Search Results fnd_folder_columns

Overview

FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS is a metadata table in the Oracle E-Business Suite Application Object Library (FND) product, owned by the APPLSYS schema. It stores the definition of individual columns that appear within a folder — the configurable, user-personalizable tabular display used throughout Oracle EBS forms to present query results. Each row in FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS describes one displayed column belonging to a parent folder record defined in FND_FOLDERS, capturing both the identity of the underlying form item and its visual placement and formatting attributes.

From a data modeling perspective, the table's relationship structure is satellite-leaning. It carries descriptive attributes — display mode, width, prompt, and screen coordinates — that qualify a parent entity (the folder), with its identity anchored to the FND_FOLDERS parent through a foreign key. This suggests treating FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS as a dependent satellite keyed to the folder, rather than as an independent hub or an associative link.

Key Information Stored

The physical schema documented for release 12.2.2 contains 13 columns. The most significant are:

• FOLDER_ID — Foreign key referencing FND_FOLDERS; identifies the parent folder to which the column definition belongs. This column participates in the composite primary key.
• SEQUENCE — Ordinal position of the column within the folder. Also part of the composite primary key, it determines display order.
• ITEM_NAME — The form item (field) that the folder column is bound to, linking the display definition to the underlying block item.
• ITEM_PROMPT — The label or heading shown for the column.
• ITEM_WIDTH — The rendered width of the column.
• DISPLAY_MODE — Controls how the item is presented within the folder grid.
• X_POSITION and Y_POSITION — The horizontal and vertical placement coordinates of the column on the folder canvas.
• CREATION_DATE, CREATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_DATE, LAST_UPDATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_LOGIN — Standard WHO audit columns recording insert and update provenance.

The primary key FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS_PK is defined over (FOLDER_ID, SEQUENCE). This composite key indicates that a folder line is uniquely identified by its parent folder together with its sequence number; the combination of FOLDER_ID and SEQUENCE serves as the effective business-key candidate, while no standalone surrogate column is documented.

Common Use Cases and Queries

The most frequent requirement is auditing or reproducing a folder layout — identifying which items appear, in what order, and at what dimensions. A representative query joins the column definitions to their parent folder:

• List all columns for a given folder, ordered by position: SELECT fc.FOLDER_ID, fc.SEQUENCE, fc.ITEM_NAME, fc.ITEM_PROMPT, fc.ITEM_WIDTH FROM APPLSYS.FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS fc WHERE fc.FOLDER_ID = :folder_id ORDER BY fc.SEQUENCE;
• Reconstruct folder composition with folder metadata: SELECT f.FOLDER_ID, f.NAME, fc.SEQUENCE, fc.ITEM_NAME FROM APPLSYS.FND_FOLDERS f, APPLSYS.FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS fc WHERE f.FOLDER_ID = fc.FOLDER_ID ORDER BY f.FOLDER_ID, fc.SEQUENCE;
• Detect folders displaying a particular form item: SELECT FOLDER_ID, SEQUENCE, ITEM_PROMPT FROM APPLSYS.FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS WHERE ITEM_NAME = :item_name;

Reporting use cases include validating personalization migrations between environments, detecting duplicate prompt labels, and documenting the effective layout of standard folders for user training or upgrade impact analysis.

Related Objects

• FND_FOLDERS — The principal parent table. The foreign key FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS.FOLDER_ID references FND_FOLDERS, making this the primary join for all folder-level reporting.
• FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS_PK — The primary key constraint over (FOLDER_ID, SEQUENCE), enforcing uniqueness of column definitions within a folder.
• Form-level folder definitions maintained through the Oracle EBS folder personalization interface, which reads and writes FND_FOLDERS and FND_FOLDER_COLUMNS together when a user saves a customized folder.
• FND form runtime components that resolve ITEM_NAME references against the underlying block and item definitions when rendering the folder grid.

Because folder definitions are consumed by the Forms runtime rather than by concurrent programs, direct manipulation of this table should generally be avoided; changes are best applied through the standard folder administration and personalization features.