ADF Glossary action binding A binding for command components, such as buttons or links, to built-in or custom methods on the data control, or to built-in collection-level operations (such as, Create, Delete, Next, or Previous). An action binding object encapsulates the details of how to invoke a method and what parameters (if any) the method is expecting. activity A piece of work that is performed when an ADF Controller task flow runs, for example, a method call or view. ADF binding filter A servlet filter that ADF web applications use to preprocess any HTTP requests that may require access to the binding context. ADF Business Components A framework that simplifies the development, delivery, and customization of business applications for the Java 2 Platform. You use ADF Business Components to define associations between entity objects, view objects, and application modules to reflect the foreign keys present in the underlying tables. ADF Controller layer A mechanism that provides an enhanced navigation and state management model on top of JSF. This mechanism declaratively defines navigation using control flow rules. ADF Faces Rich Client (RC) A set of standard JSF components that include built-in Ajax functionality. ADF Model layer A layer that implements JSR-227 service abstraction called the data control. application module A transactional component that UI clients use to work with application data. It defines an updatable data model and top-level procedures and functions (called service methods) related to a logical unit of work. This unit of work is related to an end-user task. binding context A container object that holds a list of available data controls and data binding objects. The DataBindings.cpx files define the binding context for the application.See also data control. bounded task flow A specialized form of ADF Controller task flow that has a single entry point and zero or more exit points. It contains its own set of private, control flow rules, activities, and managed beans. A bounded task flow allows reuse, parameters, transaction management, and reentry. When dropped on a page, it becomes a region. control flow An ADF Controller activity that enables navigation between other activities in an ADF task flow. The control flow links one activity to another in a task flow. data control XML configuration files that describe a service. At design time, visual tools like JDeveloper can leverage that metadata to UI component to be declaratively bound to an operation or data collection. Data Controls panel A panel in JDeveloper that lists all the data controls that have been created for the application's business services and exposes all the collections (row sets of data objects), methods, and built-in operations that are available for binding to UI components. entity object An object that represents a row in a database table and that simplifies modifying its data by handling all data manipulation language operations for you. Entity objects are ADF Business Components that provide the mapping to underlying data structures. invoke action An action that binds to a method that invokes the operations or methods defined in an action or a method action binding during any phase of the page lifecycle. See also action binding. iterator binding A binding to an iterator that iterates over view object collections. There is one iterator binding for each collection used on the page. All of the value bindings on the page must refer to an iterator binding in order for the component values to be populated with data at runtime. Contrast with variable iterator and method iterator. list of values (LOV) Input components that allow a user to enter values by picking from a list that is generated by a query MDS An application server and Oracle relational database that keep metadata in these areas: a file-based repository data, dictionary tables (accessed by built-in functions) and a metadata registry. One of the primary uses of MDS is to store customizations and persisted personalization for Oracle applications method iterator A binding to an iterator that iterates over the collections returned by custom methods in the data control. An iterator binding that is always related to a method action binding object. The method action binding encapsulates the details about how to invoke the method and what parameters the method is expecting. The method action binding is itself bound to the method iterator, which provides the data. Oracle ADF An end-to-end application framework that builds on Java Platform, Enterprise Edition standards and open-source technologies to simplify and accelerate implementing service-oriented applications. page definition file A file that defines the binding objects that populate the data in UI components at runtime. For every page that has ADF bindings, there must be a corresponding page definition file that defines the binding objects used by that page. region An ADF Controller UI component whose content is based on a task flow definition. When first rendered, the region's content is that of the first view activity in a task flow. task flow A set of ADF Controller activities, control flow rules and managed beans that interact to allow a user to complete a task. unbounded task flow A set of activities, ADF control flow rules, and managed beans that interact to allow a user to complete a task. An unbounded task flow has a single point of entry. value binding A binding used by ADF view UI components that display data. Value bindings range from the most basic variety that work with a simple text field to more sophisticated list and tree bindings that support the additional needs of list, table, and tree UI controls. value iterator An ADF Model iterator pointing to a collection that contains only one data object whose attributes are the binding container variable. Contrast with method iterator and value iterator iterator. variable iterator A binding to an iterator that exposes all the variables in the binding container to the other bindings. While there is an iterator binding for each collection, there is only one variable iterator binding for all variables used on the page. Contrast with method iterator and value iterator iterator. view accessor An ADF Business Components object that points from an entity object attribute (or view object) to a destination view object or shared view instance in the same application workspace. The view accessor returns a row set that by default contains all the rows from the destination view object. view object An ADF Business Components object that represents a SQL query and simplifies working with its results. The SQL language is used to join, project, filter, sort, and aggregate data into the shape required by the end-user task being represented in the user interface.