Enable Forms Runtime Diagnostics (FRD)

1. R12.1 Forms can be implemented in servlet mode or socket mode. Check file $FORMS_WEB_CONFIG_FILE (or $INST_TOP/ora/10.1.2/forms/server/appsweb.cfg) to find which mode forms runs:

In Servlet mode:
serverURL=/forms/lservlet
connectMode=servlet    

In Socket mode:
serverURL=(should be blank)
connectMode=Socket

This can be also verified by Profile option "ICX: Forms Launcher" value https://hostname.domain:port/forms/frmservlet on site level.

2. Doc ID 438652.1 ( R12: Forms Runtime Diagnostics (FRD), Tracing And Logging For Forms In Oracle Applications) gives ways to capture all events that occur in a form session. Unfortunately if the forms does launch, no trace log will be generated. I tested three ways in R12.1.

1) To enable FRD on Site level:
In appsweb.cfg, set "record=collect" as shown below (under ENVIRONMENT SPECIFIC PARAMETERS section)

# Sub argument for other params
record=collect

also can specify the log name
log=site1.log 

2) To enable FRD on User level:
Change Profile option "ICX: Forms Launcher" on user level to https://hostname.domain:port/forms/frmservlet?record=collect

Then, launch forms after logging onto EBS (usually without any services downtime, but may need to bounce Apache or clear cache). Forms shall popup a note "Forms Runtime Diagnostics is enabled, Please note this can affect performance." before forms shows up.

By default, trace file collect_<pid> gets written in folder $FORMS_TRACE_DIR, where <pid> is the process identifier.  "grep" the pid to find which os process created it.

Optionally, in appsweb.cfgs, specify the log name
log=user1.log
(Note: Log file site1.log or user1.log will be saved in folder $FORMS_TRACE_DIR. This folder may need manually cleaning from time to time.)

3) Enabling FRD (in R12.1) by URL https://hostname.domain:port/forms/frmservlet?record=collect ( or https://hostname.domain:port/forms/frmservlet?record=collect+log=user1.log )
Enter EBS userID/password to access forms directly. But it may give error:
APP-FND-01542: This Applications Server is not authorized to access this database.

To get this working, modify current context file by changing “s_appserverid_authentication” value from SECURE to OFF. Then shutdown apps and run Autoconfig.

3. When QA uses Vugen 12 for scripting and uses HP Performance Center (PC) 12 to run the scripts to test EBS R12.1.3 site performance, I was asked to change Profile option "ICX: Forms Launcher" on user level from https://hostname.domain:port/forms/frmservlet to
https://hostname.domain:port/forms/frmservlet?play=&record=names

I did not know what that profile value really does. But after the change, performance testing worked by PC 12 for our QA.

NOTES:  For JWS, do NOT use Method 2 of Option 1 in Doc ID 438652.1 or follow Doc ID 373548.1 (How To Collect And Use Forms Trace (FRD) in Oracle Applications Release 12) to enable FRD by setting up profile option Forms Runtime Parameters to "record=forms tracegroup=0-97". It will give error "FRM-90926: Duplicate Parameter on Command Line" without launching forms.