Expert Oracle Application Express, Second Edition

Expert Oracle Application Express, Second Edition

by John Scott, Nick Buytaert, Karen Cannell, Martin D’Souza, Doug Gault, Dimitri Gielis, Roel Hartman, Denes Kubicek, Raj Mattamal, Dan McGhan, Francis Mignault, Tom Petrus, Jorge Rimblas, Christoph Ruepprich
Released August 2015
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781484204849

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Expert Oracle Application Express, 2nd Edition is newly updated for APEX 5.0 and brings deep insight from some of the best APEX practitioners in the field today. You'll learn about important features in APEX 5.0, and how those can be applied to make your development work easier and with greater impact on your business. Oracle Application Express (APEX) is an entirely web-based development framework that is built into every edition of Oracle Database. The framework rests upon Oracle’s powerful PL/SQL language, enabling power users and developers to rapidly develop applications that easily scale to hundreds, even thousands of concurrent users. APEX has seen meteoric growth and is becoming the tool of choice for ad-hoc application development in the enterprise.

The many authors of Expert Oracle Application Express, 2nd Edition build their careers around APEX. They know what it takes to make the product sing—developing secure applications that can be deployed globally to users inside and outside a large enterprise. The authors come together in this book to share some of their deepest and most powerful insights into solving the difficult problems surrounding globalization, configuration and lifecycle management, and more. New in this edition for APEX 5.0 is coverage of Oracle REST Data Services, map integration, jQuery with APEX, and the new Page Designer.

You’ll learn about debugging and performance, deep secrets to customizing your application user interface, how to secure applications from intrusion, and about deploying globally in multiple languages. Expert Oracle Application Express, 2nd Edition is truly a book that will move you and your skillset a big step towards the apex of Application Express development.

  • Contains all-new content on Oracle REST Data Services, jQuery in APEX, and map integration
  • Addresses globalization and other concerns of enterprise-level development
  • Shows how to customize APEX for your own application needs
    •

    Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Title
    3. Copyright
    4. Dedication
    5. Contents at a Glance
    6. About IOUG Press
    7. Contents
    8. Foreword
    9. First-Edition Foreword
    10. About the Authors
    11. About the Techincal reviewers
    12. Chapter 1 : Page Designer
      1. Main Components
      2. Navigation
        1. Page Finder Icon
        2. Lock Pages and Undo and Redo Icons
        3. Create, Utilities, and Component View Icons
      3. Component View
        1. Rendering
        2. Dynamic Actions
        3. Processing
        4. Page Shared Components
      4. Grid Layout
        1. Grid Layout
        2. Messages
        3. Page Search
        4. Help
      5. Property Editor
        1. Show Common
        2. Show All
        3. Collapse All
        4. Show All
        5. Quick Pick, Go to Group, and Go to Component Icons
      6. Code Editor
      7. Shortcuts
      8. Help Functionalities
        1. Link to the APEX 5.0 Documentation
        2. Link to the APEX 5.0 Forum at OTN
        3. Link to the APEX Resources at OTN
        4. Page Designer Help: Getting Started in Page Designer
        5. About Page Designer
      9. Other Options
        1. Multiple Component Selection
        2. Resizing Page Designer Areas
        3. Page Designer Memory Function
        4. Page Designer Toolbar Options
      10. Summary
    13. Chapter 2 : Oracle REST Data Services
      1. ORDS Defined
      2. ORDS Download and Setup
        1. Running the Install
        2. Database Users Used by ORDS
        3. Configuring Multiple Databases
        4. Configuration Files
      3. Administration via SQL Developer
      4. ORDS Development via SQL Developer
        1. REST Enabling an Existing Table
        2. Invoking the New REST Service
        3. Creating a REST Web Service
        4. Accessing Hidden Parameters
      5. Accessing ORDS Web Services via APEX
      6. Summary
    14. Chapter 3 : Oracle APEX 5.0 Charts Inside Out
      1. HTML5 Charts
        1. Background
        2. Creating a Chart
        3. The Result
        4. Page Designer vs. Component View
        5. Understanding the Chart Region
        6. Understanding the Chart Attributes
      2. Adding Multiple Series and Combined Charts
      3. Different Chart Types
      4. Behind the Scenes
      5. Debug and Performance
      6. Upgrading Oracle APEX 3.x/4.x Flash and SVG Charts
      7. Screen Reader Mode and Charts
      8. Extending Charts
        1. Customizing Charts by Using Custom XML
        2. Customizing Charts by Using Custom XML, Dynamic Actions, and JavaScript
        3. Creating Charts Manually
      9. Drill-Down Charts, Dashboards, and Interactivity
        1. Simple Dashboard with Submit
        2. Simple Dashboard with JavaScript
        3. Complex Dashboard with Actions
        4. Building Charts with the AnyChart Plugin
      10. Most Common Issues
        1. Chart Not Rendering Correctly
        2. Search for a Specific Feature
      11. Charts in the Future
      12. Chart Plugins
        1. Sample Charts in Packaged Application
        2. Inline Charts in Report
      13. Resources
      14. Summary
    15. Chapter 4 : Tabular Forms
      1. Changes in APEX 4.0
      2. Changes in APEX 4.1/4.2
      3. Changes in APEX 5.0
      4. Constraints
      5. Purpose of Tabular Forms
      6. Tabular Forms Are Not Spreadsheets
      7. Features in APEX 4
        1. New Item Types
        2. Declarative Validations
        3. Other Features
      8. Features in APEX 4.1/4.2
        1. New Validation Types for Tabular Forms
        2. New Variables Available for the Processing
        3. Tabular Forms and Dynamic Actions
      9. Custom Coding in Tabular Forms
        1. Processing the Correct Rows
        2. Data Integrity
        3. Manual Tabular Forms
        4. Tabular Forms and Collections
      10. Interesting Techniques
        1. Multiple Tabular Forms and Modal Pages
        2. Adding Cascading Select Lists to a Tabular Form
      11. Summary
    16. Chapter 5 : Team Development
      1. Milestones
        1. The Basics
        2. Extending Milestone Functionality
      2. Features
        1. The Basics
        2. Extending the Features Functionality
      3. To Do’s
        1. The Basics
        2. Extending the To-Do Functionality
      4. Bugs
      5. Feedback
        1. Feedback Process
        2. Enable Feedback
        3. Exporting Feedback to Development
        4. Importing Feedback into Development
        5. Team Development Integration in the Page Designer
        6. Processing Feedback
        7. Exporting Response to Deployment
        8. Importing Response into Deployment
        9. Extending Feedback: Creating a Report
        10. Extending Feedback: Feeding Back the Follow-Up
        11. Further Enhancements
      6. Summary
    17. Chapter 6 : Globalization
      1. Using the Builder in Other Languages
      2. Translating Applications
        1. Application Language Derived From
        2. Mapping
        3. CSV Encoding
        4. Translating an Application
        5. Manually Translate an Application
      3. Translating Data in the Database
      4. Dynamic Translations
      5. Translating APEX Internal Text
      6. The APEX_LANG API
      7. Copying Translations to Other Environments
        1. Export/Import the Primary Application with the Translations
        2. Export/Import the Primary Application and the Translated Applications Separately
        3. Export Only the Primary Application and the XLIFF
      8. Localization
        1. SINCE Format Mask
        2. Numeric Formats
        3. Time Zones and Territories
      9. Switching Languages
      10. Summary
    18. Chapter 7 : Debugging
      1. Principles of Code Instrumentation
      2. Debugging Basics
        1. Page Processing and Rendering
        2. Enabling Debug
        3. Debug Information
      3. Benefits of Debug Mode
        1. Graphs and Charts
        2. Interactive Reports
      4. APEX Debugging API
        1. APEX_DEBUG
        2. Programmatic Debugging
        3. Instrumenting Your Own Code
      5. The Data Behind Debugging
        1. Tables and View
        2. Examining the Debug Data
        3. Using Debug Data for More Than Debugging
      6. Debugging Dynamic Actions
      7. Debugging Plugins
      8. Summary
    19. Chapter 8 : Dynamic Actions
      1. Custom JavaScript vs. Dynamic Actions
        1. Manual (Custom JavaScript) Method
        2. Dynamic Action Method
      2. Dynamic Actions in Detail
        1. Identification
        2. Execution Options
        3. When
        4. Advanced
        5. Actions
      3. Dynamic Actions in Action
        1. Business Case
        2. Setup
        3. Create Department Employees Report
        4. Refresh Department Employees Report
        5. Highlight Row
        6. Row Click
        7. Emphasize Employee Change
        8. Modal Window
      4. Summary
    20. Chapter 9 : Lifecycle Management
      1. Challenges
        1. Deploying Database Changes
        2. Collaborative Development
        3. Parallel Development
        4. Enterprise APEX Development
      2. The Demo Project
      3. Extending the APEX Development and Deployment Process
        1. APEX Application Packaging
        2. Apache Maven
        3. Liquibase
        4. The Oracle APEX Maven Plugin
        5. Deploying Static Files
      4. Multi-environment Setup
        1. Building with Maven to Multiple Environments
        2. One Code Base to Rule Them All
        3. Jenkins
      5. Summary
    21. Chapter 10 : Plugins
      1. The APEX Plugin Architecture
        1. Create/Edit Page for Plugins
        2. PL/SQL APIs
      2. Other Tools of the Trade
        1. jQuery and jQuery UI
        2. jQuery UI Widget Factory
        3. Font Awesome
      3. Building a Region Plugin
        1. The Base Plugin
        2. File Setup
        3. Initial Grid Render
        4. Adjusting the UI for APEX
        5. Getting Set Up for Success
        6. Bringing on the AJAX
        7. Using User-Specified Queries
        8. Enabling Frozen Columns
        9. Securing the Plugin
      4. Best Practices for Developing Plugins
      5. Summary
    22. Chapter 11 : jQuery with APEX
      1. JavaScript and jQuery
      2. Basics of jQuery
        1. The jQuery Object
        2. Selecting Elements
        3. DOM Nodes and jQuery Objects
        4. Determining and Testing Selectors
        5. Basic Manipulations
        6. Iterating Over a Selection of Elements
      3. Advanced Uses of jQuery
        1. Handling Events
        2. Traversing the DOM
        3. Chaining Functions
        4. APEX JavaScript APIs
        5. AJAX Calls and AJAX Callback Processes
        6. jQuery Versions
        7. apex.jQuery
        8. Pitfalls
      4. Resources
      5. Summary
    23. Chapter 12 : Map Integration
      1. Geocoding
        1. Coordinates
        2. Web Services
        3. What Are XML and JSON?
        4. Processing XML/JSON Results
        5. Oracle Web Services
        6. Choosing a Geocoding Service
      2. The Mapping API
        1. Including the API Libraries
        2. Creating a div to Hold the Map
        3. Writing JavaScript to Render the Map
        4. Adding Layers
      3. Interacting with the Database
        1. Showing Query Results on a Map
      4. Spatial Math
        1. SDO_GEOMETRY
        2. SDO Metadata
        3. Spatial Indexes
        4. APEX_SPATIAL Package
        5. Calculating Distance
        6. Search Within Distance
        7. Calculate Area
      5. Third-Party Data
      6. Summary
    24. Chapter 13 : Themes and Templates
      1. What Is a Template?
      2. What Is a Theme?
        1. Component Defaults
        2. Region Defaults
        3. Dialog Defaults
      3. The Substitution Strings
        1. Finding Substitution Strings in the Application
      4. Theme Styles
        1. The Theme Roller
      5. Template Options
      6. The Grid
        1. Responsive Layout
      7. Subregions
      8. Theme Subscriptions
      9. Summary
    25. Chapter 14 : Report Printing
      1. Introduction
      2. Report Printing
      3. APEX Standard Report Printing
      4. Prerequisites
      5. Standard Report Printing Configuration
        1. FOP Processor in ORDS
        2. External FOP Processor
        3. Enable Network Services
      6. APEX Standard Report Printing
        1. Classic Report Printing
        2. Column Width Settings
      7. Interactive Report PDF Output
      8. Report Queries and Report Layouts
        1. Report Query
        2. Report Layouts
      9. XSL-FO 101
        1. XSL-FO
        2. The XML
        3. FO Document Structure
      10. Customized PDF Output for Interactive Reports
      11. Advanced XSL-FO Examples
        1. <xsl:value-of select=...> Conditional Formatting
        2. <xsl:choose ...> Conditional Formatting
      12. XSL-FO Editors
      13. Debugging XSL-FO
      14. Third-Party Report Printing Solutions
      15. General Report Printing Solutions
      16. The Future
      17. Summary
    26. Chapter 15 : Working with APEX Collections
      1. When to Use APEX Collections
        1. Session State Management: A Quick Overview
        2. Session State–Managed Tables
        3. Logically Walking Through a Web Shopping Cart Implementation
      2. A Look Under the Covers
        1. Private Collections Objects Inside the APEX Engine
        2. Public Collections Objects Inside the APEX Engine
      3. Getting Started with Collections
        1. Initializing a Collection
        2. Adding and Removing Data from Collections
        3. Using the Collection Contents
        4. Exploring Another Use Case
        5. Expanding the Example
        6. Setting Up the Example
      4. Summary
    27. Index
    28. General

    Product information

    • Title: Expert Oracle Application Express, Second Edition
    • Author(s): John Scott, Nick Buytaert, Karen Cannell, Martin D’Souza, Doug Gault, Dimitri Gielis, Roel Hartman, Denes Kubicek, Raj Mattamal, Dan McGhan, Francis Mignault, Tom Petrus, Jorge Rimblas, Christoph Ruepprich
    • Release date: August 2015
    • Publisher(s): Apress
    • ISBN: 9781484204849