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Welcome to the ApplTop Solutions January 2004 Newsletter
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January 2004 – Issue 4
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Welcome to the 4th issue of the ApplTop Solutions newsletter,
we hope you find the content of interest and we are always pleased to hear any
feedback you may have regarding its content. To send feedback or to make
suggestions for future content then please email to newsletter@appltop.com.
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In this issue
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1. ApplTop
News
3. Product
Tips
4. Oracle
Tips
5. Oracle
News
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ApplTop News ===
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For all the very
latest ApplTop news, articles and information, please checkout our latest news and media coverage sections on
our website.
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DM Review -
Helping Oracle Conquer the Enterprise Applications Market
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Below is an extract from the press release in DM Review online magazine…
There is no doubt that Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i is a
tremendously powerful suite of enterprise applications. Its ability to offer
businesses a 360 degree view of their customers is one of its major selling
points along with a whole host of other superb features.
Although Oracle is at the forefront with their now mature and much more
stable release of 11i, many of the other big players also offer similar functionality
out of the box.
For the full
article, please click here.
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eBizQ - ApplTop
Upgrades Product That Enhances Oracle e-Biz Suite
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Below is an
extract from the press release published on the eBizQ
website…
ApplTop Solutions says its flagship product, CS*Form, a productivity
tool for the Oracle E-Business Suite, has added a number of "major new
features to the latest release that help businesses make the most out of their
investment in Oracle technology.”
“Since its initial release, we have continually improved and added to
the product to ensure that we can offer groundbreaking software that offers
many benefits to any business that utilizes the Oracle E-Business Suite,” the
vendor says.
A feature in the
latest release (R2i v2.3.1) is the PRECOMPUTE Directive, which takes advantage
of an Oracle database feature that ApplTop notes is “very much under-utilised,
the Materialized View.”
For the full
article, please click here.
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UKOUG
Conference/Exhibition 2003 - Update
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The exhibition
went very smoothly and was a great success. We had a large number of visitors
to our stand from a broad spectrum of businesses and gave several product demonstrations
of both CS*Form and CS*Accelerate.
We would like to
thank everyone who took time to come and see us and hope to see you and many
more at the next event.
As a side note, a
number of people commented on our promo ad that we projected onto the sidewall
of our stand; many were impressed with promo and asked what software we used to
create the ad. We used a product called SWiSHMax available at www.swishzone.com. For those that missed
the promo ad, view it now by clicking here.
(Flash Player Plug-in and a sound card required)
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Website and
Support Site News
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We are currently
in the process of switching to a new web host that offers greater performance
and functionality. During this period we are using our UK site (www.appltop.co.uk) while all name servers
are updated. You can still visit us online at www.appltop.com
but you may be automatically transferred to the UK site.
This hosting
transfer will enable us to offer more online content and improved performance.
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ApplTop Looks to
Extend Global Reach
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As part of our
partner/alliance initiative, we are currently speaking to a number of
organizations in many regions of the world with a view to building strategic
technology alliances. This will help ApplTop Solutions grow and expand
worldwide. At present we are talking to organisations in the USA, Germany,
South Africa and Australia.
If you are
interested in forming a technology alliance with ApplTop Solutions then please
email us at alliances@appltop.com.
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Pricing/Licensing
Guide
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If you would like
us to email you a copy of our current Pricing/Licensing Guide then please email
us at info@appltop.com.
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New Product
Announcement – CS*Application
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We are pleased to
announce that development has begun on a new product, CS*Application.
CS*Application is
a bolt-on module for CS*Form that enables the creation of whole suites of
CS*Forms in minutes. Using CS*Application you describe your solution
requirements and CS*Application automatically creates the required CS*Forms
which can then be modified and maintained using CS*Form just like any other
CS*Form.
CS*Application
will make an easy task even easier and faster. As an example, lets assume you
have created a custom schema within the Oracle Database that contains 50 new
business views, using CS*Application you could have a prototype application
consisting of 50 new screens on the end-users menu within a couple of hours.
We will keep you
informed of development progress and provide more details once they are
available.
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CS*Form/R2i
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As always, CS*Form/R2i is a constantly
improving product, the current release is v2.3.1 and was released on the 2nd
of December 2003. We are currently working on the next release (v2.3.2) at
present. The new release will include a few new features as well as a few minor
fixes and enhancements. We are continually improving and adding to the product
and work closely with our users in this regard. If you would like to see
something added or have any suggestions for future improvement then we would
like to hear from you. Please email your suggestions and ideas to aslform@appltop.com.
Like CS*Form/R2i,
CS*Form/R1, for Oracle
Applications 11.0.3 is constantly improving. The latest release (v1.6.0) is now
available for download from our support centre and it includes a number of
great features that have been ported from R2i.
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RI2 Reporting for
Oracle E-Business Suite (CS*Form)
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To help educate
the Oracle E-Business Suite community as to the capabilities of CS*Form, over
the coming months we will be introducing the concept of “Rapid Integrated
Interactive Reporting” or “RI2 Reporting” for short.
This campaign is
designed to demonstrate CS*Form’s capabilities from a reporting point of view.
Quite often, CS*Form may be overlooked simply because of its name; CS*Form is
indeed a productivity tool for building forms but it is much more than that, as
well as being used to create front-end applications for the Oracle E-Business
Suite, it should also be viewed as an advanced reporting tool that operates
directly inside Oracle, providing the user with access to their data in a
standard format using native look and feel screens that are fully interactive.
Keep an eye on our
website for more information over the coming months.
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CS*Accelerate
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CS*Accelerate/R1, for Oracle
Applications 11.0.3 is now available worldwide.
CS*Accelerate/R1
is a very powerful and easy to use product that enables its users to enhance
Oracle Applications 11.0.3 in ways ordinarily considered impossible due to undue
risk, long development times and high costs. Enhancements can be made in
minutes without requiring the skills of a highly experienced technical
consultant.
We will shortly
add more information about CS*Accelerate/R1 to our website, keep checking for
updates.
CS*Accelerate/R2i for Oracle
E-Business Suite 11i has also had a new release, v2.2.2 released on the 16th
December 2003. It is available for download from our online support centre.
We are continually
improving and adding to the product and work closely with users in this regard.
If you would like to see something added or have any suggestions for future
improvements then we would like to hear from you. Please email your suggestions
and ideas to aslaccelerate@appltop.com.
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Product Tips ===
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To have your own
ApplTop product tips published in our newsletter, please email your tips to newsletter@appltop.com.
If we think it is suitable we will consider publishing it in a future
newsletter.
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CS*Form – User
Preferences
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Each time an
CS*Form is opened by a user, its screen position can be remembered and then
used the next time the CS*Form is invoked. This is very useful for users who
may open several CS*Forms at the same time and then position them in such a
way as to enable them to view all of them at once.
To ensure that
this functionality is used, a Profile Option is used. The Profile details are
as follows…
Profile = CS*Form
: Use User Preferences [XASLF_USE_PREFERENCES]
Value = YES or NO.
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CS*Form – Usage
and Performance Statistic
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Ever wanted to
know how much your CS*Forms are being used? Curious to know how long a typical
query is taking in your CS*Form?
CS*Form can be
made to record various usage and performance statistics about each and every
CS*Form you have. To enable this functionality then use the following Profile
Option…
Name = CS*Form :
Watch Active [XASLF_WATCH_ACTIVE]
Value = YES or NO
With this Profile
set to YES, all statistics are automatically recorded and can be viewed using
the CS*Watch facility found in the CS*Form Administration menu.
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Oracle Tips ===
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To have your own Oracle tips published in our newsletter, please email
your tips to newsletter@appltop.com.
If we think it is suitable we will consider publishing it in a future
newsletter.
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What is Doing What?
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You can easily
track which programs are doing what in the database by using the Oracle
supplied package DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO.
This is
particularly useful for long running processes and for programs that are called
many times by many users.
Simply add the
following code to your PL/SQL code…
DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO.set_action(‘<some
text>’);
This information
is stored in the database view V$SESSION.
Here is a simple
example used in SQL*Plus…
SQL> EXEC
DBMS_APPLICATION.set_action(‘MY CODE’);
SQL> SELECT
sid, username, module, action
> FROM v$session
> WHERE action = ‘MY CODE’;
SQL>/
SID USERNAME MODULE ACTION
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30 APPS SQL*Plus MY
CODE
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Each month, we
will take a couple of posts from our public forum and include them in
the newsletter.
Is CS*Form a
Reporting Tool?
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Hi,
Is CS*Form a reporting tool. We are looking at replacing a large number
of printed reports with interactive screens as well as creating several new
online screens. We have very limited resource as far as forms building goes and
want to try and avoid using a third-party product that results in the end
solutions not being available from inside Oracle E-Business Suite.
Can CS*Form be used for this kind of development?
Thankyou.
Hi,
I forgot to ask in my previous post, assuming we have the SQL pretty
much defined for our interactive reports, typically how long would it take to
produce around 60 new screens?
Many thanks.
See the response here.
Can we build
complex custom applications?
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Can we build complex applications and integrate this application with
Oracle Applications. For example a Custom POS system and integrate this
application with Oracle Inventory, Oracle AR and Oracle General ledger. Can
your products have the capability to build the interfaces also?
In case of building the Custom Application, how does your product
facilitate the coding of business logic?
Thanks in advance
See the response here.
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Oracle News ===
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Oracle E-Biz to
Support Mozilla
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Oracle is working on a project to let Mozilla's open-source desktop
software work better with Oracle's business applications, in the latest move by
the database giant to promote open-source software.
Oracle and Mozilla confirmed the joint project recently, just before the
start of the LinuxWorld conference in New York, which is a hotbed for Linux and
other open-source software announcements. Oracle, a Microsoft rival, pledged at
the most recent LinuxWorld in August to move all its developers to Linux
computers.
The collaboration is intended to ensure Mozilla software, which runs on
desktop computers, can tap into Oracle software that runs on central servers,
said Oracle spokeswoman Jill Schroeder. For example, Mozilla has an email
module that can tap into the email server that's part of the Oracle
Collaboration Suite.
"We're still in the development stages right now," Schroeder
said. Oracle expects to announce the collaboration formally "in the next
year," she said.
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Ellison Steps Down
as Oracle Chairman
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As part of an executive realignment, Larry Ellison, who co-founded the
company in 1977, stepped down as chairman of the Oracle Corp on Monday, but
will remain chief executive.
Jeffrey Henley, Oracle's chief financial officer, will replace Ellison.
The move was described as an attempt to better utilize the company's talent.
Two top-ranking executives, Safra Catz and Charles Phillips, also were
promoted to share the position of president, reporting to Ellison.
Henley, who already is a member of Oracle's board and has worked for the
company for 13 years, will remain a full-time Oracle employee as part of the
shift, and will spend more of his time on board matters as well as
customer-related issues.
Next Month
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We hope you have enjoyed this month’s issue of the ApplTop Solutions
newsletter and we look forward to issue 5.
Next months issue will contain more product updates and offers as well
and hints and tips with a little industry news. We will be including hints and
tips for various Oracle products including, SQL, PL/SQL, Forms, Reports and
Oracle E-Business Suite.
For more
information about ApplTop Solutions, our products and services please visit us
on the web at www.appltop.com.
For general
enquiries please email info@appltop.com.
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© Copyright 1999 –
2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited
CS*Form,
CS*Accelerate and CS*Application are trademarks of ApplTop Solutions Limited.
Oracle, Oracle
Applications and Oracle E-Business Suite are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Oracle Corporation.
Any other names are used for reference and may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
We make no warranties as to the accuracy of any
information contained within this newsletter other than what is specifically
related to ApplTop Solutions Limited.