Run Oracle Forms and EBS in the browser

CheerpJ runs the Java client of Oracle Forms applications and Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, including third-party Forms applications. Desktop administrators can take Java off staff computers and retire IE mode, and your Oracle servers stay as they are.

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What Oracle’s Java clients need today

Forms applications and EBS start their Java client as an applet or through Java Web Start, and both run on Java installed on staff computers.

  1. 01

    Java Web Start runs them outside the browser

    Oracle recommends Java Web Start for EBS 12.1.3 and 12.2, and no longer recommends the embedded applet in Forms 14.1.2. Users open a downloaded JNLP file, and the application runs in separate Java windows.

    Source: Oracle, Forms 14.1.2 deprecated and desupported features

  2. 02

    Staff computers need Java 8

    The applet and Java Web Start run on Java 8, the last Java release with the browser plug-in and Java Web Start, so every computer that runs Forms or EBS keeps a Java 8 runtime to install, patch and audit.

  3. 03

    The applet route depends on IE mode

    Internet Explorer and Edge’s IE mode are the only browsers certified for the Java plug-in, and Forms 10g and 11g launch only as an applet. Microsoft supports IE mode through at least the end of 2029.

  4. 04

    Java on every desktop needs constant upkeep

    Each quarterly Java update has to be tested against Forms and EBS and rolled out to every staff computer, alongside the Java exception site list or deployment rule set that lets them run.

Two ways to run Forms and EBS with CheerpJ

1 Browser extension

Through a CheerpJ browser extension

There is one for applications launched as an applet and one for applications launched through Java Web Start, so your Forms server, EBS and their launch pages stay as they are. The extensions run in Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers.

Your desktop administrators deploy them through Group Policy or Intune and set the licence by policy, where it activates offline. A self-hosted version serves networks that can’t reach the Chrome Web Store or Edge Add-ons, including air-gapped ones.

Get the browser extensions
2 Your launch page

On your own launch page

Serve CheerpJ from your own web servers and start the Forms or EBS Java client from a page there. The application then runs in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, and staff computers need only a browser.

Build with CheerpJ

For your security review

The browser sandbox

The Java client runs inside the browser’s sandbox, as a web page does, and reaches files and the network through browser APIs.

Files move by upload and download

Users upload files with a button in CheerpJ’s title bar, and files from Forms and EBS arrive as browser downloads.

The browser’s network rules

HTTP requests from the Java client follow the browser’s same-origin and CORS policies.

Your Oracle servers stay yours

CheerpJ runs the client only. The Forms server, EBS, the database and the business logic stay on your servers, behind your existing sign-on.

Read the full security review

Running Oracle Forms and EBS with CheerpJ

CF Fertilisers

CF Fertilisers runs EBS 12.1.3, which launched as an applet in IE mode on Java 8u311. It removed Java from all user computers at its UK and US sites, deploying CheerpJ through Group Policy and Intune, and cut its Java-related vulnerabilities by about 75% in its Rapid7 scores.

European IT service provider

A European IT service provider runs an Oracle Forms application used by thousands of people at its customers, delivered as a Java applet. With CheerpJ it reached a proof of concept with the full application in one week, and it runs in modern browsers with the backend unchanged.

Get started with Oracle Forms and EBS

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Tell us your Forms version or EBS release and how it launches, and we’ll help you plan an evaluation.

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