Address formatting determines which address elements are displayed, and in what order, for address entry and update. A format specific to a region, such as a country, is an address style.

For example, the address style for the United States is:

Building, Street, Unit Number
City
State
Zip Code
Country

Oracle Trading Community Architecture and other Oracle E-Business Suite applications use the Flexible Address Formatting feature. See: Flexible Addresses. The Flexible Address Formatting setup determines which address style is used for each country.

The real-time address validation based on Geography Hierarchy works alongside Flexible Address Formatting validation. For example, the address style provides you a list of valid states for US addresses, if the value set is defined. In addition, real-time address validation also provides valid states as part of address suggestions. See: Real-Time Address Validation.

Address Entry and Formatting Process

1. In the address entry UI, you select a country. Available countries are from the FND_TERRITORIES table.

2. Address elements for entry are displayed based on the Flexible Address Formatting address style defined for the selected country.

3. Enter address information.

   The address style can provide valid address elements, if defined, for you to choose from. For example, if you select United States as the country, the application can provide a list of valid states, which comes from Flexible Address Formatting setup.

4. Attempt to save your address.

   1. If mandatory address elements are defined for the address style, then the application checks that they are entered. For example, if the US address style is defined so that State is mandatory, then you can save the address only if you have entered a state.

   2. If real-time address validation is set up, then the address is validated and saved, or not, based on the validation process. See: Address Entry and Real-Time Validation Process.