Beginning Oracle Application Express 5

Beginning Oracle Application Express 5

by Doug Gault
Released January 2016
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781484204665

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Book description

Whether you’re new to Oracle or an old hand who’s yet to test the waters of APEX, Beginning Oracle Application Express 5 introduces the processes and best practices you’ll need to become proficient with APEX. The book shows off the programming environment, the utilities and tools available, and then continues by walking through the process of building a working system from the ground up. All code is documented and explained so that those new to the languages will not be lost. After reading this book, power users and programmers alike can quickly put together robust and scalable applications for use by one person, by a department, by an entire company.

Beginning Oracle Application Express 5 introduces version 5 of the popular and productive Oracle Application Express development platform. Called APEX for short, the platform enables rapid and easy development of web-based applications that make full use of Oracle Database. The release of APEX 5 brings major new changes to the page builder, an enhanced universal theme, better RESTful web services support, enhanced application packaging, and the many redesigned wizards give a new and fresh feel to the user interface.

  • • Covers brand-new functionality in APEX 5
  • • Provides fully documented and explained example code
  • • Guides you through creating a working and fully deployable application
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    Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Title
    3. Copyright
    4. Dedication
    5. About IOUG Press
    6. Contents at a glance
    7. Contents
    8. About the Author
    9. About the Technical Reviewer
    10. Acknowledgments
    11. Chapter 1 : An Introduction to APEX 5.0
      1. What Is APEX?
      2. A Brief History of APEX
        1. Ancient History
        2. More Recent History
        3. APEX 5.0 and the Future
      3. What You Need to Get Started
        1. Access to an APEX Instance
        2. Web Browser
        3. SQL Developer
      4. Summary
    12. Chapter 2 : A Developer’s Overview
      1. The Anatomy of a Workspace
        1. APEX Users
        2. Applications, Pages, Regions, and Items
        3. Workspaces, Applications, and Schemas
        4. A Final Word on Workspaces
      2. A Tour of the APEX Modules
        1. The Home Page
        2. Application Builder
        3. SQL Workshop
        4. Packaged Apps
        5. Administration and Team Development
      3. Summary
    13. Chapter 3 : Identifying the Problem and Designing the Solution
      1. Identifying System Requirements
        1. Never a Clean Slate
        2. A Broken System
        3. How Do You Fix Things?
      2. System Design with APEX in Mind
        1. Table Definition and User-Interface Defaults
        2. APEX and Primary Keys
        3. Business Logic vs. User-Interface Logic
        4. Placement of Database Objects
      3. Translating Theory to Practice
      4. Summary
    14. Chapter 4 : SQL Workshop
      1. Creating Objects with the Object Browser
      2. Loading Data with the Data Workshop Utility
      3. Creating a Lookup Table
      4. Loading and Running SQL Scripts
      5. User Interface Defaults
        1. Understanding User Interface Defaults
        2. Defining UI Defaults for Tables
      6. Summary
    15. Chapter 5 : Applications and Navigation
      1. The Create Application Wizard
        1. Sample and Packaged Applications
        2. Websheet Applications
        3. Database Applications from Spreadsheets
        4. Applications from Scratch
      2. Static Content Regions
      3. Public Pages
      4. Navigation Bar Entries
      5. Global Pages
      6. Breadcrumb Regions
      7. Breadcrumb Entries
      8. Lists
      9. Lists of Values
        1. Static List of Values
        2. Dynamic List of Values
      10. Summary
    16. Chapter 6 : Forms and Reports: The Basics
      1. APEX Forms
      2. Form on a Table
        1. Creating a Form on a Table
        2. Modifying a Form on a Table
        3. Looking Behind the Scenes
      3. Form on a Procedure
        1. Creating a Form on a Procedure
        2. Modifying a Form on a Procedure
        3. Looking Behind the Scenes
      4. Master–Detail Report and Form
        1. Creating a Master–Detail Report and Form
        2. Modifying a Master-Detail Report
      5. Session State
        1. Understanding Session State
        2. Sharing Database Connections
        3. Setting and Retrieving Session State
        4. Viewing Session State
      6. APEX Items
        1. Page vs. Application Items
        2. The Importance of Bind Variables
        3. Built-In Items
      7. APEX URL Syntax
      8. Searchable APEX Reports
        1. Creating a Searchable APEX Report
        2. Adding Reset Pagination
        3. Looking Behind the Scenes—APEX Report
        4. Looking Behind the Scenes—APEX Master–Detail Forms
      9. More on APEX Forms
        1. Item Layout
        2. Placing Multiple Items in the Same Row
        3. Implementing LOVs
        4. Master–Detail Cleanup
      10. APEX Help
        1. Adding a Help Text Region
        2. Seeding Help Text
      11. Declarative BLOBs
      12. Summary
    17. Chapter 7 : Forms and Reports: Advanced
      1. Tabular Forms
        1. Creating a Tabular Form
        2. Modifying a Tabular Form
        3. Looking Behind the Scenes
      2. Interactive Reports
        1. Creating an Interactive Report
        2. Running an Interactive Report
        3. Restricting Functionality by Report
        4. Restricting Functionality by Column
        5. Using the Column Heading Menu
        6. Searching by Column
        7. Selecting Columns
        8. Filtering
        9. Sorting
        10. Adding Breaks
        11. Highlighting
        12. Computing Columns
        13. Adding Aggregates
        14. Adding Charts to Interactive Reports
        15. Grouping
        16. Pivot
        17. Using Flashback
        18. Saving an Interactive Report
        19. Resetting an Interactive Report
        20. Getting Help
        21. Adding a Subscription
        22. Downloading
        23. Modifying an Interactive Report
        24. Looking Behind the Scenes
      3. Calendars
        1. Understanding Calendar Types
        2. Creating a Calendar
        3. Looking Behind the Scenes
      4. Charts
        1. Writing Queries for Charts
        2. Creating a Chart
        3. Filtering Data for a Chart
        4. Looking Behind the Scenes
      5. Summary
    18. Chapter 8 : Programmatic Elements
      1. Conditions
      2. Required Values
      3. Validations
        1. Item-Level Validation
        2. Page-Level Validation
        3. Tabular Form Validation
      4. Computations
        1. Execution
        2. Types
        3. Creating a Computation
      5. Processes
        1. Execution Points
        2. Process Types
        3. Processes in the Help Desk Application
      6. PL/SQL Regions
      7. Dynamic SQL
      8. Summary
    19. Chapter 9 : Security
      1. User-Maintenance Navigation
      2. User-Maintenance Data Entry
      3. Authentication
      4. Custom Authentication Schemes
      5. Conditional Security
      6. Access Control
      7. Authorization
      8. Read-Only Items
      9. Data Security
      10. Session-State Protection
      11. Summary
    20. Chapter 10 : Application Bundling and Deployment
      1. Identifying Application Components
        1. External Files
        2. Database Objects
        3. APEX-Based Files
        4. APEX Application Exports
      2. Supporting Objects
        1. Prerequisites
        2. Substitutions
        3. Build Options
        4. Validations
        5. Install
        6. Upgrade
        7. Deinstall
        8. Export
        9. Messages
      3. Importing
      4. Summary
    21. Chapter 11 : Understanding Websheets
      1. Websheet Structure
      2. Navigation
        1. Content Navigation
        2. Structural Navigation
      3. Help
      4. Markup Syntax
      5. User Authentication
      6. User Authorization
      7. Sections
        1. Text Sections
        2. Navigation Sections
        3. Data Sections
        4. Chart Sections
      8. Annotations
      9. Administration
      10. Summary
    22. Chapter 12 : A Websheet Example
      1. Setup
      2. Creating and Configuring a Websheet Application
      3. Adding Content to a Websheet
        1. Creating Data Grids
        2. Applying Constraints
        3. Adding Players
        4. Creating Alternate Default Reports
        5. Creating Page Sections
        6. SQL Tags
      4. Access Controls
      5. Summary
    23. Chapter 13 : Extended Developer Tools
      1. Page Locks
        1. APEX Conflicts
        2. Locking an APEX Page
        3. Unlocking a Page
        4. Administering Page Locks
      2. Application and Page Groups
        1. Application Groups
        2. Page Groups
      3. APEX Views and the APEX Dictionary
        1. The APEX Schema
        2. APEX Views
        3. APEX Dictionary
      4. Searching in APEX
        1. APEX Finder
        2. Search Application
      5. Monitoring Your APEX Application
        1. Enabling Logging
        2. Using the Activity Logs
        3. Login Attempts
      6. APEX Advisor
      7. Build Options
        1. Understanding the Need
        2. Creating a Build Option
        3. Configuring Build Options
        4. Prompting for Build Option Status
        5. Applying Build Options
        6. Reporting on Build Option Utilization
      8. Page-Specific Utilities
      9. APEX and Oracle SQL Developer
        1. Integration
        2. Refactoring Support
      10. Summary
    24. Chapter 14 : Managing Workspaces
      1. Learning About Your Environment
        1. Viewing Instance Information
        2. Checking the APEX Version
      2. Managing the Service
        1. Workspace Preferences
        2. Messages
      3. Managing Meta Data
        1. Developer Activity and Click Count Logs
        2. Session State
        3. Application Cache
        4. Websheet Database Objects
        5. Application Build Status
        6. File Utilization
        7. Interactive Report Settings
      4. Managing Users and Groups
        1. Creating One User
        2. Creating Multiple Users
        3. Organizing Users into Groups
      5. Viewing Usage Reports and Dashboards
      6. Summary
    25. Chapter 15 : Team Development
      1. Team Development Overview
      2. Team Development Interface
        1. APEX Home Page
        2. Team Development Home Page
        3. Common Design Elements
        4. Drilldown Functionality
        5. Tagging
      3. Milestones
        1. Milestones Report Tab
        2. By Owner Tab
        3. Features by Milestone Tab
      4. Features
        1. Features Report Tab
        2. History Tab
        3. Progress Log Tab
      5. To-Do Items
      6. Bugs
      7. Feedback
        1. Configuring Feedback
        2. Polishing the Feedback Page
        3. Viewing Feedback
        4. Responses to Feedback
        5. Communication Between Workspaces
      8. Team Development Utilities
        1. Team Development Settings
        2. Release Summary
        3. Enable Files
        4. Feature Utilities
        5. Manage Focus Areas
        6. Update Assignees
        7. View Files
        8. Purge Data
        9. Manage News
        10. Manage Links
      9. User Roles for Team Development
      10. Summary
    26. Chapter 16 : Dynamic Actions
      1. Dynamic Action Benefits
      2. Breaking Down Dynamic Actions
      3. Dynamic Actions in the Help Desk Application
        1. Starting Simple
        2. Using Page-Level Events
        3. Dynamic Actions with Multiple Triggering Elements
        4. Dynamic Actions Using PL/SQL
        5. Dynamic Actions Using JavaScript
      4. Summary
    27. Appendix A: Page Designer Walkthrough and Reference
      1. Page Designer Overview
      2. Page Designer Toolbar
      3. Tree Pane
      4. Central Pane
        1. Grid Layout
        2. Messages
        3. Page Search
        4. Help
      5. Property Editor
      6. Gallery
      7. Keyboard Shortcuts
      8. Summary
    28. Index
    29. IOUG

    Product information

    • Title: Beginning Oracle Application Express 5
    • Author(s): Doug Gault
    • Release date: January 2016
    • Publisher(s): Apress
    • ISBN: 9781484204665