Hidden Gems of APEX David Gale Software Engineer Oracle Application Express November, 2014 Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 2 Oracle Application Express “I didn’t know APEX could do that” Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 3 DAVID GALE Software Engineer Oracle Application Express Database Tools | Server Technologies 1900 Oracle Way Reston Virginia 20190 phone +1-703-364-2613 mobile +1-703-268-9040 david.s.gale@oracle.com twitter @david_s_gale David Gale has been working with Oracle Application Express since 2009 (v. 4.0). He has been part of the APEX development team since joining Oracle in 2011. Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 4 Safe Harbor Statement The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle. Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 5 Oracle Application Express Introduction Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 6 Oracle Application Express • • • • • • Database-centric development tool for Oracle Database application development Targeted at Web-based developers who know SQL and PL/SQL Develop Desktop and Mobile applications 100% Browser-based Development and Runtime Declarative framework for rapid application definition, and full application life cycle. On premise, on laptop, on cloud, on RAC, any platform Oracle DB is available Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 7 History Also known as Oracle APEX (a'peks) HTML DB 1.5 First Release HTML DB 1.6 UI Themes 2004 APEX 3.1 APEX 2.1 Interactive Reports Oracle XE APEX 2.2 Supporting DB Objects for full app installation and upgrade 2005 2006 HTML DB 2.0 SQL Workshop Development initiated August 1999 2007 APEX 3.0 Flash Charts PDF Printing Access Migration Websheets Dynamic Actions Plug-Ins Team Development Mobile HTML5 Packaged Apps 4.2.1 2008 2009 APEX 3.2 Oracle Forms to APEX Conversion 2010 APEX 4.2 Dot Releases APEX 4.2 APEX 4.0 2011 APEX 4.1 Data Upload Error Handling ROWID 2012 Improved Packaged Apps 4.2.2, 3, 4 2013 4.2.5 2014 / 5 Application Express 5.0* Universal Theme Page Designer UI Modernization HTML5 Plugins *Available in Early Adopter Only (apexea.oracle.com) Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 8 Fully supported no-cost feature of the Oracle Database • Supported as a no-cost feature of the Oracle Database • No cost feature of database 10gR2 (10.2.0.4 +), 11gR1, 11gR2, 12c • Any number of developers, applications, any number of end-users • Specialized Oracle Support Team – Included with Database Maintenance Agreement • All database editions: EE, SE, SE1, XE • Exadata, ODA, RAC, Partitioning, Compression, InMemory, Multitenant… • Distribution • Distributed with all editions of Oracle database 11g and 12c • Available as a download from OTN • Oracle Cloud Services • “Oracle Database Cloud Service” aka schema since October 2012. Sold as a fully managed service with 1GB free trial, and 5, 20, 50 GB paid services. • Available as “development only” customer evaluation service on http://apex.oracle.com Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 9 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: APEX Data Dictionary Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 10 APEX Data Dictionary • Set of views of (most) metadata for Workspaces, Applications, etc. • Accessible through SQL • Application → Utilities → Application Express Views Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 11 APEX Data Dictionary Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 12 APEX Data Dictionary (Tree View) Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 13 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: APEX Advisor Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 14 APEX Advisor • Automated test suite for common APEX errors and security vulnerabilities • Application → Utilities → Advisor Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 15 APEX Advisor Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 16 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: Application Search Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 17 Application Search • Several shortcuts – <page> - Open page in editor (current application) – <application>:<page> - Open page in editor – <application>:s – Application Shared Components (new in 5.0) • Search prior to opening an application: full workspace search Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 18 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: SQL Workshop Utilities Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 19 SQL Workshop Utilities • Suite of tools for working with database objects – Data loading – DDL generation – API package creation – Schema comparison – …and more… • SQL Workshop → Utilities Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 20 SQL Workshop Utilities Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 21 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: Query on Selected Table Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 22 Query on Selected Table • Part of the Find (not search) functionality • Automatically generates select statement with all column names • Better than “select *” for usability and maintenance • Find → Tables Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 23 Query on Selected Table Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 24 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: PL/SQL Column Headings Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 25 PL/SQL Column Headings • Classic Reports only • Combine with “SQL Query (PL/SQL function body returning SQL query)” report type for dynamic reports • Function returning colon-separated list of column headings • Can use apex_util.set_report_column_format(…) to specify format masks at the same time Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 26 PL/SQL Column Headings Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 27 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: Page Items to Submit Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 28 Page Items to Submit • Automatically copy page item values from DOM to session state • Attribute of reports and PL/SQL dynamic action steps • Enables partial page refresh for reports, complex dynamic actions Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 29 Page Items to Submit Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 30 Page Items to Submit Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 31 Oracle Application Express Hidden Gem: Packaged Applications Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 32 Packaged Applications • Suite of pre-built applications available for immediate deployment and use • Two types – Sample Applications – demonstrate specific functionality • Can be installed and inspected immediately – Productivity Applications – designed to meet actual business needs • Locked upon initial installation • Fully supported by Oracle* • Active development Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 33 Packaged Applications Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 34 Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 35 Copyright © 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 36