Saving $200,000 with
Application Express
A presentation for ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2006
June 21, 2006
Bill Holtzman
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Air Traffic Controllers
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Most work for the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), part of the US
Government
National Air Traffic Controllers
Association (NATCA) is the exclusive
and official bargaining representative of
air traffic controllers
NATCA
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15,000 member organization
600 official representatives
400 offices across US
$20 million budget
High volume paperwork filings
No internal network
No programming staff
One IT employee
Headquartered in Washington, DC
My IT experience
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Fortran, Drexel University, 1985
3 static HTML web sites, 1997-2002
Several MS Access apps, 2002-2003
7 one week classes at Learning Tree
Int’l, 2003-04
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8i, 9i Intros, PLSQL, SQL Queries, App Dev
DBA, Backup & Recovery, Tuning
Grievances
From the 1998 Collective Bargaining Agreement:
Art. 9, Sec. 1. A grievance shall be defined as any complaint:
 by any employee concerning any matter relating to the
employment of the employee;
 by the Union concerning any matter relating to the
employment of any unit employee; or
 by a unit employee or either Party concerning any claimed
violation, misinterpretation, or misapplication of any law,
rule or regulation affecting conditions of employment as
provided in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 or this
Agreement.
Sample grievance
System requirements
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Secure, internet-based
Multiple access levels
Event-based processing
Timeline tracking
Document storage
Search
Accelerated data entry
Online reference library
E-mail notifications
Much more!
Grievance listing
A typical listing from the application.
From this listing users can access all information associated with
each grievance and add new information. The light brown text
are links to other pages or javascript.
SQL report region: Definition
Note: The image has been altered and the SQL simplified for this presentation.
SQL report region: Attributes
Automated report link
The link for the
An image link:
column is created below.
HTML result (Automated link)
This HTML is generated by the ApEx engine for the
column
when the page is rendered. The image is the browser result.
<td class="alt" align="CENTER" ><a
href="f?p=104:27:11611713660565463579::NO::
P27_GRID,P27_RETURN_PAGE:5360%2C32&cs=339E270
0710A71397BE8B4014F66659CE"
onMouseOver="return window.status='View or
add attachments to this grievance'"
onMouseOut="return window.status=''"><span
style="padding:16px">4</span></a></td>
Note: %2C is a URL comma
URL
syntax
f?p=App:Page:Session:Request:Debug:ClearCache
:itemNames:itemValues:PrinterFriendly
Grievance listing
The NATCA/FAA column is more difficult to generate.
The light brown text is a link but the black text is not.
Manual report link
This code is used to generate the values in the
column.
select
'<a href="' ||
htmldb_util.prepare_URL
('f?p=&APP_ID.:8:' || :APP_SESSION ||
':::8:P8_DUP_GRID,P8_RETURN_PAGE,P8_ARTICLE:' ||
g.grid || ',32,' || g.article)
|| '">' || g.natca || '</a>
<br><span style="font-size:8pt">' || g.faanum ||
'</span>' "NATCA2"
from grievance g
SQL report region: Definition
Note: The image has been altered and the SQL simplified for this presentation.
HTML result (Manual link)
This HTML is generated by the ApEx engine for the
column when the page is rendered. The image is the browser
result.
<td class="alt" align="CENTER" >
<a href="f?p=104:8:11611713660565463579:::8:
P8_DUP_GRID,P8_RETURN_PAGE,P8_ARTICLE:5380%2C32%2C1&
cs=3AFB9E7AE3C788204B13372F5C05793B7"
onMouseOver="return window.status='Duplicate this
grievance'" onMouseOut="return window.status=''">
06-ZDC-13</a>
<br><span style="font-size:8pt">NC-AEA-ZDC-001202</span></td>
Manual display conditions
The
column shows different elements
depending on date data.
select
decode(g.status_id, 1, decode(g.date_sub_2, null, trunc(g.u_action_2) trunc(sysdate) || '&nbsp' ||
case
when (g.u_action_2 - sysdate) > 7 then '<img src="#FLOW_IMAGES#greenN.gif"
alt="NATCA must submit this by ' || to_char(g.u_action_2, 'MM/DD/YY') || '">'
when (g.u_action_2 - sysdate) > 3 then '<img src="#FLOW_IMAGES#yellowN.gif"
alt="NATCA must submit this by ' || to_char(g.u_action_2, 'MM/DD/YY') || '">'
when (g.u_action_2 - sysdate) > 0 then '<img src="#FLOW_IMAGES#redN.gif"
alt="NATCA must submit this by ' || to_char(g.u_action_2, 'MM/DD/YY') || '">'
when g.u_action_2 is null and date_rec_1 is null then '<img
src="#FLOW_IMAGES#greenN.gif" alt="FAA has not replied at the E1 level">'
else '<img src="#FLOW_IMAGES#past.gif" border="0" alt="NATCA failed to submit
this by ' || to_char(g.u_action_2, 'MM/DD/YY') || '">'
end,
to_char(g.date_sub_2, 'MM/DD/YY')), 'Closed') "DATE_SUB"
from grievance g
HTML result (Manual conditions)
<td class="alt" align="CENTER" >3&nbsp
<img
src="wwv_flow_file_mgr.get_file?p_security_group_id=
19526826517643043&p_flow_id=104&p_fname=redN.gif"
alt="NATCA must submit this by 05/27/06">
</td>
Session state protection
Session state protection is set by a wizard.
Session state: Checksum
Session state: Violation
Tampering with values in the URL produces this error
message.
Upload/download
Users upload and download documents associated with
each grievance. The process is analogous to a legal case.
Upload/download: Custom tables
The custom tables are tied to individual grievances by the
primary key GRID.
Upload to custom table: Page process
Upload: Javascript validation
Javascript restricts the length of the file name. Application
Express will not accept more than 78 characters.
Upload: Server (ApEx) validation
A validation restricts the size of
uploads.
Download from custom table: Report
The SQL report region lists all stored files associated with the
grievance whose primary key (GRID) is passed into :P27_GRID.
Download from custom table: Link
An automated column link uses the DOWNLOAD_MY_FILE
procedure to make the File Name column a download link.
Note: DOWNLOAD_MY_FILE is available on OTN
PLSQL region: Sample code
The following PLSQL code is used to create a form letter:
if p_letterhead = 1 then
msg := '<table width="90%" border="0">
<tr><td width="50%" align="center"><img src =
"#WORKSPACE_IMAGES#natca.gif"></td>
<td><i><font size="4"> NATCA ‘ || p_facid || '</font></i><br><font size="3">‘
|| p_fac_address || '</font>
</td></tr></table><br><br>';
else
msg := '<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>';
end if;
msg := msg || to_char(p_date_sub, 'FMMonth dd, yyyy') || '<br><br>' ||
p_address || '<br><br>Grievance Number ' || nvl(gr_cursor.faanum,
'______________________') || '<br><br><b>Re: Grievance Regarding ' ||
gr_cursor.topic || '</b><br><br>Dear ' || p_dear || ',<br><br>' || p_preamble
|| '<br><br><b>Name of Grievant: </b>' || gr_cursor.grievant || '<br><b>Name of
Representative: </b>' || gr_cursor.rep || '<br><b>Date of Violation: </b>' ||
to_char(gr_cursor.violation_date, 'FMMonth dd, yyyy') || '<br><b>Request Oral
Presentation: </b>' || p_oral_text;
htp.p(msg);
PSQL region: Display result
The form letter is an HTML file that can be printed.
PLSQL region: CLOB data
This code is used to push CLOB text (gr_cursor.nature) onto the
HTML page. Since this page may also be called from the Search
page, code is included to highlight search words.
for j in 1..trunc(DBMS_LOB.GETLENGTH(gr_cursor.nature)/3000) + 1 loop
DBMS_LOB.READ(gr_cursor.nature, p_text_amt, p_text_pos, p_nature_sub);
msg := replace(p_nature_sub, chr(10), '<br>');
if :F168_SEARCH is not null and :P9_HIGHLIGHT is not null then
msg := replace(replace(replace(msg, :F168_SEARCH, '<SPAN style="backgroundcolor:yellow">' || :F168_SEARCH || '</span>'), initcap(:F168_SEARCH), '<SPAN
style="background-color:yellow">' || initcap(:F168_SEARCH) || '</span>'),
upper(:F168_SEARCH), '<SPAN style="background-color:yellow">' ||
upper(:F168_SEARCH) || '</span>');
end if;
htp.p(msg);
p_text_pos := p_text_pos + 3000;
end loop;
PLSQL region: Highlight
Automatic row processing
Row processing can be
handled automatically
by the ApEx engine.
This provides optimistic
locking behind the
scenes without input
from the developer.
Manual row processing
:P8_CHECKSUM is calculated when the page is rendered. If it
changes, the update does not execute.
for c1 in (select * from grievance where grid = :P8_GRID) loop
current_state :=
utl_raw.cast_to_raw(dbms_obfuscation_toolkit.md5(input_string =>
c1.FAANUM||c1.GRIEVANT||c1.REP||c1.TOPIC||c1.ORAL));
end loop;
if current_state = :P8_CHECKSUM then
select empid into p_empid from gr_emp where upper(username) = :APP_USER;
case :P8_GR_STATUS
when 1 then
update grievance set faanum = :P8_FAANUM, rep = :P8_REP, topic = :P8_TOPIC,
oral = :P8_ORAL where grid = :P8_GRID, userid = p_empid;
:P8_RETURN_PAGE := 18;
when 2 then
update grievance set faanum = :P8_FAANUM, rep = :P8_REP, topic = :P8_TOPIC,
oral = :P8_ORAL where grid = :P8_GRID, userid = p_empid;
:P8_RETURN_PAGE := 32;
end case;
else
:P8_RETURN_PAGE := 39;
end if;
Optimistic locking error
When the checksums do not agree, conditional processing
prevents the update and conditional branching takes the user to
this page.
Javascript
Javascript greatly enhances the functionality of the application
and the experience of the user. Javascript can be included on
individual pages or on a template.
Javascript: User tools
Sample javascript as it would appear in the page attributes is
shown here. The first function opens a new window and the
second populates a field based on a drop-down menu selection.
Javascript: onChange select
Javascript: Client validation
Since most browsers have a maximum content size of 32K, a
graceful error message is needed should the user exceed that.
This javascript provides a pop-up and halts processing.
Calling javascript
From a page button:
Manually in an SQL Report Region (with Session State Protection):
select '<a href="javascript:myPopUp(''' ||
htmldb_util.prepare_URL('f?p=&APP_ID.:9:' || :APP_SESSION || '::::P9_GRID:'
|| g.GRID) || ''')">' || g.topic || '</a>' "Topic“
from grievance g
Application Express skill set
Thank you!
For more information:
Bill Holtzman
bholtzman@natca.net
703-403-0139