It has an IDE that includes an object navigator, property sheet, and code editor that uses PL/SQL.

Recent versions provide a means to run the forms from a desktop computer without requiring a browser.

The primary focus of Forms is to create data entry systems that access an Oracle database.

The environment supplies built-in record creation, query, and update modes, each with its own default data manipulations.

This minimizes the need to program common, and tedious operations, such as creating dynamic SQL, sensing changed fields, and locking rows.

As is normal with event driven interfaces, the software implements event-handling functions called triggers which are automatically invoked at critical steps in the processing of records, the receipt of keyboard strokes, and the receipt of mouse movements.

Programming Oracle Forms therefore generally consists of modifying the contents of these triggers in order to alter the default behavior.

As a result of this strategy, it is possible to create a number of default form layouts which possess complete database functionality yet contain no programmer-written code at all.

This release was character-based (rather than GUI) so forms were developed and runtime typically in a terminal.

Forms 3 was a character mode application and was primarily used in terminals such as Digital VT220 and PCs running Microsoft DOS.

Oracle Forms version 4.0 was the first true GUI based version of the product that supported GUI elements such as checkboxes and radio groups in the Forms editor and at runtime.

These would be abandoned in the next release and replaced with property sheets that were made popular with Visual Basic.

It added GUI-based triggers, and provided a modern IDE with an object navigator, property sheets and code editor.

The naming and numbering system applied to Oracle Forms underwent several changes due to marketing factors, without altering the essential nature of the product.

The ability to import java classes means that it can act as a web service client.

After this release, there were very few product changes made besides keeping the version number in sync with the Oracle database.

Forms 11 introduced advancements such as external events, JavaScript support in Release 1, and Access Manager, Real User Experience Interaction (RUEI), and performance monitoring in Release 2.

JWS supports Internet Explorer, Firefox ESR, Chrome, Edge.

New features include modernised widgets and support for accessing REST data sources.