A flexfield is a flexible data field that your organization can customize to your business needs without

programming. Oracle Applications uses two types of flexfields, key flexfields and descriptive flexfields. A
key flexfield is a field you can customize to enter multi-segment values such as part numbers, account
numbers, and so on. A descriptive flexfield is a field you customize to enter additional information for which
your Oracle Applications product has not already provided a field.
Basic Business Needs
Oracle Applications flexfields let you satisfy the following business needs:
o ave !intelligent fields!--fields comprised of one or more segments, where each segment has
both a value and a meaning.
o "ely upon your application to validate the values or the combination of values that you enter
in intelligent fields.
o ave the structure of an intelligent field change depending on data in your application.
o #apture additional information if you so choose.
o #ustomize data fields to your meet your business needs without programming.
o $uery intelligent fields for very specific information.
Definitions
Key Flexfields
A key flexfield is a field made up of segments, where each segment has both a value and a meaning. %ou can
think of a key flexfield as an !intelligent! field that your business can use to store information represented as
!codes.!
&ost organizations use !codes! to identify general ledger accounts, part numbers, and other business
entities. 'ach segment in the code represents a characteristic of the entity. (or example, your organization
may use the part number code !)A*-+"-%',-- ./0x.1! to represent a notepad that is narrow-ruled, yellow,
and - ./0! by .1!. 2ut another organization may identify the same notepad with the part number code !)*-
-x.1-%-+"!. Although both codes represent the same part, they each have a different segment structure that
is meaningful only to the organization using that code.
A key flexfield is flexible enough to let you use any code scheme you want to describe an entity. 3hen your
organization initially installs an Oracle Applications product, your organization4s implementation team
customizes all the key flexfields in that product to use meaningful code segments to describe each key
flexfield entity. %our organization decides for each key flexfield, how many segments an entity has, what
each segment means, what values each segment can have, and what each segment value means. %our
organization can also define rules that govern what combination of segment values are valid 5cross-
validation rules6, or define dependencies among the segments. 7he result is that your organization can use
the codes it needs rather than change its codes to meet someone else4s re8uirements.
7he Accounting (lexfield in your Oracle Assets application is an example of a key flexfield that identifies a
uni8ue chart of accounts. One organization may choose to customize the Accounting (lexfield to have three
segments called #ompany, *epartment, and Account, while another organization may choose to customize
the flexfield to have six segments called #ompany, #ost #enter, Account, )roduct, )roduct ,ine, and
9ubaccount, as shown in (igure . - 1- in the Account column.
Figure 1 - 48.
A key flexfield looks like any other field in a block. %ou can simply type into a key flexfield, the segment
values you want and separate each segment with a character called a segment separator. :n (igure . - 1-, the
designated segment separator for the Accounting (lexfield is a period !.!. Alternatively, as shown in (igure .
- 1;, you can open a flexfield window for a key flexfield to display a separate field for each of its segments.
Figure 1 - 49.
Combination of egment !alues
A combination of segment values, also known as a key flexfield code combination, uni8uely describes a
business entity stored in a key flexfield. 3hen you change the value of one or more segments in a key
flexfield, you change the combination of segment values.
Descri"ti#e Flexfields
A descriptive flexfield gives you room to expand your forms, since Oracle Applications cannot predict all
the possible information you may want to track. %our organization can use descriptive flexfields to capture
additional information that is important and uni8ue to your business.
A descriptive flexfield appears in a block as a two character, unnamed field enclosed in brackets, as shown
in (igure . - <=. A descriptive flexfield window appears when you move your cursor into a customized
descriptive flexfield, as shown in (igure . - <.. %our organization4s implementation team can customize a
descriptive flexfield to include as many additional fields as your organization needs. 7hese fields, also called
segments, appear in the descriptive flexfield window.
Note$ 3e refer to the fields that appear in a customized descriptive flexfield as segments even though they
differ from the segments that make up a single value in a key flexfield.
'ach segment in a descriptive flexfield window has a name, and can have a set of valid values. %our
organization can define dependencies among the segments or customize a descriptive flexfield to display
context-sensitive segments, so that different segments appear depending on the values you enter in other
fields or segments.
:n (igure . - <=, your organization might customize the descriptive flexfield to display fields that store more
information about the asset category.
Figure 1 - %&.
Figure 1 - %1.
'ange Flexfield
A range flexfield is a variation of a key flexfield that allows you to input a low and a high combination of
segment values so that you can express a range of key flexfield combinations.
tructure
A structure is a specific configuration of flexfield segments. :f your organization4s implementation team
adds or removes segments, or rearranges the order of segments in a flexfield, you get a different structure.
(a)or Features
Flexfield *indo+
2oth key and descriptive flexfields display flexfield windows. A flexfield window displays the segments of a
flexfield as individual fields with field prompts.
#hoose ,ist of !alues... or -dit Field... from the 'dit menu to display key flexfield windows.
Note$ 9ingle segment key flexfields and range flexfields display all of their segments in fields on the form
and are therefore not displayed in a flexfield window.
(or a descriptive flexfield, you can define whether you want the flexfield window to automatically appear
when you navigate to a customized descriptive flexfield. :f you set a user profile option called Flexfields:
Open Descr Window to No, the window does not open unless you choose -dit Field... from the 'dit menu.
:f you set the user profile option to Yes, a flexfield window automatically opens when you navigate into a
customized descriptive flexfield except in a folder.
7he menus on the main menu bar change when you open a flexfield window. 3e refer to the updated menu
bar as the flexfield window menu bar, which contains the following menus:
o -dit-->se the 'dit menu to edit the data in the flexfield window. %ou can clear the data from
a segment field, display a list of values for a segment field 5if it contains a list6, invoke the
field editor for a segment, or clear all data from the block.
o .o-->se the ?o menu to navigate to the next or previous segment field.
o "ecial-->se the 9pecial menu to display the default value for a segment field 5if it has a
default6 or to display default values for all the segments in the flexfield window that have
defaults.
o *indo+--7he 3indow menu lets you select different ways to arrange your currently open
windows.
/utomatic egment !alidation
9ome flexfields can validate the segment values that you enter against a list of valid values. :f you enter an
invalid segment value, a list window appears so that you can choose a valid value from the list.
/utomatic egment Cross-!alidation
A key flexfield can perform automatic cross-validation of segment values according to rules your
organization defines when it customizes that key flexfield. A cross-validation rule defines whether a value of
a particular segment can be combined with specific values of other segments. 3hen you finish entering
segment values in your key flexfield window, your application checks to see if it is a valid combination of
values before it updates the database. :f you enter an invalid combination, a modal window appears with a
message telling you to choose a combination that is already defined.
Dynamic 0nsertion
*ynamic insertion allows you to create a combination of segment values for a key flexfield without using a
combinations form. *uring the implementation of a key flexfield, your organization can either explicitly
define a list of valid code combinations for the key flexfield using a combinations form, or allow you to
create valid combinations as you enter values in the key flexfield for the first time on a form other than the
combinations form. %our organization can also specify cross-validation rules for a key flexfield so that you
can only define specific code combinations during dynamic insertion.
(ulti"le Flexfield tructures
:n some applications, different users may need a different arrangement of flexfield 5key or descriptive6
segments. Or, you might want different segments to appear in a flexfield depending upon, for example, the
value of another field.
*epending on the flexfield, your organization can define multiple segment structures for the same flexfield.
7he flexfield can display different prompts and fields for different users based on a data condition in a form
or application database.
%our Oracle ?eneral ,edger application, for example, can provide different Accounting (lexfield structures
for users of different sets of books. 7he Oracle ?eneral ,edger application determines which flexfield
structure to use based on the value of a profile option called ?, 9et of 2ooks +ame.
1ort1and Flexfield -ntry
9horthand flexfield entry lets you enter key flexfield data 8uickly using alias names that represent valid
flexfield combinations or patterns of valid segment values. %our organization can specify which key
flexfields use shorthand flexfield entry, and define shorthand aliases for those key flexfields to represent
complete or partial sets of key flexfield segment values. Once your organization customizes a key flexfield
to use shorthand flexfield entry, you can set the user profile option (lexfields:9horthand 'ntry to take
advantage of this feature.
Flexfield !alue ecurity
(lexfield value security allows your organization to restrict the set of key flexfield segment values you have
access to during data entry. 7he security is based on a your responsibility and the access rules your
organization defines.