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Extensible Flexfield Setup
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Executive Overview
Extensible flexfields allows users to configure their items to add custom attributes that are not seeded. These attributes
can be added based on your business needs and they can be displayed as a single row or multi-row attributes. For more
information on extensible flexfield see Oracle Fusion Applications Developer's Guide 11g Release 9 (11.1.9) Part
Number E10308-09.
Introduction
This whitepaper explains the set up process required for extensible flexfields in Product Information Management
(PIM). This document explains the pre-setup steps as well as post setup steps required for exposing extensible flexfields
and also address the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
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TERM DEFINITION
Attribute Group A logical group of attributes that is displayed in its own sub
region of the user interface (UI) page at runtime.
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Solution Overview
The diagram below, Overview Extensible Flexfield Setup Process, provides an overview of all the tasks
involved in the set up of the extensible flexfield (EFF) of an item class. Each setup task is accessed through
the Functional Setup Manager (FSM) and must be completed to gain access to the extensible flexfield
attribute.
The attribute groups and attributes in product information management are built on the extensible flexfield
infrastructure and some of the terms for the EFF components have been re-labeled to make it easier for
you to understand.
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The Taxonomy of Extensible Flexfield Artifacts diagram provides an overview of how and where the
different artifacts are positioned. This will enable you to understand why certain setup is required and
where used.
Setup and Maintenance >> All Tasks >> Manage Item Attribute Groups and Attributes
Attribute Group
An attribute group is a logical grouping of attributes. It is also referred to as Context in Oracle Fusion
Applications. Each attribute group/context is associated with one or more item classes. An attribute group
can be configured as a single row, or multi-row which means that the attributes can be displayed as a name-
value pair in a form format or in a table format.
To create an attribute group, you must enter a display name and an internal name. An API name is
generated by the system. You are required to select the behavior of the attribute groups that determines
whether the attributes within the attribute group is displayed as a single row or multiple row.
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Once saved, you cannot edit the behavior of the attribute group. You will have to discard it and begin the
creation of new attribute group with the correct behavior type.
In the example below the attribute group is Technical Specifications and within the group, multiple
attributes are defined along with the context usage.
Display Properties
The following table summarizes display properties for attribute group definition.
ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION
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The run time display of a single row or multi-row behavior is shown below:
If an item has an attribute group defined as variant, it is displayed in the overview tab of the item.
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Usage
You must configure the usage prior to creating attributes within the attribute group. The create button for
the attribute is enabled only after saving the usage configuration. The setup of context usage will determine
at which data level the attribute group is associated.
The different data levels are at Item, Item Revision, and Item Supplier of the item and they are displayed in
the Specifications tab of the items page.
As a part of context usage configuration, you can set variant attribute groups as blank, defaulted, or
inherited across child item classes by using the Style to SKU column setting. Attributes groups can be
defaulted or inherited from master organization to child organization by using the Master to Child
Organization column setting.
Privileges can be associated to the attribute group based on the data level set up. These privileges are
created in the Oracle Authorization Policy Manager (APM).
Display Properties
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Attribute
Each attribute group contains one or more attributes. In the context of a flexfield, an attribute is also
referred to as Context-Sensitive Segment or just Segment. An attribute is always defined within an
attribute group.
In PIM, an EFF attribute is created by accessing the Manage Item Attribute Groups and Attributes task.
Once an attribute group is created, an attribute is created from within the Edit Attribute Group page. This
is accomplished by selecting the Create icon in the Attributes table toolbar or selecting Create from
Actions menu.
Any attribute created will automatically be assigned the next available sequence number and the sequence
number is editable. The sequence number will determine the sequence in which the attribute will appear
within the attribute group.
In the example below, an attribute, Memory, is created within the attribute group, Technical
Specifications. Properties of the attributes are defined that determines the data type, value set it is
associated to, display properties, etc.
Display Properties
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must match the Value Set values else the data is not stored
accurately.
The order the attribute appears in relation to the other
Sequence
configured attributes.
Displays a value set value with its description when the display
Show value description
type is a droplist or a list of values.
Table 3: Display Properties for Attributes
Value Sets
A value set is used in data validation in the Oracle Fusion Applications. Each value set is associated to one
or more attributes in the same attribute group or a different attribute group. A value set can be predefined
by accessing Manage Value Set task in Setup and Maintenance. However, for the PIM extensible flexfields,
you can easily create a value set directly from the item attribute group page by clicking on Create Value Sets
button.
Format only - end users enters data rather than selecting values from a list
Independent - a list of values consisting of valid values you specify
Dependent - a list of values where a valid value is derived from the independent value of another
attribute
Subset - a list of values is a subset of the values in an existing independent value set
Table - the values are derived from a column in an application table and the list of values is limited
by a WHERE clause
The most commonly used validation types are, independent and format only.
In the example below, a value set, sm_memory_va is created as an independent validation type.
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Within the value set sm_memory_vs, multiple values are created. In the example below multiple memory
sizes are created as values.
Each value is created one at a time by clicking on the Create icon in the Manage Values page or by
selecting Create from the Actions menu.
Once you create the values, you must save and close the page then, click Done to navigate back to the page
for value set.
In the example below for format only value set, the maximum value for camera megapixel must not exceed
the maximum value of 50.0 or fall below 4.9.
The precision defined below defines the maximum number of digits allowed and scale defines the
maximum number of digits following the decimal point that can be entered.
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Value sets can be imported if it is file-based. These files must be in the specified format as shown in the
screenshots below. Multiple value sets along with their values can be uploaded through one import process.
Figure 16: Create File in Specified Format for Independent Validation Type
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3. Go to the Navigator and select File Import and Export. The Actions menu in the Search Results
region has an Upload action that will allow you to load the file to UCM. Select the file you created
and select Account = scm/item/import. The Account is seeded and determines the location of
the file in UCM where it is uploaded.
Figure 17: Select File Import and Export in the Navigator Figure 18: Upload File to UCM
4. Once it is uploaded to the UCM, go back to the Navigator and select Setup and Maintenance
5. Search for the task Manage Value Sets and select Import from the Actions menu located in the
Search Results region
6. Enter the file name and Account = scm/item/import. Note that the file name is case sensitive
and this should match the one you uploaded
7. Click Upload
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Setup and Maintenance >> All Tasks >> Manage Item Classes >> Pages and Attribute Groups Tab
In order to add an attribute group to a page, you must add the attribute group to the attribute groups tab in
the item class. When the attribute group has been added to the attribute groups tab, you MUST save prior
to associating the attribute group to a page.
In the example below, the attribute group, Technical Specifications is added to the Attribute Groups tab.
The logical diagram of EFF at run time shows the arrangement of EFF artifacts in the context of an item.
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Pages
Attribute groups are grouped together in what is called the pages. A page is also referred to as Logical
Page in Oracle Fusion Application. Each page consists of one or more attribute groups along with their
attributes. There is no limit to how many attribute groups can be added to a page. There is also no limit on
how many pages that can be created per item class. The sequence of the pages is determined by the
sequence number when creating a page.
In the example below, a page called Technical Specifications is created for the item class, Smartphones.
In the example below, after a page, Technical Specifications is created, the attribute group, Technical
Specifications is added.
At run time, the page is displayed in the left hand pane in the specifications tab and the attribute groups
along with its attributes are displayed in the right hand pane of the selected page.
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Usage
Attribute Group and Attribute
Page
Flexfield Deployment
Once the attribute groups and the pages are associated to an item class, the flexfield must be deployed.
Without deploying the flexfields, you cannot view the pages or attribute groups at run time. To deploy the
flexfield, follow the following navigation path:
Setup and Maintenance >> All Tasks >> Manage Extensible Flexfield >> Search and Select the Flexfield
>> Deploy Flexfield
The easiest way to search for the PIM extensible flexfield is to enter the flexfield code as EGO.
In the Oracle Fusion Application, there are three methods to deploy flexfield and they are:
1. Deploy Flexfield an online incremental/delta deployment. The process begins immediately and
you can monitor the deployment process. When you use this action, only the extensible flexfield
set up that has changed will be deployed. This is what is meant by incremental deployment.
The progress window show when deployment is completed. The icon for the deployment status is
changed based on the result of the deployment.
You MUST log out and log back in to view the EFF configuration on the item.
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You must choose this action if the flexfield changes impact 30 or more item classes. For more
information see Oracle Fusion Applications Extensibility Guide 11g Release 6 (11.1.6)
3. Refresh & deploy offline a complete (forced) deployment of all available extensible flexfield.
The completion time for this type of deployment is dependent on the number of flexfields you
have set up. Hence, this option should be utilized only if the first two options result in errors.
The icons in the offline status column and the deployment status column indicate the progress
and result of the deployment.
GROUP.
EGO_ITEM_REVISION_DL
EGO_ITEM_SUPPLIER_DL
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SKU BEHAVIOR.
CHILD BEHAVIOR.
ATTRIBUTE
ATTRIBUTE. VALUES: Y OR N
ATTRIBUTE. VALUES: Y OR N
ATTRIBUTE. VALUES: Y OR N
VALUESETCODE YES STRING 60 VALUE SET CODE USED TO IDENTIFY THE VALUE SET
MODULETYPE YES STRING 60 MODULE TYPE. THIS VALUE USED TO GET MODULE ID
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MODULEKEY YES STRING 60 MODULE KEY. THIS VALUE USED TO GET MODULE ID
MAXIMUMLENGTH YES INTEGER INT MAXIMUM LENGTH FOR VALUE SUBTYPES OF THE
VALUE SET.
To import the attribute groups, attributes and value sets, you must follow the following steps:
1. Create the data files for attribute groups, attributes and value sets in the specified format:
2. Go to the Navigator and select File Import and Export. The Actions menu in the Search Results
region has an Upload action that will allow you to load the file to UCM. Select the files you
created and select Account = scm/item/import. The Account is seeded and determines the
location of the file in UCM where it is uploaded.
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Figure 30: Select File Import and Export in the Navigator Figure 31: Upload Files to UCM
3. Once the files are uploaded to the UCM, go back to the Navigator and select Setup and
Maintenance
4. Search and open the task, Manage Extensible Flexfields. On the Manage Extensible Flexfields
page, select Import from the Actions menu located in the Search Results region
5. Select Account = scm/item/import and enter ValueSet = <value set data file name>, Context =
<attribute group data file name> and Segment = <attribute data file name>. Note that you can
leave any of the fields blank if you dont want to import attribute group, attribute or value set.
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Figure 33: Import the Attribute Groups, Attributes and Value Sets
6. Click Upload
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2. Why did the change made to the value set not appear at run time?
When you change an existing value set, the deployment status for all affected flexfields changes to
Edited. You must redeploy all flexfields that use that value set to make the flexfields reflect the
changes.
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5. Where is the MDS file download to, Desktop or Server? And, does it prompt me to
save the file?
The MDS files are downloaded to the desktop and yes, you are prompted to save the file.
7. Why can I not edit the attribute group from a single row to a multiple row type?
Once you click on save, you cannot change the selection. You must create a new attribute group.
10. What happens to the data that is already entered for the attribute group that is
now disabled? Will it still show on item specifications? If yes, will you be able to
edit the attributes?
Once the EFFs are regenerated/deployed, the data will not be displayed in the Item Specifications and
you will not be able to edit the attributes any longer. However, the data is not deleted and will remains
in the tables.
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11. Attribute group was added to attribute groups tab in the item class but I cannot
find the group to add it to the page.
After the attribute group is added to the attribute groups tab, you must save.
12. Can a value set be created where it is dependent on the value entered for another
attribute?
Yes, you can use the cross context bind variables to create a where clause for a table-based value set.
In the example below, the values for the SEGMENT attribute is filtered based on the item class
entered for CONTEXT attribute.
1. Add the EFFs as a column to the search results table of the Manage Items Page
2. Select the items for which you want the attributes updated
3. Click on the Actions Menu > Manage Item Mass Changes > Edit Item Attributes
4. Edit the appropriate attributes
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17. List the PIM tables where EFF values are stored.
EGP_ITEM_CLASSES_B - Stores item class definitions.
EGO_ITEM_EFF_B/TL - Stores attribute values.
18. List the middleware table that stores the EFF metadata.
FND_DF_CONTEXTS_B/TL - Stores attribute group definitions for DFFs and EFFs.
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19. Does EFF support rich text format (RTF)? If yes, what is the display configuration
for the attributes?
Yes, RTF is supported in the EFFs. To use a rich text data type, you will need a column size greater
than 500 to a maximum of 4000 character size.
In R10, only translatable attributes are supported because the column size for a translatable attribute is
1000 characters, whereas non-translatable attributes in R10 has only 150 character size.
It is recommended that you use the type, format only for the value set.
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Resources
Oracle Fusion Applications Developer's Guide 11g Release 9 (11.1.9)
Oracle Fusion Applications Help
o Flexfields and Oracle Fusion Application Architecture: How They Work Together
o Value Sets: Explained
o Defining Value Sets: Critical Choices
o Flexfields and Value Sets: How They Work Together
o Flexfield Deployment: Explained
o Upload Value Set Values Process
o Uploading Value Set Values: Explained
Oracle Applications Cloud Extending the Applications for Functional
Administrators
o Flexfields for Custom Attributes
Oracle Fusion Applications Extensibility Guide 11g Release 6 (11.1.6)
o Creating Custom Value Sets
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November 2014 are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether
Author: Ringo Shakya expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically
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