Defining Descriptive Flexfields

Defining Descriptive Flexfields
Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the

following:
• Identify the descriptive flexfield to be used and the
information to be gathered
• Organize the information according to usage
• Plan the layout of the descriptive flexfield
• Plan the behavior of the descriptive flexfield
• Define the descriptive flexfield structure
• Define global segments
• Define context-sensitive segments as appropriate
1-2 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Overview
• Identifying and organizing data

• Arranging different descriptive flexfield layouts
• Specifying the flexfield mechanics
• Specifying descriptive flexfield attributes
• Defining a descriptive flexfield with global segments
• Defining a descriptive flexfield with both global and
context-sensitive segments

Planning a Descriptive Flexfield
• Identify the flexfield to be implemented.

• Determine the resources available for the flexfield.
• Identify and organize the information to be collected.
• Design the layout of the flexfield to reflect how the
information is used.
• Design the behavior of the flexfield.
• Define the flexfield, freeze, and compile.

Using Descriptive Flexfields
Application
__ Sale Information ____________________
Window:
Transaction 3987 Payment Type CC Application
Customer Jane Doe Specific
Information
Item COM-876-LTN
Description Computer - Monitor - Light Tan []
Descriptive
Flexfield Payment Type CC
Window:
Store
Customer
Specific Dept
Information Number
Exp. Dt

Typical Descriptive Flexfield Information
• Benefits information • Payment information

• Calendar information • Credit information
• Labor cost information • Budget information
• Lease information • Distribution system
• Currency exchange information
information

Some Oracle Applications
Descriptive Flexfields
Bonus Rates Bank Branch

Assets Calendar Types Payables Payment Terms
Price Indexes Site Address
General Credit History

Daily Rates Receivables
Ledger Information
Activity
Information Employee Labor
Bills of Item Cost Work in Rate
Material Information Progress Shop Floor
Status
Shift Time WIP Parameters
Information

Identifying a Descriptive Flexfield
• The presence of a descriptive flexfield on a form is

indicated by a single-space field enclosed in brackets.
Whenever you see this, there is a descriptive flexfield
defined for use with that form.
• In some cases there may be multiple descriptive
flexfields for use with the same form.

Determining the Descriptive Flexfield Name
Since descriptive flexfields are not labeled on the base

form, once you recognize a descriptive flexfield you
wish to implement, use the following procedure to
determine the name of the flexfield:
1. Click on a field in the same block in which the
descriptive flexfield appears.
2. Select Help—>Diagnostics—>Examine. This opens
a window showing information on the selected
field. Note the name of the block in which the field
is located.

Determining the Descriptive Flexfield Name
3. Click the Block list of values button to display a list of

the available blocks for this form. Select
$DESCRIPTIVE_FLEXFIELD$.
4. Click the Field list of values button to display a list of
the descriptive flexfields for this form. Each entry is
prefixed by the name of the block in which the
descriptive flexfield appears. Find the entries for the
block whose name you determined in step 2.
5. Select the flexfield you wish to implement from the
entries for that block. The user name of the descriptive
flexfield appears in the Value field.
1 - 10 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Determining Available Resources
Use the list of values for the Column field in the Segments
Summary window to determine how many segments you
can plan to use.
(N) Application—>Flexfield—>Descriptive—>Segments
(B) Segments

Planning Questions
• What additional information needs to be captured?

• Is there any information you need to capture every
time?
• Is there information you need to capture on an ad hoc
basis?
• Can the need for capturing the ad hoc information be
conditioned on a value in a base window?
• How much control over the window processing do you
want to give to the user?

Identifying Your Information
Store number Check number
Credit card number
Expiration date Down payment

Grouping Information By Usage
Situation 1: Store number Down payment

(finance)
Situation 2: Store number Check number

(check)
Situation 3: Store number Credit card number Expiration

(credit card) Date

Isolate Common Information

(finance)

(check)

(credit card) Date
Used by Varies by
all tasks task

Determine Different Contexts
Finance context

(finance)
Check context

(check)
Credit card context

(credit card) Date

Descriptive Flexfield Components
• Global segment — Displays information common to all

contexts
• Context-sensitive segment — Displays information
appropriate only to a particular context
• Reference field — A field on the application window
whose value is used to determine contexts
• Context field — A field in the structure whose value is
used to determine contexts

Global Segments
Finance context
Global
Segments Store number
(Common)
Credit card context Check context
Store number Store number

Context-Sensitive Segments
Finance context
Context-
Sensitive
Segments Account
(Vary by context) Finance terms
Down payment
Credit card context Check context
Card number Second ID

Expiration date

Distinguishing Between Contexts
Finance context
Store number
Account
Finance terms
Down payment
Credit card context Context

Check context
field
Store number Store number

Second ID
Card number
Expiration date

Reference and Context Fields
• Reference Field: a field on the existing form whose

value is used to automatically distinguish between
contexts
• Context Field: a field created in the descriptive flexfield
structure that is used to allow the user to manually
select different contexts

Using Reference Fields
Existing
application Reference field
window
Context 1 Context 2
Global Global
Data Data
Proposed
Elements flexfield Elements
Context designs Context
Sensitive Sensitive
Fields Fields

Identifying Referenceable Columns
Use the list of values for the Reference Field field in the
Descriptive Flexfield Segments window to determine which
fields are available to use as reference fields for this
descriptive flexfield.

Using Context Fields
Existing
application
window
Context 1 Context 2
Global Proposed flexfield designs Global

Data Data
Elements Elements
(Context) (Context)
Context (Context Context
Sensitive fields) Sensitive
Fields Fields

Synchronizing the Context Field Value with the
Reference Field Value
Optionally set up your flexfield so that the context field

value is synchronized with the reference field value. You
may have instances where, when querying existing
records, you want the context field value to match the
original reference field value, but with new records, you
want the context field value to be derived from the current
reference field value.

Planning Flexfields:
Global Segments Only
Existing application window
Global Proposed
Segments flexfield
design

Context Segments Only
Existing application window Proposed

flexfield
structures
Context
Context 1 Context 2
Context Context
Sensitive Sensitive
Fields Fields

Global and Context Fields
Global
Segments
Context Prompt
Global
Structure 1 Structure 2 Global
Segments
Segments
Context
Context
Sensitive
Sensitive
Fields
Fields

Specifying the Flexfield Attributes
In the Descriptive Flexfield Segments window, you can

define:
• Title
• Segment Separator
• Context Field
• Context Field Values

Specifying the Context Field Information
In the Context Field region of the Descriptive Flexfield

Segments window, you can define:
• Prompt
• Value Set
• Default Value
• Reference Field
• Required
• Displayed
• Synchronize with Reference Field

Specifying the Segment Attributes
In the Segments Summary window, you can define:

• Number
• Name
• Window Prompt
• Column
• Value Set
• Displayed
• Enabled
(B) Segments

Storing Descriptive Flexfield Segments
Structure A Structure B
Global AAA Global AAA
Context BBB Context DDD
Context CCC
CONTEXT ATTRIBUTE1 ATTRIBUTE2 ATTRIBUTE3
Structure A Global AAA Context BBB Context CCC

Structure B Global AAA Context DDD

Descriptive Flexfield Application Tables
select fdftl.title,
fdf.application_table_name
from fnd_descriptive_flexs fdf,
fnd_descriptive_flexs_tl fdftl
where fdf.descriptive_flexfield_name =
fdftl.descriptive_flexfield_name
and fdf.application_id = '101'
and fdftl.title not like '$SRS$%'
order by fdftl.title;

Specifying the Segment Detail Attributes
In the Validation region of the Segments window, you can

define:
• Value Set
• Description
• Default Type
• Default Value
• Required
• Security Enabled
(B) Segments

In the Sizes region of the Segments window, you can

define:
• Display Size
• Description Size
• Concatenated Description Size
(B) Segments

In the Prompts region of the Segments window, you can

define:
• List of Values
• Window
(B) Segments

Specifying Default Values
Default Type Default Value

Constant Any literal value
Current Date Current time
Current time Current time or current date/time
Field Default Value field value
Profile Value of profile in Default Value
Segment Value in prior segment
SQL Statement Result of SQL query

Defining a Descriptive Flexfield
1. Define any value sets needed.

2. Create the flexfield and specify context information.
3. Define different structures.
4. Specify segment cosmetics and behavior.
5. Freeze and compile the flexfield definition.
6. Define values for value sets if needed.

Defining Value Sets
• Define value sets for each segment of the planned

descriptive flexfield, including both global and context-
sensitive segments.
• Use existing value sets when possible.
• Use the Value Sets window to create new value sets if
necessary. These value sets can be used by other
flexfields or report parameters as appropriate.
(N) Application—>Validation—>Sets

Locating the Flexfield Definition
• Use the Descriptive Flexfield Segments window to

locate the target flexfield definition by finding the
application that owns the definition and the flexfield
title.
• A flexfield may appear on more than one window.
However, defining the flexfield once automatically
defines it for all locations.
• After you access the definition, you must unfreeze it to
begin making changes.

Defining the Flexfield Header Attributes
Use the Descriptive Flexfield Segments window to enter:

• Application
• Title
• Freeze Flexfield Definition
• Segment Separator
• Global Data Elements

Defining Segment Attributes
Use the Segments Summary window to enter:

• Number
• Name
• Window Prompt
• Column
• Value Set
• Displayed
• Enabled
(B) Segments

Specifying Validation and Field Sizes
Use the Segments window to enter options for:

• Validation
• Sizes
• Prompts
(B) Segments (B) Open

Freezing and Compiling the Definition
Use the Descriptive Flexfield Segments window to:

• Freeze the flexfield definition by checking the Freeze
Flexfield Definition check box
• Compile the flexfield definition by clicking the Compile
button

Defining Context Field Information
Use the Descriptive Flexfield Segments window to enter:

• Prompt
• Default Value
• Reference Field
• Value Required
• Override Allowed (Display Context)
• Context Field Values

Defining Context-Sensitive Segments
Use the Segments Summary, Segments, and Descriptive

Flexfield Segments windows to define context-sensitive
segments using the same procedure as for global
segments:
• Specify all necessary segment attribute information.
• Enable the segment.
• Define any validation information.
• Modify the display size if necessary.
• Freeze and compile the definition.
(B) Segments (B) Open

Defining Values for a Value Set
After you finish defining the descriptive flexfield structure,

use the Segment Values window to define values for any
independent or dependent value sets assigned to any
segments of the descriptive flexfield.
(N) Application—>Validation—>Values

Summary
• Descriptive flexfields gather additional information.

• Design the descriptive flexfield to support the different
needs of different users.
• Define flexfield level attributes.
• Define global segments for the Global Data Elements
structure.
• Define a reference or context field if using different
contexts.
• Define a structure for each context containing the
segments appropriate for that context.
• Freeze and compile the finished definition.

Defining Descriptive Flexfields

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Defining Descriptive Flexfields

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the

1-2 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Identifying and organizing data

1-3 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Identify the flexfield to be implemented.

1-4 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

1-5 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• Benefits information • Payment information

1-6 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Bonus Rates Bank Branch

General Credit History

1-7 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• The presence of a descriptive flexfield on a form is

1-8 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Since descriptive flexfields are not labeled on the base

1-9 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

3. Click the Block list of values button to display a list of

1 - 10 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

1 - 11 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

• What additional information needs to be captured?

1 - 12 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Store number Check number

Credit card number

Expiration date Down payment

1 - 13 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Situation 1: Store number Down payment

Situation 2: Store number Check number

Situation 3: Store number Credit card number Expiration

1 - 14 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Situation 1: Store number Down payment

Situation 2: Store number Check number

Situation 3: Store number Credit card number Expiration

1 - 15 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Situation 1: Store number Down payment

Situation 2: Store number Check number

Credit card context

Situation 3: Store number Credit card number Expiration

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• Global segment — Displays information common to all

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Credit card context Check context

Store number Store number

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Credit card context Check context

Card number Second ID

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Credit card context Context

Store number Store number

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• Reference Field: a field on the existing form whose

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Global Proposed flexfield designs Global

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Optionally set up your flexfield so that the context field

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Existing application window

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Existing application window Proposed

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