Oracle forms 6i

Question

Complete Oracle n00b here. I have to maintain a legacy form that was developed using Oracle forms 6i and runs on an Oracle 8i backend. Is there any location on the web from where I can still download Oracle forms 6i? If not then whats the best way to run this form on a newer version of oracle?

Answer 1

You won't get Forms 6i free on the web (at least not legally). If you have a current support contract with Oracle, they would be able to supply the base install and patchsets. Don't expect it to work with Windows Vista or 7 though. XP should be okay.

I have heard of Forms 6i working against even 11g databases, though there are character set restrictions.

There is an upgrade path from Forms 6i to the later versions of Forms, which all require the use of an App Server model (rather than the client server model of earlier Forms versions). Forms 6i had the option of either client/server mode or app server mode.

Answer 2

There is a link for download on OTN. Though haven't tried it. (It requires registration )

Regarding new versions, I'm developing in Forms 6i on Windows 7 (x86) and Oracle 11g R2 with no problems for 6 months.

If you want to upgrade to Forms 9 or newer, then you'll have to also install Application Server because it is on 3-tier architecture (client - app server - server) instead of 2-tier on 6i (client - server).

I've transformed one simple but real-world form from 6i to Forms 10 within about hour. So, it's definitely possible. But it was just to check how hard it is and I'm not using that (Forms 10) form, so there could be some issues.