Search Results fnd_document_categories_vl




Overview
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Overview

FND_DOCUMENT_CATEGORIES_VL is a translation-enabled view owned by the APPS schema in Oracle E-Business Suite, belonging to the FND — Application Object Library product. Its documented purpose is to present the contents of FND_DOCUMENT_CATEGORIES in the session's runtime language for translation purposes. Document categories in EBS define the classification of attachments or documents that can be associated with application entities, and this view exposes those category definitions together with their translated display names and related descriptive attributes. Because it carries the "_VL" suffix, the view conforms to the standard Oracle Applications MLS (Multi-Language Support) pattern: it joins a base (non-translated) table to its "_TL" translation table filtered on USERENV('LANG'), so that consumers see the name in the language of the current session rather than in the base language. It is therefore the appropriate access point for any reporting, form, or integration layer that must display document categories in a user's own language. The object has a documented status of VALID in the ETRM repository for both the 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 releases.

Underlying Base Objects

The ETRM metadata documents four referenced base objects, all resolved through APPS synonyms: FND_APPLICATION_TL, FND_DOCUMENT_CATEGORIES, FND_DOCUMENT_CATEGORIES_TL, and FND_DOCUMENT_DATATYPES. The view text confirms the join structure:

  • FND_DOCUMENT_CATEGORIES provides the primary rows and the non-translated columns — CATEGORY_ID, the default datatype, application, active dates, WHO columns, and the fifteen descriptive flexfield attribute columns.
  • FND_DOCUMENT_CATEGORIES_TL supplies the translated NAME and USER_NAME, joined on CATEGORY_ID with LANGUAGE constrained to USERENV('LANG').
  • FND_DOCUMENT_DATATYPES is joined with an outer join (+) on DATATYPE_ID, also filtered to the session language, to produce DEFAULT_DATATYPE_NAME.
  • FND_APPLICATION_TL is joined with an outer join (+) on APPLICATION_ID to produce APPLICATION_NAME, with the additional predicate that the language is null or equals USERENV('LANG').

The view text further references ROWID from the base categories table, which is exposed as the ROW_ID column.

Key Columns

The view exposes thirty-one columns. The primary key and identity columns are CATEGORY_ID, NAME (translated), and USER_NAME, which carries the user-facing label for the category. DEFAULT_DATATYPE_ID and DEFAULT_DATATYPE_NAME identify the datatype assigned to documents filed under the category. APPLICATION_ID and APPLICATION_NAME identify the owning application. START_DATE_ACTIVE and END_DATE_ACTIVE define the effective date range of the category. The standard audit columns CREATION_DATE, CREATED_BY, LAST_UPDATE_DATE, LAST_UPDATED_BY, and LAST_UPDATE_LOGIN are included, as are ATTRIBUTE_CATEGORY and ATTRIBUTE1 through ATTRIBUTE15 for descriptive flexfield data. ROW_ID carries the physical row identifier.

Common Use Cases and Queries

Typical uses include LOV queries that must return category names in the operator's language, attachment-configuration reports, and integration extracts that map category identifiers to readable labels. A representative query is:

  • SELECT category_id, name, user_name, default_datatype_name, application_name FROM fnd_document_categories_vl WHERE TRUNC(SYSDATE) BETWEEN NVL(start_date_active, TRUNC(SYSDATE)) AND NVL(end_date_active, TRUNC(SYSDATE)) ORDER BY name;
  • SELECT category_id, user_name FROM fnd_document_categories_vl WHERE application_id = :application_id;
  • SELECT fdcv.category_id, fdcv.name, fdcv.attribute1 FROM fnd_document_categories_vl fdcv WHERE fdcv.end_date_active IS NULL;

Because the translation joins depend on USERENV('LANG'), consumers should ensure the session language is initialized before querying the view; otherwise translated values may be returned in the base installation language.