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Overview
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Overview

WFA_SEC is an Oracle E-Business Suite PL/SQL package body owned by the APPS schema that provides the security, session management, and authentication foundation for the Oracle Workflow and Web Applications (WebApps) framework. In EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2, the package functions as the low-level access-control layer that establishes and validates user sessions when users navigate into workflow-enabled, self-service, or administrative responsibilities. It abstracts the mechanics of cookie handling, session tokens, release awareness, and directory lookups so that higher-level framework components — most notably WF_CORE, WF_DIRECTORY, and the ICX security utilities — do not need to re-implement them. The package carries a VALID status and is classified as "OTHER" under the API taxonomy, indicating it is an internal framework utility rather than a published business API. Because it is referenced by approximately thirty other database objects, yet itself references no external business APIs beyond foundation and workflow schemas, WFA_SEC occupies a central position in the EBS security call graph.

Key Procedures and Functions

The documented interface includes twenty-six procedures and functions, several of which are overloaded or appear in numbered variants:

  • CREATESESSION / PSEUDOSESSION / GETSESSION — create, synthesize, and retrieve authenticated session context, including the session token and associated identity information.
  • HEADER / FOOTER / DETAILURL / CREATE_HELP_SYNTAX — generate the standard WebApps page markup elements, supporting hyperlinks, and context-sensitive help anchors for workflow pages.
  • GET_ROLE_INFO, GET_ROLE_INFO2, GET_ROLE_INFO3 — overloaded functions that return role and responsibility metadata for the current or specified user.
  • GETUSER / USER_ID / GETFWKUSERNAME — resolve user identity, numeric user ID, and framework-specific username.
  • DIRECTLOGIN / LOGOUT — establish an authenticated session without the normal login flow and terminate an active session respectively.
  • RESETCOOKIE — clear or reissue the WebApps session cookie.
  • GET_PROFILE_VALUE / LOCAL_CHR — read EBS profile option values and perform locale-aware character conversion.
  • DS_COUNT_LOCAL_ROLE / DS_UPDATE_LOCAL_ROLE — count and maintain rows in the workflow local role cache.

Tables Accessed

WFA_SEC reads and writes the workflow directory and role tables that underpin user and role resolution. FND_USER supplies the base identity record (user name, status, encrypted password linkage), while WF_LOCAL_ROLES and WF_LOCAL_USER_ROLES hold the cached, resolved role assignments used for authorization checks. The package also depends on DBMS_SESSION to manage session-level context, and on HTP and OWA_COOKIE to write HTTP output and manipulate browser cookies during login and logout processing.

Usage Notes

WFA_SEC is invoked indirectly rather than directly by end users. It fires when users enter workflow-enabled or self-service responsibilities, when the WebApps framework performs login, logout, or timeout handling, and when concurrent programs or Java-based pages require session or role validation. Because it is a framework-internal object and is referenced by roughly thirty dependent packages, customizations should avoid calling it directly; developers requiring the same behavior should use the sanctioned FND and ICX security APIs, which in turn layer on WFA_SEC.