Search Results ak_flow_pub




Overview
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Overview

AK_FLOW_GRP is an Oracle E-Business Suite PL/SQL package owned by the APPS schema and classified under the GRP (group) API category. It serves as the primary programmatic interface for the Oracle EBS "Flow" metadata model, which underpins the configuration and personalization of the OA Framework and related self-service application pages. A "flow" in this context is the logical container for a navigable sequence of pages, each page hosting one or more regions, and each region hosting one or more region items. The package provides a controlled, API-driven mechanism for creating, maintaining, and removing this hierarchical metadata structure, thereby allowing applications and utilities to manipulate page flow definitions without issuing direct Data Manipulation Language statements against the underlying metadata repository.

The package operates as part of a layered dependency stack. It references APPS.AK_FLOW_PUB, the public-facing companion interface, along with SYS.STANDARD and FND_API. In turn, AK_FLOW_GRP is referenced by APPS.AK_DOWNLOAD_GRP and by itself, reflecting internal recursive or self-referencing behavior during grouped operations. In Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 the object is documented as VALID, indicating the compiled package and package body are in a consistent, deployable state.

Key Procedures and Functions

ETRM documents sixteen procedures and functions within AK_FLOW_GRP. They are organized into four logical families, each combining create, update, and delete variants.

Collectively these routines enforce the referential integrity of the flow hierarchy, ensuring that dependent pages, regions, and items are managed consistently when a parent object is added, modified, or removed.

Tables Accessed

The package references tables through APPS synonyms. The documented base tables are DUAL, used for single-row evaluation within PL/SQL logic, and PLITBLM, an internal PL/SQL table used for collection operations. Because AK_FLOW_GRP is a grouping API, its persistence work is performed indirectly through its dependency on AK_FLOW_PUB, which holds the core logic for reading and writing the flow metadata repository. This design keeps direct dictionary access outside the group layer and centralizes data manipulation in the public package.

Usage Notes

AK_FLOW_GRP is typically invoked from server-side PL/SQL rather than directly from end-user forms. Its principal consumers are administrative utilities, the AK_DOWNLOAD_GRP download process, and custom or Oracle-provided code that needs to programmatically build or maintain flow definitions. DOWNLOAD_FLOW is particularly relevant to migration and diagnostic activities, where an existing flow must be captured and moved to another environment. The create, update, and delete groupings are intended to be used in sequence when constructing or dismantling a flow hierarchy, always respecting parent-before-child ordering.

Developers should not bypass the package by writing directly to underlying flow tables, since doing so risks corrupting the metadata relationships the API is designed to protect. All calls should be made as the APPS schema or through an appropriately privileged account, and any custom integration should treat AK_FLOW_PUB as the authoritative public interface where a public API already exists.