Search Results dflex_dr

Overview

The APPS.FND_DFLEX package is an Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) Application Programming Interface (API) that provides programmatic access to Descriptive Flexfields (DFF). Descriptive Flexfields are the configurable attribute fields that extend standard EBS forms without requiring database schema changes, allowing an organization to capture its own business-specific information. FND_DFLEX exposes the metadata for a descriptive flexfield — its structure, its contexts, and its segments — to PL/SQL callers, so that custom code and standard product code can read the definition of a flexfield at runtime. The package is owned by the APPS schema and is classified as an OTHER API. It is referenced by 56 other packages, indicating that it functions as a foundational metadata service used across a wide range of Oracle EBS development. Note that in the Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 releases, the file header of the package (120.2.12010000.1) dates from 2008, and the package definition uses AUTHID CURRENT_USER, meaning it executes with the privileges of the calling user.

Key Procedures and Functions

The package exposes six documented routines. The following describes their purpose within the DFF metadata model:

• GET_FLEXFIELD — Retrieves the definition of a descriptive flexfield. It accepts the unique flexfield identifier (application identifier and flexfield name) and returns the corresponding flexfield record, including the title, underlying table and application, description, concatenated segment delimiter, default context information, protected flag, and context-related column names.
• GET_CONTEXTS — Returns the set of contexts defined for a given flexfield. The package defines a contexts_dr record that carries the number of contexts, the index of the global context, and parallel arrays of context codes, names, descriptions, enabled flags, and global flags.
• MAKE_CONTEXT — Resolves or constructs a context record for a descriptive flexfield, supporting processing that requires identifying a specific context (for example, determining the global context or validating a context code supplied at runtime).
• GET_SEGMENTS — Returns the segment definitions belonging to a flexfield context. The package declares segment-related array types for holding segment descriptions, enabling callers to enumerate the individual attributes available under a context.
• TEST — A diagnostic or self-test entry point used to verify package behavior and metadata retrieval, typically for development and troubleshooting purposes rather than production business logic.

Together, these routines implement a complete read path over flexfield metadata: identify the flexfield, enumerate its contexts, and expand the segments within each context.

Tables Accessed

The package reads from two documented tables through APPS synonyms:

• FND_APPLICATION — The application registry, used to resolve application identifiers and short names that qualify a flexfield and its underlying table.
• FND_DESCR_FLEX_CONTEXTS — The descriptive flexfield contexts table, providing context codes and related attributes. Views such as FND_DESCRIPTIVE_FLEXS_VL and FND_DESCR_FLEX_CONTEXTS_VL supply the translated titles, names, and descriptions that populate the package's record and array types.

Both tables are read-only from the perspective of this API; FND_DFLEX is a metadata retrieval facility and does not create or maintain flexfield definitions. Definition maintenance is performed through the Flexfield administrative forms and their own APIs.

Usage Notes

FND_DFLEX is typically invoked from PL/SQL rather than directly from forms. Standard and custom concurrent programs use it to validate or interpret flexfield data before processing; custom forms, database triggers, and interfaces call it to discover which segments and contexts exist for a given flexfield so that concatenated segment values can be parsed or composed correctly. The package's record and array types (dflex_dr, contexts_dr, context_code_a, segment_description_a) are intended to be used directly by callers, allowing results to be consumed without additional lookup queries. Because the package runs AUTHID CURRENT_USER, callers must themselves hold the necessary privileges on the underlying flexfield tables and views. Its unusually high reference count of 56 dependent packages confirms that it is a standard building block wherever EBS code must interrogate descriptive flexfield metadata in Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2.