vishal

Any More Architectural choices ?

Regards,

Nikhil Misra

Regards,

Nikhil Misra

[Chris Muir]

Hi Juergen

Can I get you to post this to the ADF G+ community group too?:

https://plus.google.com/communities/113990885678873525746

Ta,

Chris Muir

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[ankit gupta]

Hi Nikhil,

 

I recenty read about new offline database support feature in Jdeveloper 12c - 

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/documentation/1212-nf-1964675.htme 

This can help you achieve ADF application with offline databases.

Best Regards,

Ankit Gupta

Ankit Gupta
(m): +91-9582212122

[Saif Kamaal]

Hi,

Oracle has a CRM solution-on the fusion middleware stack which has the offline support...if my memory serves me right...which i saw a year back. May be someone from Oracle excluding myself =-O can throw some light here on how it is done.

My assumption is if i m hitting the right stone you will get all the gold (best practise/architecture) from that.

Regards
Saif Kamaal
-sent from note

[Krithika Srikrish]

Hi Nikhil,

You can't access your ADF forms offline. Having lighter version of DB + glassfish server + ADF Essentials might  be the solution but do you want to install these softwares in each laptop?

I think HTML5 + JavaScript + XML + some POJO / Rails / PHP would be the way to go. 

ADF Mobile though you can create taskflows and forms similar to ADF web app, it is packaged and deployed against different platforms(like iOS/Android). Hence I don't think can run as desktop app by itself.

Regards,

~Krithika

Sent from my iPhone

[Steven Davelaar]

Ankit,

This is a design-time feature, it allows you to work with ADF BC components in JDev against an offline DB schema.
So, no solution for offline runtime usage of an ADF app.

Steven.

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Steven Davelaar| Consulting Solutions Architect Oracle Webcenter | FMW Architecture Team (A-Team) Tel +31 30 669 8113 | Mobile +31 6 55 33 24 28 Twitter: @stevendavelaar

A-Team Chronicles | JHeadstart

[Joe Huang]

On the client side, please let me know what type of demand we are seeing for laptop/full Windows 8 support, as well as the use case.  The jury is still out as to which flavor of Windows that ADF Mobile would ultimately support, or if another platform such as BlackBerry is the next platform.

On the server/sync side, full/two way DB sync is fairly complex to implement because you have to deal with data conflict, ensuring proper order of transactions, etc.  Oracle does have a product called Database Mobile Server that does DB to DB sync, and it can also be used to sync against Web Services although it would require some heavy lifting of writing transactions yourself against WS calls.  If you are doing just data capture/upload to server, then you can just adopt the easiest sync model to upload data in one batch and do full DB refresh.

As for the CRM Offline Laptop solution referenced below, if you are referring to Siebel Remote, it's only for Siebel and can't be used for something else.  If you are referring to something built using FMW stack for Fusion Apps, it's never released and also specific to the Fusion Apps.

Thanks,

Joe Huang

Product Management, Mobile Application Development Platform

App Development Tools Group

Oracle

(650) 506-2271 (Office)

(510) 282-0369 (Mobile)

http://www.oracle.com/mobile

[Niks]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for coming in the Discussion Big way. 

On the client side, please let me know what type of demand we are 

seeing for laptop/full Windows 8 support, as well as the use case.  

Demand :: Looking for Light Weight Offline solution supported on Windows7 or greater platform.

Use  Case :: We are implementing this for a Insurance  domain.

So what the client wants it the relationShip manager should be

able to perform Policy and Quotations, Suggest and Illustrate products

in an Offline Mode.These are the features expected by the client in Offline Mode ::

a) On the First Run with Network connectivity, the Offline Mode Application should

be able to download all the required data and Processing Logic (different calculations)

in the database.Also encryped data for Authentication and Authorization should be taken care

of.

b) Once in the Offline Mode, the users should have Desktop UI screens to Perform Quotes and select products

  based on suggestions and Generate an Application and save the Data respectively, similar to Online

  UI screens.

  

c) Once in Online Mode, the Sync should happen automatically in a secured manner via Web service.

d) Any Changes in the Data on the server (e.g. Adding a New Product) should also be synced during 

  Online conversation.

  

The jury is still out as to which flavor of Windows that ADF Mobile would ultimately support, 

or if another platform such as BlackBerry is the next platform.

a) ADF Mobile supporting Windows platform may be a good idea, but as far as I know ADF Mobile

   fits in  more where you want to create small screens and perform specific activities.

   Windows version should even support activities like big Data Entry forms, and complex processing.

b) Blackberry news is Good.  

On the server/sync side, full/two way DB sync is fairly complex to implement because you have to

deal with data conflict, ensuring proper order of transactions, etc.  Oracle does have a product called 

Database Mobile Server that does DB to DB sync, and it can also be used to sync against Web Services although 

it would require some heavy lifting of writing transactions yourself against WS calls.  

If you are doing just data capture/upload to server, then you can just adopt the easiest sync model 

to upload data in one batch and do full DB refresh

a) It may not be a Data Capture /Upload as offline UI screens will have some complex processing

    and calculations.

b) Database Mobile Server - Is there any platform constraint for the same?

Regards,

Nikhil Misra

+91-903-008-3085

[Niks]

Krithika,

I believe you are right. ADF Mobile is out of question, cos here Offline solution is for Desktop/laptop and not Android/iOS devices.

As Steven said..offline DB is a different feature.

Wilfred ::

a) ADF essentials is one thing even I thought but Installing glassfish server on each machine and expect end-users to control that may not work. Still that option is open if Customer agree for small Glassfish server on each machine

b) As mentioned, ADF mobile is restricted to iOS and android version. May be Oracle can work on a simple native ADF application(like ADF Mobile) which can just run as an executable.Oracle product managers - Anyone Listening??

[rakesh menon]

Hi All,

Is there a reason why ADF - Swing is not considered as a solution for offline? Since it using BC as the backend wouldn't it be a good option as well?

Thanks,

Rakesh

[Ashwini Joshi]

Hi All,

We have a similar requirement wherein, some of the features of application should be available in offline mode. Offline mode contains a. Database not available b. Network not available / very low bandwidth. 

I went through the entire email chain, however couldn't find any concrete solution. Has anyone actually implemented the offline mode in ADF? Another question on the same line is, is it possible to use SQLite DB in regular ADF applications, that is not using ADF Mobile? 

Please direct me to the references / documents if any for such implementations. Your inputs are much appreciated. 

Thanks,

Ashwini

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Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:10:09 +0530
Subject: Re: [ADF EMG] Best Practices for Online-Offline ADF Solution
From: rakes...@gmail.com
To: adf-met...@googlegroups.com

[sankar swaminathan]

Hi , 

Had a similar requirement ( without Mobile integration) approx some 2.5 to 3 years back , we went with Desktop Integration. 
Customer can continue to update the excel even while not in network. How ever, to save/commit, he should be back in network and click the submit button on the saved excel file to push data to DB... Worked out fine for us. 

thanks,

Sankar

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