Enabling Descriptive Flexfield in Oracle Applications

Summary:
The key for enabling a Descriptive Flexfield is to identify the Base table of the related form and then use the table name to query the Descriptive Flexfield Title. Once the title of the Descriptive Flexfield is obtained, then we just have to Query the name in the Application Developer responsibility and then add the desired columns. This will enable the Descriptive Flexfield.

Getting Started:
Lets enable the Descriptive Flexfield of Purchase Order form. The initial screen looks as shown below and the DFF field is Disabled.



Get the name of the view from which this form is created using the Tools=>Record History option



Use the utility TOAD to find the base table of this view. We will find that the base table involved here is PO_HEADERS_ALL.

Now, switch to Application Developer Responsibility and open the form for registering the Flexfields.

Navigation:

Application Developer => Flexfields => Descriptive => Register

The window which opens is as shown below:





Now, query this form by providing the values for Application as ‘Purchasing’ and the Table Name as ‘PO_HEADERS_ALL’. The result will be as shown below:



Once the window is queried, then select the Title ‘PO Headers’ from this window and then navigate to
Application Developer => Flexfield=> Descriptive => Segments



Now, query this window using the title and the application name. The window is as shown below:



Now, uncheck the freeze flexfield definition and then add the context field values as per the need. This is illustrated in the screen below.





Here, I have added A and B as the code and ‘Global Data Elements’ is default and is always enabled.

Now, select the code and then add columns to it. It is shown as below



When clicked on Segments, we will get the window as below. We then specify the columns which will get displayed when this code is selected.



If desired, we can attach the value set also to restrict the user from entering any garbage value.

Now, save this and follow the same steps for enabling the other code(B) also and also ensure that to show the difference between code A and code B, enable three columns in Code B.

Now, the last step is to specify a default value to the Context Field. I am providing here a reference field as TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE. Ensure that the checkboxes are checked. The screen is as below.



Once this is done, we then have to compile the flexfield and save the window. For compiling the Flexfield definition, we need to first save the window and then check the freeze flexfield checkbox and then click on Compile.



Now, Login to Purchasing responsibility and then open the Purchase Order form.



This window shows that the DFF field is now enabled. When we click on the DFF window, we will be getting a screen as below



When the LOV is clicked, we get the values populated by the reference column which we gave as ‘TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE'.It is shown below



Now, based on the value selected we will get the corresponding columns which is shown in the subsequent screen.



Hence, this is how a flexfield works. When the data is saved, it will be saved in the base table on the corresponding Attribute columns as specified in the Application developer responsibility.

Your comments and queries are always appreciated.