Patrick Wolf

The Oracle APEX team has released a new patchset for Oracle Application Express (APEX). According to the readme file the new version 3.1.2 contains 28 new bug fixes (Note: the list also contains the bugs from the previous patchset).

The full release can be downloaded from the OTN download side.
The patchset with just the changed files can be found on Metalink with the patch number 7313609.

Just read on David Peake's blog that he has updated the Statement of Direction for Oracle Application Express (APEX).What has changed?They are planing to release Oracle APEX 3.2, which will be Oracle APEX 3.1 + The Oracle Forms Migration Tool. If you are a Forms guru, they are looking for beta testers! Get the details at David's blog.

I think the Forms Migration Tool will be another major step for Oracle APEX to get the Forms developers into the APEX boat. These two tools have a lot of similarities (declarative, PL/SQL, ...) and the same kind of productivity to develop database driven applications. Forms developers can re-use their existing skills and companies protect there investment by using the same business logic (if written in database packages) as for there Forms applications. Compared to learning or migrating an application into a new language (eg. Java/.Net) this can be a huge time safer.

It's your chance to help the Oracle APEX team to spreading the word about Oracle APEX. They want to convince the Oracle eBusiness Suite/Oracle Applications team to formally legitimize the use of Oracle Application Express with the Oracle eBusiness Suite/Applications. I think that would be another huge step to get Oracle APEX into more companies if it can be officially used to write custom applications in that environment.

But they need your help! Check out David Peake's blog posting for more details.

Ok, they are not brand new anymore, they have already been released last month. But in case you are not reading David Peake's blog or checking regularly the Oracle APEX website on OTN, the APEX team has published the following two new whitepapers:

• NTLM Authentication (a PL/SQL only solution) and
• Oracle APEX with RAC (Real Application Cluster)

Check them out!

Ever had the problem of overlapping labels in a pie chart which you used in an Oracle Application Express (APEX) application? Have a look at Gary Myers excellent tip to avoid collisions by using analytic functions to sort the data. It's another great example of using the built-in power of the Oracle database.

In case you haven't read it on Marc Sewtz blog or in the newest edition of the German Oracle APEX community newsletter, on Friday July 25th at 14:00 (German time) there will be a WebCast about the features the Oracle APEX team is currently working on for Oracle APEX 4.0! The WebCast will also cover some tips & tricks for APEX 3.1.1.

Get the details about how to join the WebCast at the German Oracle APEX Community web site.

Note: This WebCast will be in German.

Looks like that the proposed Oracle APEX sessions at Oracle Mix did quite well. Not only did Raj's session about Security: Writing Custom Authentication Schemes for Application Express get most votes, congratulation Raj! But what I have counted, there are also 8 other Oracle APEX related sessions which made it into the top 35 sessions which are going to be invited to Oracle Open World 2008.

A great day for Oracle APEX at OOW 2008!

Raj Mattamal has put up an interesting topic for a presentation at Oracle Open World 2008, it's about Writing Custom Authentication Schemes for Application Express. The presentation is not just the basic stuff you will find in the manual or the tutorial, it goes way further. For example it covers SSO over multiple workspaces.

In case if you are not interested in the topic, it's still always fun to watch Raj doing a presentation/see him talking (fast). This guy has way to much energy or is drinking to much Red Bull ;-)

So people, vote for him that he is able to present that topic at Oracle Open World 2008!

And don't forget about the other great Oracle APEX sessions!

You may have already read it on Carl Backstrom's blog, Oracle has reserved some slots for community suggested topics for the upcoming Oracle Open World in September.Want to hear more Oracle APEX related presentations during the conference?It's up to you!!! Vote for the following Oracle APEX sessions, so that they are added to the conference program.

• How to Hack an Oracle Application Express Application
• Rapid Development and Validation of ApEx Applications at an FDA Regulated Medical Device Company
• (Re)Developing a logistic application in APEX in the real world
• Using Oracle Application Express to analyze your PL/SQL source code

I can really recommend "How to Hack an Oracle APEX application" by Anton Nielsen, I have already seen it at the unconference track at last years OOW.

Give APEX a boost and vote now! Voting ends 24th June.

The voting takes place on mix.oracle.com. You have to register if you have no account yet.

Update 21-Jun-2008: There is another new session available. Security: Writing Custom Authentication Schemes for Application Express

Just a very short blog posting, I'm currently sitting in the APEX vs ADF Shootout session hosted by Dimitri and Lucas, but I thought I should put my Increase Your Oracle APEX Development Productivity with Open Source Tools presentation online, which I have presented yesterday.

So here you go, it's in the download section together with my other presentations.

Unbelievable, but I finally found the time to put together a new release of the ApexLib Framework for Oracle Application Express (APEX).

I have created bug fixes and enhancements since the last version has been released last year, but I just sent them to the person who requested it. I thought it's really getting time to put together a up-to-date version which also handles some issues with the last Oracle APEX 3.1.1 patchset.

The new version contains some new features, trimming blanks from submitted page items and tabular form columns is one of them. To disable the feature use $APEXLIB_NO_TRIM$

I have also updated the installation and integration documentation to the new style of the web page. See the change log for a full documentation of change requests and bug fixes. The upgrade instructions can also be found in the change log.

Download version 1.7!

BTW, don't forget to download and install the integration files for the Oracle APEX Builder Plugin to get a seamless integration of the ApexLib settings into your APEX Builder development environment.

Have fun using the framework!

Note: Version 1.7 will probably be the last version which supports Oracle APEX 2.2

Just got this from a co-worker and my first thought was. It's sooooo true! Do you have other experiences with web development?

Gehörst Du zu den spontanen Personen? Dann ist das Deine Chance!

Bei unserem Oracle APEX Training nächste Woche vom Montag, 02. Juni bis Mittwoch, 04. Juni sind noch ein paar Plätze frei. Schnell anmelden und nächste Woche beballtes Oracle APEX Knowhow erfahren!

Bis nächste Woche!
Patrick

Some time ago I have registered the domain oracleapex.info and I finally found a few spare minutes to create an entry page for all my Oracle Application Express (APEX) activities.

I want to move all my APEX related open source projects to this domain. The Oracle APEX Builder Plugin is already hosted there and for my new project, Oracle APEX Essentials I have created a new web page today. The ApexLib Framework should also follow as time permits. I'm having a busy schedule lately.

BTW, I'm still looking for more beta testers for Oracle APEX Essentials. Get the details here.

Update as of 25-May: I have created a new web site for the ApexLib Framework, too. Now everything is complete.

Just read on Joel Kallman's blog that Oracle Application Express (APEX) 3.1.1 is out. That's the long await patchset for the recently released Oracle APEX 3.1, which fixes some bugs we where facing. The readme file lists 52 fixed bugs.

The patchset can be found on MetaLink (search for Patch Number 7032837). The full download of 3.1.1 should be available shortly on OTN.

Found out the hard way that the new property "Runtime Where Clause" for processes (eg. Fetch, DML) has a serious bug. The value of the property gets exported and is contained in the export file of an application, but it isn't set when you import an application!!!

Because most of us are not developing on the production system, that bug is a real show stopper for that feature, because you never get the identical application onto the production system or to the customer.

The problem has been reported and according to Scott from the APEX team, it's getting fixed in 3.1.1

Note: The "Optional Where Clause" of "Get Next or Previous Primary Key Value" processes is not effected by that behavior, this property was already available before Oracle APEX 3.1

Oracle Germany has announced an Oracle Application Express (APEX) Award with a grand prize of€ 5.000 (about USD 7.750)for the winner! The terms and deadlines can be found at www.oracle-apex-award.de (in German), a translation can be found at the following OTN thread. The contest is open for all nationalities, but the created application has to be delivered in German.

A few months ago I made a minor mistake, I agreed to be in the jury so I can't take part myself. But you should take your chance!!! Not only can you win a lot of money, the winner is also announced on several German web sites and in the media. In case you always wanted to get famous or wanted to increase the publicity of your company, that's your chance!

drum roll...drum roll...drum roll...APEX Essentials - A great new tool on the Oracle APEX horizon...but to finish it I need your help!What is it?APEX Essentials is my current working title (might also be the final name) of a new open source project which includes essential Oracle APEX tools for your daily Oracle APEX application development.

The first tool of this collection isThe Oracle APEX AdvisorEver had the problem that you referenced a non existing page item with the substitution- or bind variable syntax, but you didn't notice because Oracle APEX just returns NULL in such a case without raising an error?

You did some data model or PL/SQL package changes and didn't notice that you broke your APEX application code? If you are lucky you get a runtime error. In some cases you don't event get that. Oracle APEX just ignores your invalid code... See OTN forum threads here and here.

APEX Advisor is some kind of a "compiler"/LINT for your Oracle APEX application. It goes through your applications meta data and performs a variety of checks. Some of them are to find invalid PL/SQL code or invalid references to page items, but others are more kind of "Best Practice" checks like

• don't use V/NV in SQL statements
• unconditional branches before conditional ones
• ...

Currently there are a total of 22 checks which are performed! And the good news is that it has a plugin system so that you can add your own QA checks!Want to take a quick look?I have set up a demo workspace on apex.oracle.com where I have uploaded most of the Packaged Applications which are provided by the Oracle APEX team. So you can try it online first, before you request a beta copy.

Login with

Workspace: ae_demo
User: guest
Password: 123456

and run the application "APEX Essentials". If you are prompted for a username/password enter guest/123456

Note: Don't change anything in this workspace!

You can also directly run it, but then it's not integrated into the Oracle APEX Builder.Want to test it with our applications?The reason why I'm calling out for early adopters/beta testers is that only your real world applications can prove if the tool works or not and if there are still unhandled cases. If you want to participate in the beta, send a mail to beta@oracleapex.infoIdeas to improve it?Are there some checks which you perform on your application, ... or do you have other ideas how to improve it. Please post them on the following OTN thread.Pre-requirementsThe tool has been developed to work with Oracle APEX 3.0 and newer versions and requires Oracle 10g or newer versions.Screen captures of a quick test

Tyler Muth has posted a really cool example on how to integrate Oracle APEX with another service.

Jott is a speech recognition service and allows to integrate third party applications into there service. Tyler used this mechanism to write the output text of the speech recognition into the table of an Oracle APEX application. Read all the details on his Speech to text to Oracle APEX posting.

Great work Tyler!

Too bad that the service is not available in Europe :-(