General Guidelines for Flex Forms

  • You can modify both row and column members in flex forms.
  • Any modification to a flex form will not be persisted between sessions.

    When a user modifies a flex form, the modified grid layout will only be persisted in the context of the current session. Reopening a flex form reverts the flex form layout to its original state.

  • You may insert and delete member rows and columns in a flex form using the Insert and Delete actions using the right-click menu of Excel.

    Depending on whether the options Enable flex form for rows, Enable flex form for columns, or both, are enabled, you can insert or delete rows or columns within the flex form grid, not outside the grid.

    Service Administrators: In the form definition, choose either or both of the following options:

    • To allow users to insert or delete rows, select Enable flex form for rows
    • To allow users to insert or delete columns, select Enable flex form for columns
  • Due to an issue with the browser version of Microsoft Excel 365, Oracle recommends selecting the entire column before inserting a column to the left or right. You may also select a cell and insert a column to the left. However, selecting a cell and then inserting a column to right causes the starting column cells to shift down one cell.
  • Access permission settings are honored in flex forms.
  • Valid intersections are honored in flex forms.
  • Business rules may be run on flex forms.
  • When a flex form with a business rule or Groovy rule to add a new dimension member (member on-the-fly) is executed from the form, the new member will not appear on the flex form after a refresh. To see the new member on the flex form, you must reopen the flex form.
  • Flex forms can be opened as flex forms from a Task List.

  • There is limited support for spreading in flex forms.

    • Spreading is supported in flex forms only in cases where the Period dimension is not flex enabled. If the Period dimension is in a column, then flex form should not be enabled on columns. Similarly, if the Period dimension is in a row, then flex form should not be enabled on rows.

    • If Period dimension is a column, and column is flex enabled, then spreading for time periods is not supported. Also, entering values in a summary time period data cell, like a YearTotal column, also does not spread the new value to the related cells while using the Adjust, Grid Spread, and Mass Allocate options.

    • If the Show invalid members for flex form option is enabled in a form where flex form is enabled only on rows, the rows contain any dimension other than Period, and the Period dimension in columns is not flex enabled, then spreading may work once, but does not work for subsequent spreading operations. While designing such forms, ensure that the Show invalid members for flex form check box, under Smart View Options in the Layout tab, is not selected.

  • You may delete rows and columns using the Delete key. However, when deleting rows or columns containing multiple dimensions, be sure to select all the dimension members in the row or column before pressing Delete.

    In the following example, there are three row dimensions on a flex form, Accounts, Market, and Year:

    D-Acc US Market FY18

    D-Acc US Market FY19

    D-Acc US Market FY20

    To remove the row for FY18 using the Delete key, be sure to select all three dimension members, D-Acc, US Market, and FY18 using the Ctrl key or Shift key, then press Delete.

  • Under the Dimension Properties, if Flex beyond form definition is not selected for the flex form, then copy and paste is limited to the scope of the form definition. Flex forms must adhere to the hierarchies as defined in the form. Therefore, you cannot have any flex form members that are not part of the defined row or column members of the form.

    To allow adding members outside of the form definition, either by hand-typing or using copy and paste, the Flex beyond form definition option must be selected. For more information, see Flexing Beyond the Form Definition.

  • Subtotaling calculation scripts and currency conversion calculation scripts will be generated and executed based on the original form definition.
  • In the form definition, if Enable flex form for rows, Enable flex form for columns, or both, are selected, a flex form opened as a simple form can preserve comments in cells outside the form after refresh.

    However, when opened as a flex form:

    • If both the Enable flex form for rows and Enable flex form for columns options are selected, then comments are not preserved.

    • If only the Enable flex form for rows option is selected, then comments entered to the right of the form are preserved after refresh. Comments are not preserved if they are entered directly below the form.

    • If only the Enable flex form for columns option is selected, then comments entered below the form are preserved after refresh. Comments are not preserved if they are entered to the right of the form.

  • Both member and alias display is not supported for flex forms:
    • In the Application Settings for the business process, in Display Member Label as, neither the Member Name:Alias or the Alias:Member Name option is supported.
    • During form definition, in Dimension Properties, selecting both the Member name and Alias options is not supported for flex forms. Select either Member name or Alias.
  • When working with flex forms with multiple dimensions on rows or columns (where two or more dimensions with multiple members are placed on a row or columns):

    • Rows and columns appear expanded by default.

    • During form definition, to place dimensions members on separate rows or columns, in Member Selection on the flex form, choose Place selection in separate rows or Place Selection in Separate Columns. See the documentation on selecting members for forms in your business process administration guide; for example, for Planning, see Selecting Members for Forms in Administering Planning.

  • When entering numeric member names or shared members on a flex form, enter a single quotation mark ( ' ) before the member name.

    For example, for a numeric member name, such as 4077, enter:

    '4077

    For shared members, enter member names in the format:

    '[Parent].[Shared Member]

    For example:

    '[Sales Director 2].[410]

    '[Default_Sales Director 2].[Default_International Sales]

  • User variables, dynamic user variables, dynamic user variables with attributes, and substitution variables are supported on flex form rows and columns. Users should change variables on the POV and perform a refresh for the rows and columns to update them to the new members.

  • Excluded members may be entered on flex form rows or columns. Members that are excluded in the form definition can be entered on flex form rows and users are able to enter values and submit.

  • In the form definition, when Enable flex form for rows, Enable flex form for columns or both are enabled, then the Segment properties Hide and Read-only are not supported for either rows or columns. Hide and Read-only are supported only in simple forms.