FAQ #20 - How to refactor ADF components in JDeveloper

Introduction

When it comes to refactoring ADF components in JDeveloper, most ADF developers come to know the refactoring features when they rename, move or delete Business Components (BC) objects. Yet fewer know that additional options exist in JDeveloper to refactor object attributes, attribute domain types, bindings, JSF pages and more.


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Refactoring ADF BC objects

Refactoring ADF BC objects is available through the Rename... and Move... menu selections of  the Refactor menu. You can display the Refactor menu when you right-click on the BC component in the Application Navigation window.

If you choose to rename a component, JDeveloper will present a Rename dialog. In this dialog you can specify the new name for the object and choose to preview the changes that will be generated by the refactoring process.

It is a good idea to preview the changes, when the Preview option is available. When you click Preview in this case,  a Rename Log window will open listing all the changes that will be made by the refactoring process.

You can browse through the changes by clicking the Synchronize with Editor button This is a toggle button. It will open the applicable source file as you click through the changes in the Log window. When you are done reviewing the changes, click on the Do Refactoring button to apply the changes. If you decide for whatever reason not to go ahead with the refactoring, just close the Rename Log window.

Choose Move... from the Refactor menu to move the BC object to another package. This will present a Move dialog, where you can specify the new package name for the object to be moved.

Deleting a BC object is not available under the Refactor menu. It is available as a separate Delete menu option in the same context menu.

When you select Delete to delete a BC object,  a Confirm Delete dialog will be presented. If the BC object you are about to delete is used throughout the project, a Show Usages button will be also be available in the  Confirm Delete dialog and a Log window will open displaying all of the object's usages.

To view the object's usages on the Confirm Delete dialog itself, click on the Show Usages button.

To individually inspect each object usage, first click No to dismiss the Confirm Delete dialog. Then in the Log window click the Synchronize with Editor toggle button  and browse through the object's usages. As you browse through the object's usages, the corresponding source file will be opened and you will be positioned exactly where the object is being referenced in the source.

 Refactoring ADF BC Object Attributes

Refactoring ADF BC object attributes allows you to rename, delete and change the domain type of a BC object's attribute. Moving an attribute is not supported. To refactor an attribute, bring-up the object's overview editor by double-clicking on the object in the Application Navigator window and select the Attributes pane. Then right-click on the attribute and select Rename... or Delete from the context menu that is displayed.

In both cases - renaming or deleting the attribute, you can preview the usages - as described earlier before proceeding with the refactoring process. Consider also selecting Find Usages... from the context menu to review the attribute usages without doing any refactoring.

In addition to renaming and deleting an attribute, you can also refactor the attribute domain type by selecting Change Type.. from the context menu. This will display a Change type dialog from where you can select the new domain type for the attribute. You can also choose to preview the changes in the Change type Log window. This window will open when you select Preview and click OK.

Refactoring Data Bindings

You can refactor bound objects in the Data Binding Definition page. To do so, bring up the Page Definition File associated with a JSF page and in the Overview tab right-click on the specific binding that you want to refactor. Then choose Rename... or Delete from the Refactor menu.

Again, before you delete a binding you can verify its usages by clicking the View Usages button in the Delete Safely dialog that is displayed. This will open the Delete Safely Log window where you can review the usages. Click on the Synchronize with Editor toggle button  to bring up each usage into the source editor.

Refactoring JSF Pages

You can refactor a JSF page by right-clicking on the page in the Application Navigator and selecting Rename..., Move... or Delete from the Refactor menu. JDeveloper will update all references to the page in task flows and in the DataBindings.cpx mappings when renaming or moving the page.

Conclusion

The refactoring options in JDeveloper are quite powerful and can help substantially during the development process. They range from refactoring data components objects, object attributes, attribute domain types, data bindings, JSF pages and files. For more information about refactoring and their limitations I suggest that you check out the Fusion Developer's Guide - referenced below.

Until the next time, keep on JDeveloping!


Reference

Oracle® Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Part Number B31974-02

FAQ #19 - How to check and improve code quality in JDeveloper

Introduction

When it comes to checking and improving code quality, JDeveloper provides the View Status facility. Factoring in its ability to support third party tools through extensions, some already exist - PMD for example - others are left to the imagination of the able programmer, the possibility of producing good quality code now rests on utilizing these tools among others. In this FAQ will take a look at the View Status facility and at the PMD extension.


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JDeveloper native support for code checking

Code checking is supported natively in JDeveloper via the View Status facility. You can activate it by selecting Status from the View menu.

Selecting it will open a Status window, which will display any issues related to the file currently active in the editor. The issues could be errors, warnings, incompletes or advisory issues.

Double-clicking on an issue in the Status window, will take you to the line in the code that produces the problem. Right-clicking on an issue, produces in many cases a possible problem resolution.

 Resolving all issues associated with a particular file will produce a No Issues indicator in the Status window, which is what you want to see in most cases.

In some cases, you will find the need to adjust the behavior of the Status facility to accommodate certain standards that you establish for your project. Consider the following issue for example:

In this case, the Status window displays a warning related to an unused parameter in a backing bean function. In certain cases when the parameter cannot be removed - i.e. the method implements a superclass method, you won't be able to make this warning disappear unless you either use the parameter or adjust the properties of the Status facility. These properties are accessible through the Tools | Preferences menu under the Audit | Profiles section.

For this case, select the specific Profile, then the Rules tab and then under the Usages section the Unused Parameter rule. Change the Severity from Warning to Assist and Style from Unused to Warning. This will produce a No Issues indicator in the Status window but it will still highlight the issue as a warning in the editor. In some cases you may want to adjust the Default Fix setting as well.

In closing, notice that the same issues identified by the View | Status feature are displayed in the right gutter of the editor window as well.

PMD Extension

PMD (http://pmd.sourceforge.net/) can be installed as a JDeveloper extension via the Help | Check for Updates... feature. Select the Open Source and Partners Extensions Update Center in step 2 of the Check for Updates wizard and in step 3 PMD JDeveloper Extension 4.2.5.3.0.

JDeveloper will download the extension and it will ask you to re-start upon clicking Finish in step 5 of the Check for Updates wizard. Upon re-starting JDeveloper, PMD is available by right-clicking anywhere in the editor window and selecting PMD from the context menu. This will check the file currently open in the editor. You can also right-click anywhere in the Application Navigation window to check multiple or all files in your project(s).

Before running PMD for the first time, ensure that all rules are enabled by clicking Select all in the PMD Preferences page (accessible through the Tools | Preferences menu) as it shown below. Later on, you can adjust these settings according to your project's standards.

When running PMD it will open a PMD - Log window with a list of code improvement recommendations.

Double-clicking on any of the recommendations in the PMD - Log window, will take you directly to the specific line in the code that produces it. Resolving all issues reported by PMD will produce a No problems found dialog, which is again what you want to see in most cases.

Conclusion

Through native support and support via third party extensions, the tools exist within the JDeveloper IDE to help you as a developer produce better quality code for your projects. Their usage will spot problem areas in your code and help you learn and improve.

Until the next time, keep on JDeveloping!