Using ICX_TICKET for Forms authentication in EBS 12.2 Follow

Introduction

If you're working with E-Business Suite (EBS) 12.2 Forms, you may have encountered the term "ICX_TICKET". In short, ICX_TICKET is a security token that EBS generates after a successful login. However, in the context of recording FULL Forms services, ICX_TICKET is not used for security purposes, but to solve a technical problem. The issue is that 12.2 Forms do not include a login screen in the actual Forms window. Instead, the authentication process is being processed through the HTML part of EBS. This raises a challenge for recording Forms services because the HTML part, which includes choosing the responsibility from the menu, needs to be included in the recording.

To address this issue, we utilize the ICX_TICKET that EBS generates after a successful login to imitate the same behavior without requiring the user to record the HTML part. Essentially, the ICX_TICKET serves as a key to unlock the relevant EBS responsibility and bypass the login screen. It allows the Forms service to run as if it were authenticated by the user.

In this article, we'll provide a deeper look on how we use ICX_TICKET to authenticate full Forms services. 

Using ICX_TICKET with Forms Services

To get started with using ICX_TICKET to authenticate FULL Forms services on EBS 12.2, you'll need to follow a few key steps. First, after installing ServiceManager, our team will deploy a "Login_and_get_icx_ticket" service on your instance. This service is responsible for logging in to EBS and generating the ICX_TICKET parameter. You don't need to dive into the code here (unless you want to), as the code is automatically handled for you. Essentially, the service logs in to EBS, selects a common responsibility, extracts the ICX_TICKET, and passes it to the next service.

It's important to note that this process is only for FULL Forms services and not for partial services. Partial services don't have any context of their own and will keep running based on the last point where the full service stopped.

The ICX_TICKET parameter is used to authenticate ourselves when recording and playing Forms services. We encapsulate the entire logging in and selecting the responsibility actions in the HTML part of EBS. When creating a new full Forms service, we need to provide an ICX_TICKET that allows us to "skip" the authentication part of EBS, so we can concentrate on the Forms behavior only.

After deploying the ICX_TICKET service we can start recording a Forms service. During the service setup, we need to add the ICX_TICKET service as a preservice, which means it will run before the Forms service. Then, we need to select the ICX_TICKET parameter as the shared parameter between the preservice and the Forms service. This parameter passes the ICX_TICKET value from the preservice to the Forms service, allowing it to authenticate itself to EBS. Once this is done, we can run and test our Forms service to ensure that it works correctly with the ICX_TICKET parameter.

In latest versions of ServiceManager, this whole process is done automatically. To make it work all you need to verify is that your Service Manager is setup with the following environment variable and system properties:

Environment variable

EBS_FORMS_URL = http://<your ebs system>:8000/forms/frmservlet?

System properties

FORMS_DEFAULT_URL = ${env.EBS_FORMS_URL}
FORMS_ICX_TICKET_SERVICE = Login_and_get_icx_ticket

Once you have that configured the following process will be done automatically for you by our studio upon creating a new full forms service. No action needed on you side.

However, if you're using an older version or wants to get better understanding of the process, you might want to read the following section:

After the ICX_TICKET service is set up, every time you run a full Forms service that has the ICX_TICKET configured, the pre-service (Login_and_get_icx_ticket) automatically runs before the service. This pre-service logs in to EBS, opens a specific responsibility (more on that later), extracts the ICX_TICKET, and returns it as an output which is automatically is being passed to the concatenated service (the form service that is actually being executed).

Please note - It's essential to ensure that the responsibility which the "Login_and_get_icx_ticket" service is setup with is shared between all users. That is any user that will be executing the FORMS API will need to be configured with that responsibility. If this is not the case in your environment please contact our support team to help you configure dynamic responsibility.

Conclusion

Using ICX_TICKET to authenticate Forms services is an essential part of working with EBS 12.2 Forms. By following the steps outlined in this article, you'll be able to utilize ICX_TICKET to record and play Forms services without any authentication issues. If you have any questions or concerns about using ICX_TICKET or setting up Forms services, please don't hesitate to contact us.