Entries from Oracle E-Business Suite Technology tagged with 'desktop clients'
Interim Update #2: Certifying Windows 7 with Oracle E-Business Suite
This is the second of a series of regular updates on our Windows 7 certification projects for the E-Business Suite. Microsoft Windows 7 was officially released today. Here's a recap of our plans for certifying the Oracle E-Business Suite with Microsoft's latest operating system. As always, the answers to these questions may change as we move through the certification cycle. You're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for later updates. Our Progress on Windows 7 We're certifying Windows 7 with the E-Business Suite right now. We've already tested several of the Win7 betas and release candidates, and those tests have gone very smoothly. At this point, E-Business Suite product teams need to complete their certification tests with Windows 7 desktop clients. Once those tests are completed, we'll release our certification. For the usual reasons that regular readers could have predicted, I can't share any specific schedules or date estimates here. I can provide an interim update on the following Win7 questions: 1. Which EBS releases will be certified with Windows 7? 2. Which browsers will be certified? 3. Will Oracle JInitiator be certified for EBS on Windows 7? 4. Which Windows 7 editions will be certified? 5. What about Windows 7E? 6. What about Windows XP Mode?
Internet Explorer 8 Certified with E-Business Suite Release 11i
I'm very pleased to announce that Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is now certified as a client browser for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i. IE 8 Support Requires Forms6i Patchset 19 If you're running either Forms6i Patchset 18 or earlier in your EBS 11i environment, you will need to apply Forms6i Patchset 19 to get support for Internet Explorer 8.
Firefox 3.5 Certified with E-Business Suite
The final security update for Firefox 2 was released in December, 2008; Mozilla recommends that all Firefox 2 users upgrade to Firefox 3.x. We certified Firefox 3.0 with Oracle E-Business Suite in February, 2009. Since then, the Mozilla team has released several updates on the Firefox 3.5 line. I'm very pleased to announce that Firefox 3.5 is now certified with the E-Business Suite.
Internet Explorer 8 Certified with E-Business Suite Release 12
I'm very pleased to announce that Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is now certified as a client browser for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. IE 8 Support Requires Forms 10.1.2.3 If you're running either Forms 10.1.2.0.2 or 10.1.2.2 in your EBS 12 environment, you will need to update to Forms 10.1.2.3 to get support for Internet Explorer 8.
Confused About E-Business Server vs. Desktop Operating System Certifications?
The E-Business Suite is designed with a three-tier architecture, with functions running on a client tier, an applicatione server tier (also called a middle tier), and a database tier. I handled a customer question on an internal Oracle mailing list today that confused our certification policies for these tiers. I then realized that I've answered variants of this question many times lately, so it's clearly of broader interest. These two questions are mirror images of each other: * Can I install the E-Business Suite on a desktop operating system like Windows Vista? * Can I run end-user E-Business Suite functions on a server operating system like Oracle Enterprise Linux?
Safari 3 Certified on Mac OS X for E-Business Suite Release 12
It might seem a little anachronistic, but this really is a new certification announcement: Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 is now certified with Safari 3 with the Java 5 plug-in on Apple Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") and 10.5 ("Tiger") desktop operating systems.
Prerequisites
- Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.0.4 or higher, including 12.1.1
- Safari 3.2.1
- Java 1.5.0_x
Other Mac Certifications Still Underway
Certifications for the Safari 4 browser are still underway. We also have plans to certify Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") for both Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and 12. I don't have firm schedules for either of these certifications yet, but you're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for updates.
Updated Tips for Debugging Sun JRE + Forms Focus Issues for EBS 11i and 12
Oracle Jinitiator 1.3 will be desupported for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i users at the end of this month, July 31, 2009. If you haven't already begun your conversion from JInitiator to the native Sun Java Runtime Engine (JRE) plug-in, now is the time to start.
The end of this month marks the end of the JInitiator era for Apps 11i. After this point, we will only support the Sun JRE for Forms users connecting to the E-Business Suite. I've summarized everything you need to know about the EBS switch from JInit to the Sun JRE in this roundup article.
Clusters of Common Focus-Related Issues
As more of you make the cutover, we've seen that your reported issues are clustering around some common themes. Based on your feedback and reported issues, we've updated our internal training for all Support engineers who cover Applications Technology area. Our latest diagnostic and debugging techniques for EBS Forms focus-related issues have been refreshed.
Our Support and Development teams published notes for diagnosing Forms focus-related issues with Apps 11i earlier this year. That troubleshooting guide's scope has been broadened to include additional guidance and tips for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 environments, too:
- Diagnosing Forms Mouse Focus Problems Using JRE (Note 760250.1)
Interim Update #1: Certifying Windows 7 with Oracle E-Business Suite
Microsoft Windows 7 has been getting a lot of headlines recently. This seems to have triggered an small but noticeable increase in questions about our plans for certifying this operating system for E-Business Suite desktop clients.
We're working with pre-release versions of Windows 7 right now. For the usual reasons that regular readers could have predicted, I can't share any certification schedules or date estimates here. I can provide an interim update on the following Win7 questions:
- Which EBS releases will be certified with Windows 7?
- Which browsers will be certified?
- Will Oracle JInitiator Be certified for EBS on Windows 7?
- Which Windows 7 editions will be certified?
- What about Windows 7E?
- What about Windows XP Mode?
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Certified with Apps 11i and 12
Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) is now certified for end-user desktops connecting to the E-Business Suite Release 11i, 12.0, and 12.1. Supported Windows browsers are Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Firefox 3.0, with the following minimum prerequisites:
Roundup: Oracle JInitiator 1.3 Desupported for EBS Customers in July 2009
We've covered the impending demise of JInitiator and the certification of the native Sun Java client in many articles already. With the sun setting on Oracle Jinitiator next month, this is a good time to summarize the essentials about Windows-based Java clients with the E-Business Suite:
- Sun's Java Runtime Engine (JRE) is certified with both EBS 11i and 12
- JInitiator 1.3 will be desupported at the end of July 2009
- JInitiator 1.1.8 was desupported at the end of December, 2008
- JInitiator cannot be run on Vista Desktops
If you haven't already started migrating your end-users to the native Sun JRE plug-in, I'd strongly recommend that you begin this process immediately.
Oracle Tutor 12.1 Certified with Word 2007 and Vista Clients
Oracle Tutor enables you to create, customize, and maintain process documentation, training, and reference materials related to Oracle Applications. Several seasons have passed since Oracle Tutor was last mentioned tangentially on this blog. Our Tutor Development team hasn't been dormant, though. They have just released two new patches with the following updates for Oracle Tutor:
- Support for Word 2007
- Support for Microsoft Vista desktop clients
- Global font change to Arial
- Actor Bar color changed to blue in Word documents
Interim Update #3: Using IE8 with E-Business Suite
As of today, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is still not certified with either Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i or 12. Our standing recommendation is that your desktop administrators use Microsoft's IE8 Blocker Toolkit to prevent your end-users from inadvertently upgrading to IE8. For full details about this toolkit, see:
- IE8 Blocker Toolkit Available Today! (Microsoft website)
We recommend that you deploy this as soon as possible, to prevent your EBS users from accidentally upgrading their desktops to IE 8.
What's Holding Up this EBS Certification?
If you recall from our previous updates, the way that we currently launch Forms-based EBS products is not workable in IE8. We need to do the following things before IE8 can be considered certified with the respective E-Business Suite releases:
Running JInitiator on Vista Desktops
Somewhere in this now-sprawling blog is an article about using JInitiator on Vista. Sadly, I can't find it. I've been seeing a few troubling things popping up on the web about various JInitiator hacks, so it's time to reprise that content.
It's not possible to run Oracle JInitiator 1.3 on Microsoft Vista. Here's why:
Reminder: Block MS IE8 Upgrades for EBS Users!
Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8 on March 19, 2009. Reviews about IE 8 are sprouting across the web like flowers after a spring shower. It is inevitable that some of your E-Business Suite users are going to be tempted into upgrading their desktops to this latest browser.
Our testing with IE 8 is still underway. There's good news and bad news. The good news is that the OA Framework (a.k.a. HTML or Self-Service Web Applications) E-Business Suite products seem to work fine with IE 8.
The bad news is that we've identified issues launching Forms-based (a.k.a. Professional interface) EBS products using IE 8. These issues exist for both Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and 12.
Firefox 3 Certified With E-Business Suite
The Mozilla team released Firefox 2.0.0.20 in December, 2008. This was the last update to the Firefox 2 codeline; no further additional security or stability updates will be available for Firefox 2. E-Business Suite users can run this version of Firefox 2 safely.
Mozilla recommends that all Firefox users upgrade to Firefox 3. Firefox 3 included some changes to its rendering and focus-handling model, and until now, we've had to (reluctantly) advise E-Business Suite customers to wait for our certification to be completed before upgrading to this latest browser release.
The wait is over. I'm very pleased to announce that Firefox 3 is now certified with Oracle E-Business Suite.
Sun JRE 1.6 Certified on Windows XP for EBS 11i and FDCC Clients
Here's a quick update for our readers in the US Federal sector. Those readers likely already know that the US Office of Management and Budget has mandated that all US Federal Agencies that use or acquire Windows XP and Vista must adopt the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) by February 1, 2008 (OMB Memorandum M-0-7-11 of March 22, 2007, on Implementation of Commonly Accepted Security Configurations for Windows Operating Systems, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2007/m07-11.pdf).
Oracle has published the following document in the Oracle Software Security Assurance Resource Library to address these requirements:
You may already also have heard that we've already certified Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with the US Federal Desktop Core Configuration for Windows XP and Vista desktop clients. All E-Business Suite Release 11i products are certified for use with the US Federal Desktop Core Configuration.
Since our original certification announcement, we've found that the latest FDCC images -- a.k.a. FDCC 1.1 -- have been updated and now are compatible with the native Sun JRE plug-in for Windows XP desktop clients. This adds one more certified Apps 11i configuration for FDCC clients.
Troubleshooting Mouse Focus Issues Using JRE Clients with EBS 11i
I'm pleased to hear that many of you are heeding our urgent call to retire JInitiator for the native Sun JRE plug-in. Thanks for your emails and comments about your experiences; these have been very useful in helping us understand the types of stumbling blocks that you've been encountering along the way.
Some of you may have encountered issues with mouse navigation in Forms. Others have reported intermittent focus-related issues, which may be compounded by mouse navigation issues.
It appears that the majority of these issues may be related to your Forms 6i patchset level installed in your E-Business Suite Release 11i environment. That said, there may be other configuration-related issues in your environment that are complicating things further.
Block Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 for EBS Users
Brace yourself: another browser is coming. It looks like Microsoft is gearing up for an imminent release of Internet Explorer 8. Neither Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i nor 12 have been certified with IE8 yet. Our latest tests of the IE8 Release Candidate drops have shown that there are a number of important compatibility issues that need to be resolved.
Reminder: Migrate Your JInitiator Clients to Sun JRE Now!
The significance of many problems lessens over time, so procrastination has its place as a stress management technique. Unfortunately, putting off your EBS end-user migration from Oracle JInitiator to the native Sun Java plug-in doesn't fall into that category. We are down to the last grains of sand in this particular hourglass.
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i end-users access Forms-based content either with the native Sun Java Runtime Engine (JRE) client or Oracle JInitiator. Oracle JInitiator comes in two flavors: 1.8 and 1.3. The sun is setting for both JInitiator versions.
Error Correction Support (ECS) for JInitiator 1.1.8 will end on December 31, 2008. In other words, the Oracle Forms group will no longer issue bug fixes for the JInitiator 1.1.8 codeline as of tomorrow.
Error Correction Support for JInitiator 1.3 will end on July 31, 2009.
JInitiator 1.3.1.30 Certified With Apps 11i
Oracle JInitiator is definitely in its sunset phase now. JInitiator 1.1.8 will no longer receive any new bug fixes as of December 31, 2008. Similarly, official Error Correction Support for JInitiator 1.3 will end as of July 31, 2009.
I don't have statistics on how many E-Business Suite customers have converted their desktop clients from Oracle JInitiator to the native Sun Java (JRE) client. Given the impending desupport dates for these two client codelines, I hope that all of you have already switched over -- or, at minimum -- are in the process of migrating your end-users' desktops to the native Sun Java plug-in.
In these final days of support for Oracle JInitiator, I'm pleased to announce that JInitiator 1.3.1.30 is now certified with the E-Business Suite Release 11i. Oracle JInitiator 1.3.1.30 is released via Patch 7410076. It requires Apps Interoperability Patch 6169479.
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