Naming Conventions

Each Oracle eBusiness Suite implementation has heated debates on the object and file naming convention.

When it comes to the naming convention for custom objects there are debates on whether to include gap number, application module or some other identifying information into the name of the object. Let us consider a naming convention for a PL/SQL package in the form ____PKG, for example XBOL_1201_AR_SAMPLE_PKG. When you do a vanilla implementation with minimum number of gaps, any naming convention will do. However, when implementation is complex with numerous gaps, which is very typical for Oracle Lease Management implementation, adding ‘identifying’ information into the object name may be very misleading.

The first misleading identifier is the gap number. Developer would put the gap number of the gap which created the object. However, other gaps may add their code into the object, thus sharing the ownership of the object. The package no longer belongs to gap 1201, it is shared between gaps. Because of that saying that package XBOL_1201_AR_SAMPLE_PKG is owned by gap 2033 is rather misleading. Adding the application name to the object name may not add as much benefit as expected. Though this identifier is rather stable, developers need to have clear vision as what application a package extends. This is especially true for packages which perform cross application operations such as linking OKS and IB, OE and INV. We suggest that identifying information such as gap number and application is kept outside of the object name in an external tool such as Hermes.

File naming convention also varies between projects. We came across a project where PL/SQL packages were stored in files with the name like .pls, for example XBOL1342A.pls. This is an exceptionally misleading convention. Even though Oracle Development also follows similar 8 character convention for PL/SQL packages, it does not mean this is the best practice. File which stores an object must have full object name as part of the file name. You may want to add suffixes to, say, LDT files to tell LDTs for lookups from LDTs for profile options. Hermes provides default file naming convention for most objects you need to create during Oracle eBusiness Implementation.