APPS Blogs
Configurator performance issue in Order Entry
I searched in Metalink with keywords Configurator performance Order Entry and came across Note 130511.1 which gives this suggestion:
The first step in troubleshooting performance problems is to ensure that the customer has recently gathered statistics and that it was done correctly. The following schemas may impact performance in the OM product suite: ONT, WSH, QP, INV, AK, MRP, HZ, CZ, APPLSYS.
I told Bimal about this and he executed the following commands:
exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('ONT') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('WSH') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('QP') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('INV') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('AK') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('MRP') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('HZ') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('CZ') ;exec fnd_stats.gather_schema_statistics('APPLSYS') ;
The issue was resolved immediately. Always check for statistics as a cause for performance problems in a CBO world.
DataPump Legacy Mode in 11g Release 2
If you’re planning a migration to 11g, then one of the many items on your “to do” list, will be to check whether or not any database management scripts that you currently use will need to be re-written.
If you’re using Oracle 9i Release 2 or earlier, then you’ll be using scripts for the export and import utilities. Whilst many of the parameters used by these tools have equivalent parameters when using datapump, a useful feature in 11g Release 2 is the legacy mode feature.
With this new feature, you can simply use your existing export/import scripts with the datapump impdp/expdp utilities. Datapump won’t re-write the scripts for you, but it will transform the parameters as the script runs, so that datapump completes successfully. At a later stage, you can then re-write your export/import scripts, without having to manually check what changes should be made.
To demonstrate this functionality, we can take a quick norows export of an 11g Release 2 database. We’ll use the parameters “file”,”log”,”buffer” and “rows” which are export parameters, but aren’t listed as being parameter for use with expdp.
export ORACLE_SID=orcl
export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/opt/oracle/product/11gR2/db_1
expdp system/password file=test_full.dmp log=test_full.log buffer=1048576 rows=n
An extract from the logfile contains the following lines:-
Export: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Fri Oct 23 22:26:42 2009
Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
Legacy Mode Active due to the following parameters:
Legacy Mode Parameter: “buffer=1048576″ Location: Command Line, ignored.
Legacy Mode Parameter: “file=test_full.dmp” Location: Command Line, Replaced with: “dumpfile=test_full.dmp”
Legacy Mode Parameter: “log=test_full.log” Location: Command Line, Replaced with: “logfile=test_full.log”
Legacy Mode Parameter: “rows=FALSE” Location: Command Line, Replaced with: “content=metadata_only”
Legacy Mode has set reuse_dumpfiles=true parameter.
Starting “SYSTEM”.”SYS_EXPORT_SCHEMA_01″: system/******** dumpfile=test_full.dmp logfile=test_full.log content=metadata_only reuse_dumpfiles=true
Processing object type SCHEMA_EXPORT/USER
…
Master table “SYSTEM”.”SYS_EXPORT_SCHEMA_01″ successfully loaded/unloaded
******************************************************************************
Dump file set for SYSTEM.SYS_EXPORT_SCHEMA_01 is:
/u01/opt/oracle/admin/orcl/dpdump/test_full.dmp
Job “SYSTEM”.”SYS_EXPORT_SCHEMA_01″ successfully completed at 22:27:59
You’ll notice that datapump converts the export-specific parameters to their datapump equivalents on the fly and then completes the export as normal. The other point to notice about the export, is that the dumpfile and logfile will have been created in the default datapump directory, rather than in the location that you ran the commands from - as would have been the case with the export utility. (select directory_path from dba_directories where directory_name=’DATA_PUMP_DIR’; - to confirm where this location is in your environment).
The same legacy mode has also been implemented for the impdp datapump utility. Below is an extract from the logfile for a quick table import, which was run with the parameters “file”,”log”,”buffer”,”ignore” and “commit” from the import utility.
impdp system/password file=table_export.dmp log=table_import.log buffer=1048576 ignore=y commit=y
Import: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Fri Oct 23 22:44:48 2009
Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
Legacy Mode Active due to the following parameters:
Legacy Mode Parameter: “buffer=1048576″ Location: Command Line, ignored.
Legacy Mode Parameter: “commit=TRUE” Location: Command Line, ignored.
Legacy Mode Parameter: “file=table_export.dmp” Location: Command Line, Replaced with: “dumpfile=table_export.dmp”
Legacy Mode Parameter: “ignore=TRUE” Location: Command Line, Replaced with: “table_exists_action=append”
Legacy Mode Parameter: “log=table_import.log” Location: Command Line, Replaced with: “logfile=table_import.log”
Master table “SYSTEM”.”SYS_IMPORT_FULL_01″ successfully loaded/unloaded
Starting “SYSTEM”.”SYS_IMPORT_FULL_01″: system/******** dumpfile=table_export.dmp logfile=table_import.log table_exists_action=append
Processing object type SCHEMA_EXPORT/USER
…
. . imported “TEST”.”T1″ 5.156 KB 17 rows
Job “SYSTEM”.”SYS_IMPORT_FULL_01″ completed …
References:
1) Oracle 9i Database Utilities Release 2 (9.2)
2) Oracle Database Utilities 10g Release 2 (10.2)
3) Oracle Database Utilities 11g Release 2 (11.2)
Lyle Ekdahl takes charge of Oracle’s JD Edwards franchise
Legal Claims and Payment Plans for Receivables and Advanced Collections Part 3
IMPLEMENTATION
Custom Form
Claims are entered and maintained using a custom form which may be entered from a menu or, more usually at LBL, from the Oracle Collections screen. A custom tab was enabled and its label changed to Claims by a personalisation. If the DCO clicks on the claims tabs the personalisation zooms to the claims form. When the Collections screen is entered for a customer with an active claim a pop-up message appears giving details of the claim; again this is achieved through personalisation.
If the Claims screen is entered from the Collections screen the customer name and number are filled in automatically and the claims for this customer queried.
If the screen is entered from the menu the DCO must select the customer name or number from picklists.
Claims are added by pressing the ‘Add Claim’ button. The system adds a record to the claims table and populates a custom table with links to all the overdue invoices for the customer.
When claims are created they have a default claim reference which may be changed by the DCO. The claim has a status of ‘In Preparation’ which flags the claim as not yet being active. Possible values are:
The Enforcement Stage tells the DCO’s what action is being taken to pursue the claim. Its default value is Visiting Officer. Possible values are:
The claim amount is the sum of the amounts due for the overdue invoices plus costs and interest; this value is saved in the claims record.
The Current Balance is the amount currently outstanding for the claim; it is calculated each time the claim record is queried. A customer may have more than one claim active but in practice they would normally have only one active claim at a time.
Business Intelligence – more observations from OpenWorld
Oracle Service Bus 10.3.1 Installation
Last Year I discussed about Oracle Service Bus here, from Fusion Middleware SOA 11g, Oracle’s Enterprise Bus is renamed as Oracle Mediator and BEA’s AquaLogic Service Bus (ALSB) is now called as Oracle Service Bus.
This post covers high level Installation steps for Oracle Service Bus (OSB) 10.3.1 . Oracle Service Bus 10.3.1 uses Oracle WebLogic Server so make sure you understand WebLogic concepts “Domain, Administration and Managed Server” more information here
.
Oracle Service Bus Installation Steps
A. Install OSB Software
B. Configure/create domain for OSB
C. Start WebLogic Server
D. Access OSB Console
A. Install OSB Software
1. Download Service Bus Software from here
2. Start Installation by running osb1031_wls103_[os].bin
3. Choose Installation Type
a) Typical- WebLogic Server, Workshop and Oracle Service Bus
b) Custom - individual components
.
4. Select Installation Directory for OSB
.
B. Create/Configure domain for OSB
1. Start domain creation by running $INSTALL_BASE/ wlserver_10.3/ common/ bin/config.sh
2. Select create a new WebLogic Domain
3. Select Generate a domain configured to automatically support Oracle Service Bus
4. Enter WebLogic Administrator Login details
5. You can choose customize installation (change listen port, server…) or select default installation
Default installation will create domain “base_domain” with Administration Server listening on port 7001
.
C. Start WebLogic Server
$INSTALL_BASE/ user_projects/ domains/ [base_domain]/ startWebLogic.sh
D. Access Oracle Service Bus Console
Use URL http://servername:7001/sbconsole
(weblogic/password) where weblogic/password are credential defined above (section B point 4)
.
.
Documentation
.
Oracle Service Bus High Availability Deployment (Active-Active) coming soon !!!
Previous in series Related Posts for Service Bus- Oracle Service Bus << AquaLogic Service Bus (BEA) + Oracle Enterprise Service Bus (Oracle)
- Oracle Service Bus 10.3.1 Installation
New Release White Paper Through Contractors Network
Contractors Network is pleased to announce the latest free of charge release into our extensive Oracle Apps related White Paper Library of:
Using 11g Change Data Capture for Database Auditing
Authored by Matt Canning
About Matt;
Matt is an Oracle Certified Professional DBA and has worked with Oracle databases from versions 7.3.4 to 11g R1, running on Windows and UNIX platforms. He has worked with clients across Vehicle Management, Banking, Insurance, Security, Government, Telecoms and Technology sectors. Matt’s experience spans across every stage of the project lifecycle from initial development to go-live, then on to live support and eventual decommissioning.
Who Should Read Matt’s Paper;
Database Administrators, Security Administrators, Developers and anyone else who is interested in the auditing capabilities of Oracle Change Data Capture.
If you would like request a copy please email myself on rebecca.bragg@oraclecontractors.com or register via the White Paper library today.
Maximise your Potential
Khalil Rehman wrote in October about ‘doing more with less’ that over the last 18 months we have all had to tighten our belts and try to achieve more with less. I’ve seen this trend too in a very competitive job market, but employers wanting more from the people they hire. Depth and breadth on your cv seems to be more attractive than ever, and almost imperative too.
Oracle seem to have finally ‘committed’ to Release 12, after the wait and see attitude towards Fusion seems to have had an impact on projects and we’ve all seen the project market shrink. There was a time when we could gain experience of new releases on the job, but those roles are not really around and new projects, all seemingly Release 12, demand release 12 experience.
Where can you gain Release 12 skills without spending thousands on Oracle Education? Over the years, the on the job route of gaining experience, became the norm, in so much that consultants were trained on the job and, let’s face it, no amount of training can ever replace experience. Can this be viewed as a failure of the training market? Shouldn’t those people responsible for ‘on the job’ training be those standing at the front of a classroom?
The Training Concept
Too many times are training classes provided with a generic trainer reading from a prepared set of slides, rather than an expert imparting their knowledge and experience. This experience is what is required to be delivered, and attempt to teach the skills an understanding to implement solutions, rather than teach topics that will fill a predetermined length of time. Don’t look at the quality, feel the width!
To deliver training to people and organisations that are ‘time poor’ clientele requires the understanding of what is important and how to deliver an overall understanding of the entire problem area. The kind of gaps in the skills market are very often version dependant, with vendors ever improving their products, leaving the consultant base concerned about their skill sets leaving them behind. This also has the effect of leaving large and small organisations with an expensive re-skilling exercise for their personnel.
Version based skills and the need to re-skill.
In the Oracle applications market, there are specific niche areas with high demand of skills. This not only keeps existing contractors in the contract market, but also attracts others to it. We want to offer help by enabling consultants to gain confidence in the new releases of Oracle Applications, or introduce consultants to new applications.
Our training ethos is to use consultant-based courseware – learn what you need to do the job taught by experts in their field, not trainers.
Training the independent
Consultant focussed training provides condensed intensive implementation training, based around the entire life cycle with tips and lessons learnt from the experts. The training itself shouldn’t be the end though. On the job you have your mentor to ‘fall back on’ in the form. When you’ve spent a small fortune on traditional training, in the end you’re on your own. Wouldn’t it nice if your trainer could be your mentor after your course too. Our forum based post-course help line allows you contact with the very consultants who trained you, offering guidance and interpretation of your new skills.
This type of consultant training is just as applicable to corporate clients wishing to retrain entire departments over a weekend period, as it is to individuals not wishing to give up an entire week of work in order to gain new skills.
It is our intention to capitalise on the unique and in-depth experience, of applications implementation, of the best consultants out there, by using them to provide specific training opportunities to the market, visit our training offerings at www.theITskillsnetwork.com. Any questions please email ian.carline@oraclecontractors.com
EnterpriseOne 9.0 Update 1 now available
Urgent French Requirements
Mission de Consultant Fonctionnel Finance Oracle E-Business Suite R12 en France
Nous sommes actuellement à la recherche d’un consultant Fonctionnel Finance Oracle E-Business Suite R12 pour une mission de 12 mois basée en France. Le client recherche les compétences suivantes :
Expérience de la version 12 d’Oracle EBS
Forte compétence sur les modules Finance
Bilingue Français et Anglais
Idéalement, expérience de travail avec des sociétés françaises et américaines (déploiement d’un core model US vers la France)
Démarrage : mi Novembre
Durée : 12 mois
Mission de Consultant Fonctionnel Manufacturing Oracle E-Business Suite R12 en France (x2)
Nous sommes actuellement à la recherche de 2 Consultants Fonctionnels Manufacturing Oracle E-Business Suite R12 pour une mission de 12 mois basée en France. Le client recherche les compétences suivantes :
Expérience de la version 12 d’Oracle EBS
Forte compétence sur les modules Manufacturing
Bilingue Français et Anglais
Idéalement, expérience de travail avec des sociétés françaises et américaines (déploiement d’un core model US vers la France)
Démarrage : mi Novembre
Durée : 12 mois
Mission de Consultant Fonctionnel Oracle Projects Suite R12 en France
Nous sommes actuellement à la recherche d’un consultant Fonctionnel Oracle Projects Suite R12 pour une mission de 12 mois basée en France. Le client recherche les compétences suivantes :
Expérience de la version 12 d’Oracle EBS
Forte compétence sur la suite Projects
Bilingue Français et Anglais
Idéalement, expérience de travail avec des sociétés françaises et américaines (déploiement d’un core model US vers la France)
Démarrage : mi Novembre
Durée : 4 à 6 mois
Mission de Chef de Projet Oracle E-Business Suite R12 en France
Nous sommes actuellement à la recherche d’un Chef de Projet Oracle E-Business Suite R12 pour une mission de 12 mois basée en France. Le client recherche les compétences suivantes :
Expérience de la version 12 d’Oracle EBS
Bilingue Français et Anglais
Idéalement, expérience de travail avec des sociétés françaises et américaines (déploiement d’un core model US vers la France)
Démarrage : mi Novembre
Durée : 12 mois
Merci de me contacter au +33 6 12 08 90 10 ou sur renaud.boisson@oraclecontractors.com pour plus d’infos sur cette opportunité.
New Release White Paper Through Contractors Network
Contractors Network is pleased to announce the latest free of charge release into our extensive Oracle Apps related White Paper Library of:
Scheduler FE (Updated Version)
Authored by Colin Greenwood
About Colin;
Colin Greenwood has worked in IT since 1983 and with Oracle databases for the past fourteen years. He is an Oracle Certified DBA on Oracle 8, 8i, and 9i.
Who Should Read this Paper;
This document is written with an audience of the Scheduling Manager, who is expected to be an Oracle DBA, in mind. The functionality of the Scheduling FE that is described within the document will also be of interest to management within Customer Support.
If you would like request a copy please email myself on rebecca.bragg@oraclecontractors.com or register via the White Paper library.
How to find the no. of cores in a Solaris box
"psrinfo -pv" only prints the core information on systems running OpenSolaris or Solaris Express, because psrinfo was enhanced by this CR:
6316187 Need interface to determine core sharing by CPUswhich was never backported to a Solaris 10 update.
So I googled for psrinfo opensolaris and found this perl script.
Here's the ouptut of running this perl script on a T5220 server:
$ perl psrinfo.pl -pvThe physical processor has 4 cores and 13 virtual processors (-50) The core has 4 virtual processors (0-3) The core has 3 virtual processors (16-18) The core has 3 virtual processors (32-34) The core has 3 virtual processors (48-50) UltraSPARC-T2 (clock 1415 MHz)
OracleAS 10.1.3.5 Certified with E-Business Suite Release 12
IBM’s Information On Demand conference
E-Business Suite 12.1.2 Release Content Documents Now Available
Using the Oracle PL/SQL Profiler Part 3
In this SQL, enter the RUNID from the prior SQL statement. Oracle will place several lines of ‘’ in the UNIT_OWNER column. This information is the overhead that Oracle incurred executing the code, not the code itself. Since I am not interested in this clutter, I coded the SQL to just show me the profiler information of interest to me.
select runid, unit_number, unit_type, unit_owner, unit_name, unit_timestamp
from plsql_profiler_units
where unit_owner <> ‘’
and runid = &rpt_runid;
select pu.unit_name, pd.line#, pd.total_occur passes, round(pd.total_time / 1000000000,5) total_time, us.text text
from plsql_profiler_data pd, plsql_profiler_units pu, user_source us
where pd.runid = &rpt_runid
and pd.unit_number = &rpt_unitid
and pd.runid = pu.runid
and pd.unit_number = pu.unit_number
and us.name = pu.unit_name
and us.line = pd.line#
and us.type in (’PACKAGE BODY’,'PROCEDURE’,'FUNCTION’);
This code cleans up the profiler tables.
delete from plsql_profiler_data;
delete from plsql_profiler_units;
delete from plsql_profiler_runs;
TOAD Users
Quest Software has implemented the PL/SQL Profiler into the TOAD tool. This option has been available for quite a while. It too is easy to use and the whole process is easily handled from the TOAD environment.
Starting and stopping the profiler is easily accomplished by clicking on the Toggle PL/SQL Profiler button . If this button is grayed out, then the TOAD Server Side objects need to be executed (Database Administrate TOAD Server Side Objects Wizard).
When the PL/SQL code is executed, a dialog box will popup for the start comment.
Click the Toggle PL/SQL Profiler button again to stop profiling.
The same profile tables are populated but TOAD also formats this same outout using a nice interactive wizard. Use Database Optimize Profiler Analysis menu item to access the Profiler Analysis.
The output is easily visible. Select your executed code from the list and click on the arrow button in the circle.
Summary
The PL/SQL Profiler is an essential tool when tuning PL/SQL and the SQL coded into these same routines. Without something like this profiler process, it is impossible to tell where the time is spend when tuning PL/SQL code.
Dan Hotka - Author/Instructor/Expert
The KMA stategy for dealing with SBs
I had to laugh when I read extracts from Adrian Maile’s book: Secret Habits of Successful B%^&*%^£. It’s a self help book for those wishing to be successful but who are too nice. Adrian has many tips on how to be an SB on his LinkedIn group including some of my favourites:
• Make mountains out of molehills
• Be confrontational
• Expect the unachievable
• Put people down
• Change the rules to suit you
No doubt many of you recognise these characteristics from people you have worked with or worked for in the past. To get to the top it seems you have to trample over everyone in your way, act in a nauseating manner and slide knives in many backs. The choice appears to be either adopt these behaviours and succeed in your chosen career; or stay a nice guy or girl, and never hit the dizzy heights.
In reality, we have all worked for successful people who were to also nice people. I can think of at least six bosses I admired, respected and liked from my past. However, it is the SBs who stand out especially if they have had a detrimental effect on our careers or even our lives.
So what are the deep rooted issues with these SBs that cause these behaviours? In my humble opinion, many SBs share the following afflictions:
• Incompetence - usually struggling academically and professionally
• Boring and Friendless - all they can talk about is themselves and work
• Bullies - abusing the power of their position and ruling by fear
• Spineless bosses - incapable or unwilling to bring these SBs into line
A man once said to me: ‘Never underestimate anyone …..and never overestimate anyone either.’ The latter stuck with me and over the years I have realised that SBs like all bullies are selfish and cowardly - so hit them hard when you can…even little acts of rebellion can upset them. A few strategies to keep them awake at night:
• Find their past screw-ups and inefficiencies - let them know you know
• Use FACTS not EMOTIONS - easier to gain support with facts
• Take out grievances for poor management style
• Argue the toss forever about the SB’s appraisal of yourself
• Socialise often with colleagues causing the SB to get paranoid
• Refer to the ‘autocratic culture’ often of your department
• Send up great reports and ideas to the boss of the SB’s boss
• Join staff associations, trade unions etc.
• Use company communications to promote work / life balance, anti stress, progressive policies etc.
Winning is distressing these SBs by exposing them as sad, limited, lonely individuals who despite the wonderful challenges and opportunities in life struggle to be ‘successful’ employing 100% of their energy on an activity which should consume less than 30% of your entire life. Work to live and widen the scope of ‘success’ to embrace family, friends, interests, travel and great personal challenges.
Don’t expect to change or beat the SBs at their sad game. Don’t worry about it either. Find a job with a nice boss or nice colleagues and leave them in the mire as much as (legally) possible before you depart their workplace.
This is the Kiss My A**e strategy.
How do you fare on the B#@£$%^ometer?
Database 11gR1 11.1.0.7 Certified With EBS 12.1.1 on Windows Server 2003 (x64)
Oracle UPK 3.5 book review
As alluded to in an earlier post, I have received a copy of this book from those splendid people at Packt Publishing (www.PacktPub.com) to review.
Foreword
I have several technical books by Packt within my expanding library (all paid for I hasten to add – this is most definitely the first ‘freebee’ I’ve had). Without exception they have all been excellent reads / references, but none quite match the weighty tomb of the UPK 3.5 book that landed on the door mat. At just under 500 pages (excluding index) it is certainly a sizeable reference indeed.
I have written and presented technical training classes in my time, and quite often have to perform TOI sessions as part of my current engagement. However I have absolutely no exposure to UPK save for an excellent article I read in the Oracle Scene magazine last year. As it say’s on the rear cover, “this book has been written for new or intermediate training developers…” so I guess I should be an ideal test.
Oracle User Productivity Kit – The review
First impressions are that this book is well thought out for the beginner. It is structured such that it gently breaks-in the new user to the power of the product by taking you through a basic example, and then showing you how to amend and add to the content.
The topics are well thought out, with content topics grouped into logically related chapters. Thus the initial “Topic Editing” chapter sensibly touches on tasks that would be common to all users; namely adding Bubble Text and simple recording adjustments (such as adding in extra frames or re-capturing existing frames).
Once you are familiar with the basic steps of recording and editing your content, and are happy with how you organize and manage the content, the book then takes you through the process of publishing the content. UPK provides the ability to publish electronically, or via printed media (as in user manuals etc).
Electronic publishing is achieved via several methods; either using the dedicated UPK content player, via HTML web pages, or via an LMS package. As one who is familiar with the Oracle Learning Management module and who has done a lot of work with e-Learning, the LMS option was of particular interest.
The printed content publishing options were also extensive, and the ability to generate content that integrates with HP Quality Centre (or Mercury TestDirector as I knew it) is a nice touch that would go down well with larger organizations (including my present assignment I should add).
There is even the option to integrate your published content into the application itself – so the option to generate better context-specific help text and training into your production systems to enhance / supplant existing OEM help files is an option that would be beneficial to large application users. I’m thinking here that this product would have been a godsend on my current engagement, as the training of end-users has been a vast, expensive, and labour-intensive project in its own right.
One could argue that at this point in the book, the job is done. The reader has been given an overview of how to record, edit and publish the content. What more is there to know?
This is where this book starts to score (and effectively justify its price tag).
The topic of Version Management/Control is covered in enough detail relevant to UPK content. This is handy if you have (or plan to have) multiple developers generating and editing content as a collective collaborative project. Most development projects always benefit from some form of source control system, and I see no reason why this should not include the development of training materials.
Conditional branching and alternative actions within recorded content is something that I had not come across (or even thought about) before. One assumed that pre-recorded training content forced the users to follow the prescribed path. However UPK provides the ability to add in alternative actions, and multiple end-points for the recorded material. Thus if you work with an application that allows some task or other to be achieve in multiple ways (say a ‘short route’ for the expert user, and a ‘long route’ for the novice) then you can record and build these routes and paths into the training content. Fantastic idea!
Another area where UPK scores is with its ability to incorporate sound (i.e. speech) into the content. Pre-recorded sound files can be attached to individual pieces of text within a frame, which could be beneficial for, say, partially sighted users requiring verbal hints or confirmation of actions. Alternatively you can attach a single sound file for an entire frame within your content. One thing I did not see (and could not determine) was whether there was anyway to provide proper synchronisation of the recorded sound with the user actions. My guess is that this is not possible; so the frame sound file would play regardless of how quickly the user was interacting with the frame actions.
The book ends with a couple of chapters squarely aimed at advanced users (or installations). There is extensive coverage on how to alter the configuration of UPK, including changing the existing templates, replacing default icons with your own graphics, even as far as defining your own output document formats. As a novice user I glossed over this section, although a glance through showed me that most of the configuration files seemed to be XML based, so should prove to be quite simple to grasp and modify for the experienced users.
The other ‘advanced user’ chapter covered the topic of localising the content in your own language.
And there you have it. UPK in a nutshell.
Gripes?
I guess my biggest gripe with this book is the screenshots. They are all black-and-white. There are references very early on in the book which talk of specific coloured borders on active windows, and green/red indicators on the recorder bar. This is all lost when all you see are monochrome images. I appreciate that using colour images would (probably) increase the production (and therefore selling) costs of this book, but its an irritation. One wonders whether the eBook version could provide the colour screenshots instead?
As a new-comer I found the frequent references back to product differences between the historic product versions marginally distracting. Whilst the expert user may have found such product difference explanations of value I just wondered whether these could have simply been tagged with a reference number for a fuller explanation within their own chapter / appendix at the back of the book. It certainly would have removed some of the ‘clutter’ in some sections.
One plus-point to note was that you only got introduced to configurable items (options) as and when it became necessary. This was useful as a way of breaking in the new user gently to the large number of configuration settings that UPK has to offer without overloading.
In summary
For me, the book does exactly what it sets out to do. I have been given an excellent introduction to UPK, what it can do, and (more importantly) how to do it. Whilst it does not make me an experience user of it, should the need arise on any future engagements, at least I will have sufficient knowledge to hit the ground running. The author clearly demonstrates his knowledge of the product, and more importantly, knows how to convey this knowledge across to the uninitiated.
Existing users of the product would also benefit from this book. Whilst this is a large book to carry around, it should prove its worth in the ‘desk real-estate’ that it takes up by providing a handy reference guide. It is well indexed, and the chapters are neatly and logically collected and laid out.
I feel even experienced users may get some value out of having a copy as an aide-memoir.
I’d like to thank Packt Publishing for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I’d like to think that perhaps I could review some other titles (Oracle or otherwise) in the future.
For the interested, here’s the link to the book http://www.packtpub.com/oracle-user-productivity-kit-upk-3-5?utm_source=oraclecontractors.com&utm_medium=bookrev&utm_content=blog&utm_campaign=mdb_001015