Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle ADF 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.x): New Features

Introduction

JDeveloper 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.4.0)

The 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.4.0) version of JDeveloper and ADF is a minor update release. It contains many bug fixes as well as a few new ADF Mobile features to enjoy.

• ADF Mobile
• Bugs Fixed in 11.1.2.4.0

JDeveloper 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.3.0)

The 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.3.0) version of JDeveloper and ADF is a minor update release. It contains many bug fixes as well as a few new features to enjoy.

JDeveloper 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.2.0)

The 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.2.0) version of JDeveloper and ADF is a minor update release. It contains many bug fixes as well as a few new features to enjoy.

• ADF Faces and Data Visualization Tools (DVT)
• ADF Faces
• ADF Databinding
• Bugs Fixed in 11.1.2.2.0

JDeveloper 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.1.0)

The 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.1.0) version of JDeveloper is a bug-fix update to 11.1.2.0.0.

• Bugs Fixed in 11.1.2.1.0

JDeveloper 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.0.0)

The 11g Release 2 (11.1.2.0.0) version of JDeveloper and ADF is a major, feature-bearing release. While there are many new goodies to enjoy here, the primary themes of the release are:

• Upgraded JDeveloper Extension Framework: The extension (plug-in) framework has been upgraded to use OSGi. This allows for lazy-loading of extensions as needed. The result is faster start-up time, and much improved overall performance.
• Improved JDeveloper Performance: In addition to upgrading to use OSGI, work was done throughout JDeveloper to improve design time performance.
• Integrated Maven: Maven 2 support is now integrated with JDeveloper.
• ADF Skin Editor: New ADF Skin editor for visually creating and modifying the appearance of ADF Faces applications.
• JSF 2.0: JSF 2.0 support in the IDE and for ADF applications

Of course, there were also lots of bug fixes implemented in this release (about 700 customer bugs). Read on for more details of the new features!

As always, we welcome your feedback on the OTN forum.

Previous Version? If you are looking for the new feature list for a prior 11g release, please refer to the release documentation page.


 

New In This Release (11.1.2.4.0)

ADF Mobile

Device-Native Push Notification

• Push notification to mobile users - for example notify user of a new approval request in the task list
• Leverage proven native push notification mechanisms
  • iOS: Apple Push Notification
  • Androd: Google Cloud Messaging Service
• Integrated tightly into ADF Mobile

Badging APIs

• Provide visual cue to mobile users of new application events
• Frequently used with push notifications
• Supported on iOS only

File Content Display on Android

• Enables seamless integration with file viewers on Android

Application Archive Support

• Enables enterprise distribution of ADF Mobile applications that are created by System Integrators or ISVs
• Useful for SI and ISV partners

Infrastructure Updates

• Performance enhancements
• iPhone5 and iPad Mini Form Factors Support
• Migration of PhoneGap 1.0 to Cordova 2.2
• Updated Xcode and Android SDK support 

URL Scheme support  (added in ADF Mobile 11.1.2.4.39.64.51 release)

• Allows ADF Mobile Applications to be launched from other applications using URL scheme
• Supports listener to process the context parameters passed via URL scheme

Custom SOAP Header Support (added in ADF Mobile 11.1.2.4.39.64.51 update release)

• Allows custom SOAP Headers to be included in the Web Service Data Control SOAP Requests

xCode 5 Support (added in ADF Mobile 11.1.2.4.39.64.62 update release)

• Starting with patch 5, XCode 5 and iOS 7 SDK are required to build ADF Mobile applications for iOS. Application developers are required to download and install XCode 5 and update the Tools > Preferences, ADF Mobile iOS Platform settings to XCode 5 build directory and iOS 7 SDK.

New Skin with Native iOS7 and Android Look and Feel (added in ADF Mobile 11.1.2.4.39.64.62 update release)

• Patch 5 is shipped with a new skin - AltaMobile. This skin provides iOS 7 look and feel when running on iOS devices and native Android look and feel when running on Android devices. AltaMobile skin is an opt-in so Application developers have to change the skin configuration in adfmf-config.xml to uptake the new skin. adfmf-config.xml needs to be changed as follows:

Replace: <skin-family>mobileFusionFx</skin-family>
With: <skin-family>mobileAlta</skin-family>

New In This Release (11.1.2.3.0)

Java EE Development and Deployment

GlassFish Deployment

JDeveloper provides support for deployment to GlassFish Server 3.1.

ADF Mobile

ADF Mobile extends ADF applications to mobile devices as native applications. ADF Mobile is now production and available from the JDeveloper Update Center (Help > Check for Updates). For more information on specific features, demonstrations, and more product details, please see the ADF Mobile corner on OTN.

ADF Essentials

This release introduces a brand new option for introducing ADF to the larger Java Web development community. ADF Essentials is free to develop, free to deploy, free to distribute offering. It includes the core ADF building blocks of ADF Faces, ADF Data Visualization Tools (DVT), ADF Controller, ADF Model, ADF Share, and ADF Business Components. Furthermore, Oracle is excited to announce that ADF Essentials comes with certification for deployment on GlassFish. For more information, refer to the new ADF Essentials corner on OTN.

ADF Faces and Data Visualization Tools (DVT)

All ADF Faces and Data Visualization components now support touch gestures for interactivity on the touch-enabled devices, such as touch support for drag and drop, tooltips, data tips, and context menus. This support is enabled through the new v1.2 version of the FusionFx and FusionFx-simple families of skins. ADF Faces and DVT components are now certified on iPad. Additionally, ADF DVT Graph and Gauge components now support rendering in HTML5.

ADF View Framework

 

• Override default dimensions - By default, certain components default to getting their dimensions from the parent. This makes these components harder to work with in flowing containers, where the desire is usually to get the dimensions from the preferred size of the children components. In order to support this, but still maintain backwards compatibility, we have introduced a new web.xml context parameter. This parameter, when set, will allow the default values of certain attributes to assume a value that fits their current container. For the dimensionsFrom attribute, this means that the default value will be "auto" instead of "parent". This has the affect that the component will determine from its parent component what dimensions to use by default. This affects the dimensionsFrom attribute on af:decorativeBox, af:panelAccordion, af:panelDashboard, af:panelStretchLayout, af:panelSplitter and af:panelTabbed.For the table family of components, af:table, af:tree and af:treeTable, setting the new context parameter to auto will result in the default value of autoHeightRows to be switched from -1 to 0. Also, the these components will renderer the AFStretchWidth style class when autoHeightRows is 0 (and the context parameter has been set to auto).
  In order to set this new parameter, you must add this to the web.xml of your application:
  Copy

  Copied to Clipboard

  Error: Could not Copy

  <context-param>            
        <description>           
            This parameter controls the default value for component geometry on the page.
        Supported values are:
          legacy - component attributes use the default values as specified for the attributes
                   in the tag documentation (default value)
          auto   - component attributes use the correct default value given the value of their
                   parent component. For example, with this setting, the panelStretchLayout
                   will use "auto" as the default value for its "dimensionsFrom" attribute
                   instead of "parent".
  
        </description>                
                  <param-name>oracle.adf.view.rich.geometry.DEFAULT_DIMENSIONS</param-name>            
                  <param-value>auto</param-value>          
  </context-param>

Table

On tablet devices, ADF table now automatically renders as a paginated table, rather than infinite scroll. Instead of scroll bars, the table component is paginated, and displays a footer that allows the user to jump to specific pages of rows, as shown below. The number of rows on a page is determined by the fetchSize attribute.

New In This Release (11.1.2.2.0)

ADF Faces and Data Visualization Tools (DVT)

ADF Faces Framework

• Improved Page Loading Performance: A number of features have been added in this release to improve the overall experience of loading ADF Faces applications.
  • Reduce size of minimum required JavaScript -- The Triinidad JavaScript has been partitioned to minimize the core set of JavaScript needed for ADF Faces, and separating that from services that can be downloaded on demand.
  • Reduce size of images -- Images used in ADF Faces are now optimally compressed.
  • Add Closure compiler -- A new method is being used to produce better compressed (and obfuscated) JavaScript.
  • Support for Content Delivery Networks (cdn) -- New settings in adf-config.xml allow users to take advantage of Content Delivery Networks (CDN) to cache and serve the static parts of the application (images, javascript, style sheets, etc).

• Pretty URLs: By default, the parameter values for maintaining ADF Faces session state will no longer be passed using dynamic URL parameters. This results in much cleaner URLs that are visible to end users. For browsers that support it, the HTML 5 History Management API is used to remove the parameters, otherwise the information will be sent via session cookies. Alternatively, developers can choose a specific method or turn the feature off completely in web.xml.

ADF Faces

Layout

• af:panelGridLayout: This release introduces a new layout component. Panel Grid Layout, in conjunction with the related af:gridRow and af:gridCell tags, allows users to layout elements of a page in a simple (or sophisticated) collection of rows and columns. Note, there is no support for the new layout component in the JSF Visual editor in this release.

ADF Databinding

Web Services Data Control

• Ability to define key attribute: A WSDL which references an ID type attribute will now result in a Web Service Data Control structure that marks that attribute as a "Primary Key". Otherwise, the generated Web Service Data Control will add a hidden RowIndex attribute for the key value. As a result, the Web Service Data Control is also now able to support the setCurrentRowKey and setCurrentRowKeyWithValue iterator operations.
• HTTP header customization: When creating a Web Service Data Control definition, there is a new option to "Include HTTP Header Parameter". Selecting this option will result in a "HTTP Header" parameter under the data control operations in the Data Controls accordion panel. You can provide the value for the HTTP Header parameter from a backing bean, and the value will be passed via the request then the method is executed.

URL Data Control

• *Multiple methods:*A single URL data control can now be used to expose all the operations of a REST service. Multiple methods can be created within a single data control definition.
• XSD no longer required:  For GET operations, you no longer need to specify an XSD for the return type. If the XSD is not specified when creating the data control, the return type will be generated by making a request to the service.
• HTTP header customization: When creating a URL data control, there is a new option to "Include HTTP Header Parameter". Selecting this option will result in a "HTTP Header" parameter under the data control operations in the Data Controls accordion panel. You can provide the value for the HTTP Header parameter from a backing bean, and the value will be passed via the request then the method is executed.

New In This Release (11.1.2.0.0)

JDeveloper IDE

Editor Management

• Asynchronous editor support
  This will allow clients of the editor manager framework to open editors without blocking the event thread

Extension Development

• IDE extensions using trigger hooks
  Allow extensions to define when and how they should be loaded
• IDE extensions supporting lazy initialization
  Extensions are loaded when they're needed. Not all at the same time at startup.
• IDE extensions as OSGi bundles
  Extension classes are now loaded in separate classloaders thanks to OSGi classloading policy

Extension Developers Guide

• Developers Guide for Oracle JDeveloper Extensions

Look and Feel

• Improve L&F of many common components

Java Coding and Agile Development

Ant

• Show values of ant macro attributes in debugger

Audit/Metrics

• Serialization Audit Support
• Limit Audit File Size
• Unserializable Field Audit Support

Compiler

• Removing JavaCompiler.jar from SQLDev distribution
• Fast JOT Parser

Debugger

• toString() in Data Window
• Data Window Array Navigation
• Debugger Find Source Dialog

Java Code Editor

• Unsurround Code
• Incremental Search
• Replace command can now preserve case when run
• Call Tree Browser

Java Navigation

• Goto Class / File Navigator

Java Refactoring

• Externalize strings
• Invert Boolean
• Internationalize
  Replace a Java string literal with an internationalized version from a resource bundle
• Introduce Parameter Object
• Extract Class
• Extract Method Object

Java Searching/Indexing

• Class Locator
• Application Cache
• Copy of Class Locator
• File Change Support
• Exposing String Searching Capability
• Assuming External Files Are Not Changed By Default
• Application Level Persistent Storage
• Active Root Manager

Launcher

• 64bit support for Windows

Maven

• Create new applications and projects with Maven POM
• Create Maven POM from existing JDeveloper applications and projects
• Import Maven POM
• Configure Maven settings for any application
• Maven POM editing with code insight
• Run Maven goals

  

• Integrated Maven output display
• Manage locale and remote repositories with indexing and querying
• Manage Maven dependencies with synchronization with JDeveloper project libraries
• Automatic publishing of JDeveloper project libraries to local repository

Profilers

• Color New vs Old Refs in Snapshots
• 64bit agent support
• Partial Tree Expansion
• Linear Chain Reduction

Database Development

Offline Database

• Persist files or generate as Oracle 11gR2 SXML

  

• Bind variables as report parameters
• Filter application navigator by offline database object
• Persist PL/SQL as flat files such as .sql or .pls
• Improved dependency analysis when references (usages) made from PL/SQL to tables, views etc, or other PL/SQL objects
• "Go To Declaration" command for PL/SQL Editor

Modeler

• Database Profile in the UML class model increases flexibility of the transform from logical to physical database model

  

• Reverse transform from a physical database model to a logical model (UML class model)
• Steamline use of "Delete" and "Remove from Diagram"
• Graphical distinction between online and offline database objects through icons and connection information in the object tooltip
• Display join objects in iconic mode
• Allow "Show Related Elements" for views and relation usages
• Hide constraint name option added to preferences 

View Dialog Improvements

• SQL Code Insight
• UNION set operator and bind variables support for query building
• Group By expressions and function calls 
• Declarative support for inline and hierarchical query creation

Oracle Database Support

• Added DEFFERABLE and INITIALLY clauses to constraint model
• Explicitly model indexes implementing primary/unique keys
• Support for Oracle 11gR2 XE (Express Edition)

Non-Oracle Database Support

• Use of third party database dictionary and JDBC drivers

Team Development

Common Infrastructure

• Enhanced compare algorithm for large files
• Version Tree thumbnail view and structure pane usage
• Compare panels use accordion layout

Subversion

• Repository revision browser
• Support for tree conflict and Subversion property conflicts
• Add to svn:ignore via context menu on file
• Repository URL shown on commit and update dialogs
• Compare subversion properties in main compare view  

Perforce

• Perforce annotation support
• Connection dropdown list converted to a browse button and dialog

Serena Dimensions

• Support Dimensions requests (lifecycle) in version operations
• Import wizard

Java EE Development and Deployment

Application Server Integration

• Deploy Plan customization framework
• Flat Editor for Weblogic-policy-ref.xml
• Project/Application auditing for deployment rules
• Generate *-jdbc.xml files
• Deployment Cancel Support
• OJDeploy as a background Service
• Prompt user for initial admin password when creating default domain

EJB/JPA

• Preferences for Default Entity mapping
• Entity Field/Column synchronization
• Dynamic discovery of associated JPA entities in Entities from Tables wizard
• Generate implementations for toString(), hashCode(), Comparable.compareTo() methods onto entities
• EJB refactoring
• Entities From Tables Wizard user interface redesign

EJB / Bean Data Control

• Add support for Java 5 Generic types in Bean DC
• Leverage web-app for jndi lookup for remote lookup
• Bean data control metadata management improvements now only generate xml if needed (sparse xml)
• Bean data control and Query - Subquery and join support
• Bean data control pagination performance improvements
• Bean data control user interface improvements
• Bean data control transaction support

EJB Diagram

• Create Data Control from EJB Modeler

Integrated WebLogic Server

• Class and metadata refresh support (hot swapping)
• Action to access run URL (if any)
• SSL Support
• Delete and recreate domain support
• Terminate run during deployment support
• Local Debugging Protocol support

Java EE Security

• Support OPSS resource catalog
• Custom policy and codebase grant support

XML Development

XML Schema

• Resolving of reference shall happen in a background thread
• New context menu added to allow easier access to "Generate XML from XSD" feature.
• Facet values are now validated with regard to their base type.
• Added design editor support for List and Union elements in schemas.
• Added support to collapse and expand all attributes for elements and complextypes in the schema design editor.
• Added support for setting the attributeGroup references using a drop down list
• Schema Auditing: More Validations in Schema editing
• Property Inspector now shows value for type attributes when applicable.
• Added the ability to make an element, attribute/implicit type, global via context menu in Visual Editor

XSLT

• xsl variables are now shown in the smart data window

XML Editor Framework

• Structure pane improvements
• Component palette improvements

UML Development

Class Diagram

• Primitive type support
• Additional association end information
• Constraints on attributes

Modeling Framework

• Pre-Loading facility for element references
• Upgrading to JViews 8.6
• Diagram Rename and Save As
• Diagram content set

Sequence Diagram

• Enable nesting of Sequence diagrams as per UML 2.0 Combined Fragments
• Interaction shape
• Sequence layout

Stereotype Support

• Enable user defined stereotypes on diagrams
• Enable user defined stereotypes in Property Inspector
• Enable user defined stereotypes in dialogs

UML 2 Infrastructure

• Profile Support - Base
• Profile Support - Final

Web Services Development

Client

• Integrate credential wizard with the proxy client wizard
• Change name of proxy wizard option in new gallery
• 'Go To WSDL' context menu option from proxy node
• 'Go To Client Class' context menu option from proxy node

HTTP Analyzer

• Support for async service monitoring
• Default certificate acceptance

Policy

• Policy validation
• Make title and hint text of client policy page customizable
• Edit server connection from policy preferences page
• HTTP Analyzer sign/encrypt support

Property Inspector

• User interface improvement for MTOM and Addressing annotations in PI
• Property Inspector support for @Action and @SOAPBinding annotations
• Property Inspector support for @WssConfiguration annotation

REST

• Support relative links from Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State (HATEOAS)
• Support atomic (href) links

Service Development

• TopLink database web services support
• Support for editing a top-down generated web service
• Add validation for SOAPBinding.ParameterStyle.BARE
• Add context menu option to add a wsdl to a annotated web service
• Add @WebServiceRef in one-step
• After top-down generation open implementation class rather than WSDL

WSDL Editor

• Add test web service option
• Add directory in WSDL create dialog

Web and Ajax Development

• Improve faces-config flat editor
• Icons for managed beans will show up in the navigator and a new Managed Bean finger has been added to the Application Overview
• Gallery reorganization
• Support faces-config annotations
• Web application migrator
• Option to create managed bean using annotation
• Support for functions in EL insight

Facelets

• Support for Facelets tag libraries in project properties and Tools > Manage Libraries
• Visual editor support
• Custom tag library editing
• Show functions in EL builder
• Composite component support
• Support for new .jsf extension

Page Layout

• Support overflow scrolling in visual editor

Oracle Toplink Development

• Enhanced support for Oracle TopLink's advanced JPA (EclipseLink) mapping and persistence unit capabilities

ADF Framework

Configuration Files

• The adf-settings.xml file is created automatically for new ViewController projects; you no longer have to create it manually.

ADF Debugging

• You can now set breakpoints for contextual events and for tree and table bindings.

Database-Portable Applications

• An application's SQL properties, including the type of database used, are now exposed in the application's adf-config.xml editor and can be modified when packaging the application, making it easier to make a database-portable application.

ADF Faces and Data Visualization (DVT) Design-time

ADF Skin Editor

A new JDeveloper editor is available starting in 11.1.2.0.0 for creating and editing ADF skin files. The core features include:

• ability to extend from one of the ADF skins as a starting point
• selector tree listing all the possible skin selectors for ADF Faces and DVT including style classes, global aliases, and pseudo-elements
• preview pane that renders components and reflects changes made to their skin selectors in real-time
• inheritance information showing where existing, default properties values are coming from in the skin hierarchy
• support for seeing which set of components and selectors are utilizing a particular global alias
• support for editing skin selectors for a particular theme
• image generation capabilities based on color aliases when extending a fusionFx-simple skin

Available as a standalone product

• Download standalone ADF Skin Editor from the JDeveloper/ADF page on OTN.
• Standalone version allows creation of skins for earlier versions of ADF web applications (ie. 11.1.1.4 or 11.1.1.5). Simply set the target version on the project creation dialog.

  

Component Palette Reorganization

The ADF Faces components in the component palette were reorganized into new accordions and display groups. This was done to assist users in locating and identifying components more efficiently and effectively by making the organization more predictable and usable. The reorganization will also accommodate the addition of new components in the future.

Support for Building Nested Templates

Previously, one was only able to utilize a single page template in their page (chosen during the creation of the page). Also, one was not able to include another page template while creating a page template definition. That restriction has been removed and a new Template item is now available

in the component palette which can be DnD'ed onto either a page template definition or a regular page. A dialog will appear prompting the user to choose a page template to point to. With this new feature, the ability to nest page templates is now possible.

Conversion Support for ADF Faces Layout Components

The ability to convert between various ADF Faces layout components was reintroduced in 11.1.2.0.0 (specifically, decorativeBox, group, panelAccordion, panelBorderLayout, panelBox, panelFormLayout, panelGroupLayout, panelHeader, panelList, panelSplitter, panelStretchLayout, panelTabbed, showDetailHeader, and toolbox). For cases that cannot be resolved algorithmically, a new Convert dialog will be shown to prompt the user for direction.  Here the user is able to drag and drop child components into other facets.  In addition, if they want more than one child in a facet they can choose what component they would like to group these children.

Enhanced Hierarchy Navigation in Structure Pane

Previously, navigating the structure pane was tedius and one often lost his/her place as they navigated deeper in their hierarchy. Today, users can choose to make their current node the top of the heirarchy by using the Show As Top icon. They can then navigate deeper in their heirachy without losing their place. Finally, the user is able to return to showing the root by clicking on the show root icon or using context menu option.

Find in Structure Pane

Now users can quickly navigate to a component in the structure pane tree using the new Find Control. The find progresses depth-first from whatever node is currently designated as the root. To avoid clutter, this was introduced as a toggle option so it renders as a sub toolbar when the toolbar icon is selected.

Reduce Visual Clutter in Structure Pane

• Instead of the fully qualified binding for nodes in the Structure Pane, we now use simplified syntax which makes it easier for users to identify the key databinding information. 

  

• Eliminate Freeze & New View (also in PI). These options were confusing users and for those who understood them found them not very useful
• Fix undesirable auto adjusting

Improved Error and Warning indicators

• Remove "empty facet" warnings // applies to JSF in general
• Added an error gutter to the Visual Editor so users can easily find and fix errors and warnings in the design view.

ADF Data Visualizations Design Time

• Design time user interface for the new Thematic Map component
• Sparkcharts data-first design time and binding UI
• Improvements to the Hierarchy Viewer design time user experience
• Support for circular layout in the Hierarchy Viewer component gallery
• Integration of DVT components in the ADF Skinning Editor
• CSS Code Insight support for DVT component selectors
• Design time support to add a Pivot Filter Bar to an existing data-bound Pivot Table
• Improvements to the PivotTable design time UI to generate a default stamping pattern based on control hints
• ResourceBundle integration with DVT components design time UI
• Property Inspector data entry improvements

ADF Faces and Data Visualization (DVT) Runtime

JSF 2.0

• This release offers JSF 2 support, which includes Facelets as the official view technology
• Java 5 annotation support is included, such as @ManagedBean, @ViewScoped, which eliminates configuration in faces-config.xml
• Navigation is simplified, removing the need for faces-config.xml for navigation cases
• Applications are automatically migrated to JSF 2 when opened:
  • Project library references are migrated to use the 2.0 libraries
  • Configuration files are upgraded: web.xml to version 2.5, faces-config.xml to version 2.0
  • References to facelets libraries are removed

Accessibility

• Certification with JAWS 11.0.729
• New API method in AdfPage.js, announceToAssistiveTechnology(), which is used to add messages to the WAI-ARIA status live region in screen reader mode.
• Public API provided so custom view components can participate in heading level negotiations (<H1>, <H2>, ...<H6>)

Active Data

• Active Data supports displaying data from multiple bindings

Autosuggest

• A new attribute "smartList" is available to autoSuggest tag, which takes a method expression. The smart list is cached on the client, which provides fast results for common search terms. If the user doesn't respond within 2 seconds, the entire suggestedItems list will be fetched from the server and shown.
• A new attribute "maxSuggestedItems" is available; if suggested item list is longer than this, a 'more' link is added to the bottom which will launch the search and select dialog
• Separator added between smart suggested item list and full suggested item list
• Autosuggest shows "no results found" when there is no match

Breadcrumbs

• Spacing in vertical breadcrumbs is reduced, and a new skinning property is added to control it.

Calendar

• The All Day Activities container now consumes no more than 40% of the page, and if more space is needed a scroll bar is provided

Carousel

• New presentation modes in carousel ("circular", "oneByOne"), and a new "controlArea" attribute provided for additional display options

Change Persistence

• Change persistence now available to Facelets
• Customization support available to Declarative component

Export

• Export data now supports table columns with commandLink/goLink and selectOne/selectMany components

File Download

• File download supported when ADF Faces content rendered in a portlet

Framework

• AdfFacesContext.getOutputMode() now indicates whether page is being rendered in email/printable mode
• Deliver a WindowCloseEvent when the window being closed is a dialog
• Users are proactively alerted with a popup when their session is about to expire
• The af:region component implements a Facelets-specific optimization whereby the region's children are not created until the region is rendered. Deferring the cost of child creation for non-rendered regions can be a significant optimization, especially in cases where regions are hidden inside of af:showDetail, af:showDetailHeader or af:showDetailItem ancestors. This optimization is enabled by default but can be disabled by setting the "oracle.adf.view.rich.region.CHILD_CREATION" context parameter to "immediate".

Inline Frame

• Added a new "inlineFrameLoad" event that is queued each time the document defined by the source property is loaded; this event can be used with the af:clientListener tag

Input Components, General

• Added "labelStyle" attribute to all input components with labels to allow explicit control styling of labels, such as labelStyle="white-space:nowrap;"
• Added "autoComplete" attribute to inputColor, inputComboboxListOfValues, inputDate, inputListOfValues, and inputText, which can be used to suppress browser autocompletion if required
• Added "editable" attribute to several input components to offer click-to-edit capabilities

• 

• A new utility class oracle.adf.view.rich.util.ResetUtils has been added to reset to initial state; it has a method public static void reset(UIComponent startComponent)

Layout

• Flowing alternatives for decorativeBox, panelAccordion, panelDashboard, panelSplitter, and panelStretchLayout: these components have a new "dimensionsFrom" attribute that can enable height to be determined by their children components as an alternative to parent stretched or fixed height
• Added "dimensionsFrom" attribute to panelTabbed to specify how the component will handle geometry management in the disclosed tab
• For custom component builders, a new API getVisualRootStretchingStyles has been added to allow the component to participate in parent stretching

List of Values (LOV)

• A new facet "searchContent" is available to provide custom content by the application developers
• A new facet "context" is available to inputListOfValues that supports the af:contextInfo component

MenuBar

• Menu model support added to af:menuBar tag, which enables af:commandNavigationItems to be stamped out for each itemNode in the menuModel
• The menu model implementation has "hover to open and click to navigate" behavior built in

Navigation Components

• Components af:goButton, af:goLink, af:goImageLink, af:goMenuItem, and af:commandNavigationItem have been enhanced to support PPR navigation for GET requests
• It is now possible to suppress browser context menus for action links by setting "oracle.adf.view.rich.ACTION_LINK_BROWSER_CONTEXT_SUPPRESSION" to "no"; explanation: many of the action links, such as those from af:commandLink, af:commandMenuItem, af:commandNavigationItem with no "destination" attribute set, expose native browser context menus such as "Bookmark Link", "Copy Link", etc. where the link offered has no relationship to the navigation target if the link is clicked on, and this can be used to suppress this behavior.
• Components af:commandLink and af:commandButton now render in print/email output when af:showPrintablePageBehavior is used

PanelCollection

• The "featuresOff" attribute has been enhanced to support turning off a more extensive set of features

Popup

• Added "autoCancel" property to af:popup tag to control auto-dismissal of popups
• Added "childCreation" property to af:popup tag to make it possible to defer construction of the popup's children until needed
• Added "resetEditableValues" property to af:popup tag to reset values of input components within the popup content when the popup is canceled
• New "showPopupActionListener(ActionEvent event)" method in RichPopup component that compliments the client-side API to show, hide, and cancel a popup

Scrolling

• Added "ScrollComponentIntoView" server side API to allow listeners to bring a desired component into the viewable area if it is scrolled out of view

Search Form and Query Panel

• Can now save changes to existing saved search, and delete a saved search
• New "design" value for attribute "displayMode", which puts the query into design mode
• New attribute values for "criterionFeatures": "matchCaseDisplayed" allows the user to set match case for a String criterion, and "requiredDisplayed" allows user to set whether a criterion is required.

Shuttle

• Double click will now shuttle items back and forth

Skinning and Styles

• The Skin Framework now supports versioning. If you create skins, then you can add skin versions to your skins, so you can keep the skin-family name the same between versions.
• We introduced a new skin family called 'fusion-simple' which is targeted to meet the needs of those who want to quickly and easily re-brand their application's look and feel. In this skin, we approximated and reduced hundreds of colors used in our fusion skins into about 18 pairs of background / foreground color aliases. We introduced new aliases that apply in common to few component groups like 'commandLink / goLink', 'panelHeader / showDetailHeader / query' and 'region / panelBox'. We also added a few new global aliases as a result of this exercise.
• New Style Class - AFBrandingBarItemBackground. It can be used to style the background of a container (e.g. an af:panelGroupLayout) for items inside of the branding bar container. This typically defines the background color of the items inside of the bar.
• Warning in SkinFactory#addSkin API - If you add a duplicate skin using the SkinFactory#addSkin API, you will see a warning logged since this is unsafe to do. The behavior remains unchanged. (Bug 09533892)
• New and deprecated APIs in RichRenderer - In oracle.adf.view.rich.render.RichRenderer there is a new API getRootStateStyleClasses that takes a UIComponent as a parameter. The method getRootStateStyleClasses that does not take a UIComponent as a parameter is deprecated.
• New icon selector features - Icon selectors (those that end in -icon or Icon:alias) now behave like CSS selectors. Icon styles merge together from base skins, you can use -tr-inhibit, -tr-rule-ref, and -tr-property-ref.
• @import is now supported in Skin css files (Bug 10066954)
• -tr-rule-ref and -tr-property-ref now work for server-side skin properties (Bug 10094274, Bug 10094451)
• You can now configure how many skins to cache with web.xml context-param org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.skin.MAX_SKINS_CACHED The default is 20 unique skins.

Table

• Click-to-edit support for tables with a detail stamp facet
• Detail Stamp can be selectively displayed for rows in the table by EL binding the "rendered" attribute of the "detailStamp" facet to "true" or "false"
• If a row header column is present in the filterable table, an icon will be displayed on the column header that will allow the user to clear filter fields
• Improved row interaction using a keyboard; e.g., single click to edit, escape key reverts cell edits and exits edit mode, pressing the arrow key allows the user to navigate from cell to ell in the same row or between rows, tab and enter keys navigate in edit mode in a row-wise fashion that is repeated in adjacent rows
• New attribute "activeRowKey" which can be set to make the selected row editable in click-to-edit mode; if there is no activeRowKey set, the first visible row will be editable
• New ColumnSelectionEvent and associated ColumnSelectionListener
• New "getSelectedColumns()" API that returns client IDs for all selected child columns
• Export data now supports table columns with commandLink/goLink and selectOne/selectMany components
• Table 'autoHeightRows' attribute is now supported for contentDelivery=lazy/immediate/whenAvailable

Tree

• New attribute "autoHeightRows" which can be used to control how many rows are displayed when the component is inside a af:panelCollection
• Attribute contentDelivery="whenavailable" queries the model for data availability, and will deliver data immediately to the client if the model indicates the data is available

Tree Table

• Improved row interaction using a keyboard; e.g., single click to edit, escape key reverts edits and exits edit mode, pressing Enter or Shift+Enter navigates to adjacent cell when possible, tab and enter keys navigate in edit mode in a row-wise fashion that is repeated in adjacent rows
• New attribute "activeRowKey" which can be set to make the selected row editable in click-to-edit mode; if there is no activeRowKey set, the first visible row will be editable
• New ColumnSelectionEvent and associated ColumnSelectionListener
• New "getSelectedColumns()" API that returns client IDs for all selected child columns
• New attribute "autoHeightRows" which can be used to control how many rows are displayed when the component is inside a af:panelCollection

ADF Data Visualizations: Common Features

• Support for standard Trinidad converters for numerical and categorical attribute formatting
• Improvements to configuring Flash player usage, including a new context Parameter to allow customers to disable Flash
• Skinning support
• Support for contentDelivery="whenAvailable"
• JSF 2.0 Support
• Support for auto partial page rendering (autoppr)

ADF Data Visualizations: Data Binding

• Common Data Services support for JBO data types and median agg type
• Support active data services against multiple GeoMap themes
• Support for making PPR the default for all DVT bindings

ADF Data Visualizations: Gantt Chart

• Ability to export to xls format
• Number and date formatting improvements
• Ability to set timezone for the whole chart
• Support for hiding and showing dependency lines
• Ability to get a list of selected tasks/resources for the scheduling Gantt
• Ability to show tooltip when zooming the gantt using the mouse scroll wheel

ADF Data Visualizations: Gauge

• Performance improvement: ability to send small PNG images inline
• Improved skinning support

ADF Data Visualizations: Geographic Map

• Support for number formatting using standard Trinidad converters
• Accessibility: screen reader support

ADF Data Visualizations: Graph

• New animated transition effects for Graph
• Drag and drop between graphs
• Drag from a graph into another ADF component
• Support for custom marker shapes defined in SVG
• Improved support for marker selection
• Support for context-sensitive right click popup menu
• Improved popup support, including support for af:showPopupBehavior
• Improved skinning support
• BiDi support
• Support for standard Trinidad converters for numerical and categorical attribute formatting
• Ability to automatically display a PivotTable instead of Graph for accessibility purposes
• Support for legend marker that reflects both the dataline and the marker color
• Zoom-and-scroll functionality for y2 axis
• Support for Positional/conditional formatting for bubble graph
• Improved appearance of no data graph
• Sparkcharts: Option to not include zero

  

ADF Data Visualizations: Hierarchy Viewer

• Accessibility support: ability to automatically render Hierarchy Viewer as a TreeTable in screen reader mode
• BiDi support for HV node content, search panel and results
• New HTML Hierarchy Viewer provides support for Printing and rendering without a Flash player
• Improved skinning support
• Ability to customize the hover window
• Ability to customize the control panel

ADF Data Visualizations: Pivot Table

Several editing and navigation improvements have been introduced to support click-to-edit functionality analogous to the ADF Table:

• Support for single click model for editable cells
• Support for tab/enter navigation model for all cell types
• Support for ESC key to dismiss edits and revert
• Support for arrow key navigation while editing
• Support for Excel-like pattern recognition while editing
• Ability to stay in Edit mode when a readonly cell is focused
• Support for active cell key concept
• An opt-in mechanism for some of the click-to-edit features
• Improved Pivot Table editing performance

Other new features include:

• Skinning editor integration
• Performance improvements

ADF Data Visualizations: Pivot Filter Bar

• Support for accessibility and screen reader mode
• Improved design time rendering
• Improved skinning support

ADF Data Visualizations: Thematic Map

Thematic Map is a new geographic visualization that focuses on presentation of the data within geographical context and does not require a connection to a mapping server.

Features include:

• Built-in base maps for continents, countries, and states
• Built-in data for major cities
• Ability to color code the regions on the map based on data
• Drag and drop support for markers and regions
• Ability to specify custom regions
• Animation effects on initial display and on data change
• Zooming and panning
• Selection
• Drilling
• Support for patterns and gradients
• Customizable control panel
• Custom marker shapes with support for SVG
• Customizable tooltips and popup windows
• Legend with collapsible sections and titles
• Printing support
• Keyboard support
• Accessibility and screen reader support

  

ADF Business Components

Hot Reload of Changes When Running in the Integrated Server

• When you're running an application in the integrated application server, refreshing the page in your browser now picks up changes to the ADF BC XML. Previously only client changes were picked up, and to run ADF BC changes you had to restart the integrated server. This greatly speeds up the development process: you no longer have to restart the integrated server to see changes you have made to your business components.

Design-time Improvements

• When you create a new ADF BC application, it now uses a datasource and optimistic locking by default. These are recommended best practices. 
• The editors have a Diagram tab, containing a relationship diagram for every business component. This makes it easy to see the structure of the current objects and its relationships to other business components; you can also click on each related object and open its editor, making it easy to explore the relationships between your business components:

  

• The entity attributes table allows you to sort and reorder columns, and you can choose which columns should be included. For example, you may choose to include the Label and Mandatory columns in the table:

  

•  Attribute editing has been moved from a modal dialog into the overview editor, making it easier to check other settings while you're editing attributes:

  

• Your view object Groovy expressions are all included in one place:

  

• When working in an application module's data model panel, you can remove a subtree of objects at a time:

  

• You can group view attributes into categories and set their relative order within those categories:

  

Database Independence

• When running against a SQL Server database, BLOB and CLOB data types are supported.

Services

• For a service-enabled view object you can group a numeric property with a string property so they appear as a complex type in the SDO interface. Currently two complex types are supported: AmountType, for use with any property that defines a currency code, and MeasureType, for use with any property that defines a unit of measure.

ADF Databinding

Sparse Bean Data Controls and Data Control Enhancements

• When working with data controls, creating an XML file for each accessor in your data control is now optional. For example, your EJB data control may contain accessors for the Department and Employee entity beans, but you do not have to create XML files for these beans until you start modifying data control properties (for example, control hints).

  

• If you do choose to create a bean XML file, you can use many of the ADF BC features in your data control. For example, you can choose which columns to display in the list of attributes. You can also add groovy expressions and a search form to your data control.

  

Binding Editors

• Binding editors now include the ability to search, sort and view variables.

Web Service Data Controls

• URL data controls have been extended to support the REST architecture. As well as the GET operation, they now support the PUT, POST and DELETE operations.

ADF Controller (Task Flow)

• A region model can be transitioned from active to inactive. This is useful for regions that are used within popups; when the region is dismissed it is now possible to deactivate the region model and release the resources it is using.

JSF 2.0 support

ADF task flows work automatically with JSF 2.0 applications, including the following new features:

• A facelets page can be created from an ADF task flow diagram
• The JSF 2.0 ConfigurableNavigationHandler is supported.
• JSF 2.0 conditional control flow cases are supported.

ADF Desktop Integration

Workbook Features

• Workbook Configuration Validation Framework. Easy way to detect possible errors or warnings on your worksheet before executing.

• 

ADF Mobile

Mobile Browser

• Merge device browser specific CSS files into one single CSS
• Generate mobile optimized CSS automatically when a JSF page is created in an ADF Mobile Browser project

Oracle Team Productivity Center

Build and Test Integration

• Build Dashboard for Hudson/Cruise Control CI servers

• Build failures - assign to team members and raise bugs
• Test results integrated into work item SCM changes tab

  

• User notified of new build results

Connectors

• OSLC Change Management Connector

SCM System Integration

• Work item repository name and ID added to checkin comments

Server Administration

• Dynamic Upgrade
• Glassfish Application Server support
• Hudson and Cruise Control plugin installation

Oracle Help

• Centralize control of the TOC in a master XML file
• Improve search functionality

Oracle Help for the Web (Rich Client)

• Icons on the TOC pane (OHW only)
• Provide hints while editing ohwconfig.xml in JDeveloper

Bugs Fixed in 11.1.2.4.0

Bug Fixed in 11.1.2.3.0

Bugs Fixed in 11.1.2.2.0

Bugs Fixed in 11.1.2.1.0