Working with ADF Faces Calendar

Component
An Oracle JDeveloper How To Document
Written by Dana Singleterry, Oracle Corporation
July, 2009

Introduction
Oracle JDeveloper 11g Release 1 has a number of new features and this How To Document
highlights the new ADF Calendar Component and includes a sample application to
demonstrate use of the component.
The ADF Faces calendar component displays created activities in daily, weekly, monthly,
or list view for a given provider or providers where the provider is the owner of an activity.
ADF Faces Calendar Showing Weekly View

The calendar component also includes the following functionality:

A toolbar that allows users to switch between monthly, weekly, daily, and list
views.
Configurable start of the week days and start of the day hours.
Configurable styles using skinning keys.

Additionally, you can implement the following functionality using other ADF Faces
components and the rich client framework:

Popup functionality.
Drag and drop cabability.
Toolbar customization.
Skinning

Software Requirements

JDeveloper 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0).

Download included schema and unzip the archive. Create a user in your database
with the credentials of fod/fusion. Load the schema in an XE database for example
via a command line as follows: imp fodcal.dmp. Use the user fod/fusion when
prompted. Alternatively , you can download the fodcalendar.zip sql script and unzip
the archive. This still requires the creation of the user fod/fusion and then you can
load the fodcalendar sql script through sqlplus.
Download sample application and unzip the archive.
Oracle XE database or equivalent.

Data Model Requirements

An ADF Faces Calendar component must be bound to a CalendarModel class. This

class can be created for you when you use ADF Business Components to manage
your calendar's data. For example, say you have data in your data store that
represents the details of an activity, such as the date, time, title, location, and owner.
When you create an entity object to represent that data, and then a view object to
display the data, you can drag and drop the associated collection from the Data
Controls panel to create the calendar. JDeveloper will declaratively create the model
and bind the view to that model so that the correct data will display when the
calendar is launched. However, in order for the model to be created, your Business
Components must contain certain attributes, and your view object must contain
certain variables that will be used to modify the query to use named bind variables
that represent the date range and current time zone to display. This will allow the
query to return only the activities that should be displayed in the given view of the
calendar. For specifics on required and optional attributes for the Entity Object as
well as required bind variables for the View Object please refer to the Oracle Fusion

Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework

11g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0).
Note: A Calendar can also be based on a non ADF BC data source. For further information
please review the Oracle Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for
Oracle Application Development Framework 11 g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0)

Using the ADF Faces Calendar

component: Create business components
based on your data source
If you haven't already created an application workspace then do so now and give it an
appropriate name. This should be a Fusion Web Application (ADF). For the model Default
package name give it something like oracle.otn.adf.sample.model. Likewise, for the view
Default package name, give it something like oracle.otn.adf.sample.view. After creating the
application workspace proceed to creating a entity and view object based on the
fod_cal_event schema. This is done by right selecting on the Model project and selecting
new from context followed by selecting the ADF Business Components in the Business
Tier node and Business Components from Tables.
Create the Connection to the schema for the calendar.

Query the schema and shuttle the FOD_CAL_EVENT schema from the available to the
selected tables for the Entity Object. Note that their are Required Attributes for a Calendar
and they can be found in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle
Application Development Framework 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0). Also note that an
application module is required in order to create and expose the data control to the view of
the calendar application.
The Summary of Create Business Components from Tables page should resemble the
following:

Select Finish.
Now you can proceed to additional requirements and modifications to the EO Business
Component just created such as ensuring that EID is the primary key by right selecting on
the FODCALEVENTEO EO and selecting Open from context. This may require deleteing
a default created primary key of rowID. Select the Attributes Tree Item for the
FodCalEventEO and right selecting Eid and selecting Edit from context. Ensure that the
Primary Key is selected.

Now proceed with creating the Updateable View Object by right selecting on the
FodCalEventEO withing the Application Navigator and selecting New Default View Object
from context

After creating the associated view object various enhancements are needed such as
assigning a random value to the primary key if an insert is performed, creation of required
bind variables, and additional attributes that can be used to add events. The first thing is to

open the view object for editing and select Attributes from the Tree. Right select the
primary key of Eid and select Edit from context.. Add the following expression which will
create a unique value for Eid upon insert of a new event.
Ensure that the Default Value Type in the Property Inspector for Eid is set to Expression.
(Eid==null?UUID.randomUUID().toString():Eid)

Now a few attributes that will be utilized when adding events to the calendar will be created
in the View Object. Select the Attributes node within the Tree for FodCalEventVO and add
the following attributes:
Name

Type

Recurring String

Column Info
Transient

TimeType String

Transient

AllDay

Transient

Boolean

Add the following Named bind variable that will be used in the SQL query of this view
object.
Name

Type

Tz

String

Default Info

StartDayTime Timestamp
EndDayTime Timestamp

Right select the TimeZone (Tz) variable, and select Edit from context. Add the following
expression and ensure the Value Type is set to Expression. This is to get the current
timezone for the calendar in use.
TimeZone.getDefault().getID()

The Entity and View Object are complete at this point, however, the Application Module
needs the View Object added to it Data Model Components. Open the
FODADFCalAppModule and select the Data Model node in the Tree. Select the
FodCalEventVO and shuttle it from the Available View Objects to the Data Model and
rename it to FodCalEventVO. Shuttle it over a second time for the insert operation and
name it FodCalEventVOInsert.

At this point the entity and view objects based on the provided calendar schema, including
required attributes, have been created along with the required bind variables. Now the
calendar component can be added to a JSF page, further configured, and additional
functionality can be added if desired. In the next section, additional logic will be added to a
managed bean containing logic for the calendar, activities, and providers along with popup
functionality for the basic CRUD operations.

Creating the View for your Calendar

The busiiness components have been created and while not required, a Task Flow with a
view will be created so that this calendar implementation can be reused. Additionally,
popup functionality will be added for basic CRUD operations. Right select on the
ViewController project and select new from context. Select the Web Tier node followed by
JSF in the Tree and ADF Task Flow from the Items.

Select ADF Task Flow from the Component Palette drop down and within the Components
accordion drag and drop a View on to the task flow and give it the name of calendar.
Double click on the calendar View to create the new JSF page fragment.

Now the calendar can be created and configured. Expand the Data Controls accordion and
drag the collection that represents the view object for the activity created above
(FodCalEventVO) and drop it as a Calendar.

Configure the calendar to utilize the schema attributes and select Finish. Further
configuring of the calendar will be done through the Bindings section of the calendar.jsff
page fragment.

Once the calendar has been created select the bindings tab in the editor of the calendar.jsff
page fragment and ensure that the Model resembles the following:

The following Executables and Bindings will have to be added to the Page DataBinding
Definition as illustarted above.
Executables: Add the following Iterator
FodCalEventVOInsertIterator
Bindings: Add the following actions, attributesValues, and buttons all from the
FODADFCalAppModuleDataControl.FodCalEventVOInsert
CreateInsert (action)
Commit (action)
Rollback (action)
Eid1 (attributeValues)
CommunityId1 (attributeValues)
Summary1 (attributeValues)
StartTime1 (attributeValues)

EndTime1 (attributeValues)
Location1 (attributeValues)
IsAllDayEvent1 (attributeValues)
IsAllDayEvent (button)
Create the Managed Bean. The Managed Bean contains the logic for the calendar, activities
and the providers. The class itself is provided in the Application workspace that can be
downloaded so all the details around the logic are left for the reader to review. Also
provided are a couple of Utility classes ( ADFUtils.java and JSFUtils.java) that the
Managed Bean utilizes.

Now that the Managed Bean has been created, open the calendar-task-flow.xml and select
the Managed Beans node of the Tree. Add the Managed Bean to the calendar-task-flow.xml
Managed Beans section .

Add Functionality using popup

components
The basic functionality for the calendar has been created but now popup features will be
included for the CRUD operations. This is done by creating the popups and associated
components in the associated facets.
In the Structure window, expand the calendar component node so that the calendar facets
are displayed.

Based on Table 15-1 of the Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for
Oracle Application Development Framework, create popup components in the facets that
correspond to the user actions for which you want to provide functionality. For example, if
you want users to be able to delete an activity by clicking it and pressing the Delete key,
you add a popup dialog to the activityDelete facet.
To add a popup component, right-click the facet in the Structure window and choose Insert
inside facetName > ComponentName. In this case, a popup for creating a new event is
being created so this is done by inserting inside of the create facet.

A second popup editing and deleting calendar events is also utilized in the sample calendar
application provided and that is created inside of the activityDetail facet. The details are left
to the reader and can be reviewed by referring to the source in the calendar.jsff page
fragment. For more information about creating popup components, see Chapter 13, "Using
Popup Dialogs, Menus, and Windows".
Implement any needed logic for the calendarActivityListerner. For example, if you are
implementing a dialog for the activityDetail facet, then implement logic in the
calendarActivityListener that can save-off the current activity so that you will know which
activity to delete. As before, the details are in the code in the CalendarBean Managed Bean
and are left to the reader to review.
Save your work at this point and create a jsf xml document and give it an appropriate name
such as index.jspx. Drop the calendar-task-flow onto the index.jspx page and create it as a
Region.

Run the Calendar Application.

To run the application simply right click on the index.jspx page and select Run from
context. This packages up the application, starts up the integrated WebLogic server and
deploy the application to the server so that you can test your work. Click anywhere in the
calendar and a popup dialog will appear to create an event. Also, experiment with the
various views that are provided by default with the calendar component.

Select an existing event to update or delete.