4 Sure Ways to Display PDFs in Oracle Forms

Oracle Forms is widely used for building enterprise applications, especially in data entry and transaction-based systems. However, modern business requirements often demand the ability to view PDF documents directly within the form interface. For example, an HR system might need to display employee contracts, or a finance system may show invoices and reports in PDF format.

In this tutorial, we will explore different ways to display PDFs in Oracle Forms, including embedding viewers, using WebUtil, OLE2 integration, and leveraging Java Beans. Each method has its strengths and limitations, and the choice depends on your system requirements and deployment environment.

Why Display PDFs in Oracle Forms?

Displaying PDFs inside Oracle Forms is useful in many scenarios:

• HR Applications: Viewing resumes, offer letters, and contracts.
• Finance Systems: Displaying invoices, statements, and reports.
• Legal Applications: Showing policy documents and agreements.
• Training Systems: Providing user guides or compliance documents.

By integrating PDF functionality, Oracle Forms applications become more interactive and reduce dependency on external tools.

Methods to Display PDFs in Oracle Forms

There are several approaches to implement PDF display. Let’s go through them one by one.

1. Using WebUtil to Launch PDFs in a Local PDF Reader

One of the simplest methods is to download the PDF to the client machine and open it with a local reader (e.g., Adobe Acrobat or any installed PDF viewer).

Sample Code (Launching PDF via WebUtil):

DECLARE
   v_result BOOLEAN;
   v_file   VARCHAR2(200) := 'C:\docs\invoice.pdf';
BEGIN
   v_result := WebUtil_Host.NonBlocking('C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader\AcroRd32.exe ' || v_file);
   IF v_result THEN
      MESSAGE('PDF opened successfully.');
   ELSE
      MESSAGE('Unable to open PDF.');
   END IF;
END;

This method is easy but requires a PDF reader to be installed on the client machine.

2. Embedding a Browser (Java Bean or OLE2 Control)

You can embed a browser control or Java Bean area inside the form to render PDFs. Modern browsers have built-in PDF viewers, making this approach very effective.

• Create a Bean Area in the form.
• Configure it to display a web browser component.
• Pass the PDF file URL to the browser.

Example (Loading PDF via URL):

-- Assume you have a bean area for displaying HTML
SET_CUSTOM_PROPERTY('PDF_BEAN', 1, 'LOAD_URL', 'http://server/docs/sample.pdf');

This method is ideal when PDFs are stored on the application server and accessed via a web URL.

3. Using OLE2 to Embed Acrobat Reader (Windows Only)

In Windows-based deployments, you can use OLE2 to embed Acrobat Reader directly into a form canvas.

Example (Opening PDF with OLE2):

DECLARE
   ole_obj OLE2.OBJ_TYPE;
BEGIN
   ole_obj := OLE2.CREATE_OBJ('AcroExch.App');
   OLE2.INVOKE(ole_obj, 'Show');
   -- You can load specific PDF files here
END;

While powerful, this method ties your application to Windows and requires Acrobat Reader.

4. Using WebUtil File Transfer with Database BLOBs

If PDFs are stored in the database as BLOBs, you can extract them to the client machine and then open them.

Example (Save PDF BLOB to Local File):

DECLARE
   v_success BOOLEAN;
BEGIN
   v_success := WebUtil_File.Transfer_BLOB_To_File(:pdf_table.pdf_blob, 'C:\docs\report.pdf');
   IF v_success THEN
      WebUtil_Host.NonBlocking('C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader\AcroRd32.exe C:\docs\report.pdf');
   ELSE
      MESSAGE('Error in downloading PDF.');
   END IF;
END;

This ensures sensitive documents are kept in the database but still viewable by end-users.

Best Practices for Displaying PDFs

To ensure smooth performance and usability, follow these guidelines:

• For large files, use server-based storage instead of storing PDFs as BLOBs.
• Ensure client compatibility by verifying the presence of a PDF reader.
• Use browser embedding for cross-platform access (Windows, Linux, etc.).
• Secure access with proper authentication when serving PDFs via URLs.
• Avoid locking issues by using non-blocking execution when launching external viewers.

Conclusion

Although Oracle Forms was not originally designed for multimedia or document management, it provides flexible options for displaying PDFs. You can either open PDFs using WebUtil and external readers, embed them inside the form with browser controls or OLE2, or serve them dynamically from the database.

By choosing the right method, you can integrate PDF viewing seamlessly into Oracle Forms applications, making them more user-friendly and capable of meeting modern business needs.

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