Beginning Oracle® Application Express

7.4. Themes

Throughout this chapter, you have learned about modifying the user interface of APEX pages, from an individual page layout to a template which can shape the appearance and functionality of a particular type of APEX entity. The highest level of APEX interface aggregation is the theme.

A theme consists of a collection of templates. Each theme generally has templates in all of the same nine categories listed for templates in the previous section.

A theme can have more than one option for a particular template type, with one template designated as the default for that type. Themes provide the "universe" of templates for an APEX application. The only template options available to an application are those that are part of the overall theme for the application. Through the use of multiple templates in a theme, developers can have flexibility in their design, while still remaining within organizational standards.

You can export a theme, which copies the theme contents to an SQL file. Other applications can import and install themes, which makes the theme available to the application. Once the theme is installed, you can switch themes for an application, during which you will be asked to map the currently used templates in the application to templates in the new theme.

Themes are used to provide a common look and feel across multiple applications. Themes are frequently used to provide a "corporate standard" look and feel to all the applications for an organization. If you customize ...