#4: Fully supported available using Oracle Database support agreement, with dedicated support team
“No-Cost” Feature means you can build any number of applications and any number of users without additional licensing costs
Runs in all database editions
Requires 10.2.0.4 and above
Part of standard database install since 11gR1
As APEX released more frequently than database should always update to the latest version of APEX available on OTN
[http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex/downloads/index.html]
#5:Generally release a new version of APEX annually
* Next release will be APEX 5.0 – See Statement of Direction for more details
[http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex/application-express/apex-sod-087560.html]
#6:Number of developers a guesstimate as one download from OTN can be used by any number of developers and may be using the version that came with Database
Impressive number of consulting companies and bloggers for a single tool
Most popular forums on OTN are: General Database; SQL and PL/SQL; APEX
- Community based tool as seen by support on OTN Forum where there is a wealth of information
– Can ask simple and advanced questions and get responses from numerous experts around the world including the APEX Development Team
#7:Popularity of APEX reflected in how many conferences around the world now have dedicated APEX tracks
#8:Number of books on APEX is impressive for a single Oracle tool
The number of books continues to grow with several new books in the pipeline
#9:APEX OTN Site is rigorously maintained and has an extensive array of information
Increasing number of Case Studies and other general information like Getting Started page
Collateral includes technical information, white papers, videos, and presentations
Deployment has details on installation, upgrades, deploying applications, UI, security and performance
Download Tab has the latest APEX version, Known Issues, etc
Community Tab lists consulting companies, commercial applications, public websites, hosting companies and community articles
#10:Apex.oracle.com is a free “Development Only” service.
Service has been running for over 10 years allowing developers to “kick the tires” with the latest version of APEX
Over 15,000 workspaces and > 6 million page views / week
Sign-up for an account to be able to start playing with APEX in minutes
#11:Simple architecture where browser goes through web listener to database – Web listener only used to pipe requests and send responses; no business logic
Each page request or submission dynamically reads metadata for the page, performs the necessary query or processing and returns the results.
As soon as you update the metadata can run immediately as no need to perform any code generation or file compilation
#12:Given APEX can run anywhere you can install the Oracle Database you have great flexibility
Start developing on your laptop running Oracle XE or on the cloud and then simply export the application
Import into any other Oracle Database where you have the same version or later of Application Express installed
Deploy on the Oracle Database Cloud Service and then once your application gets wide utilization move it to your private cloud.
#13:There is a many-to-many relationship between workspaces and schemas
Within your organization you can have a single Oracle Database support many departments with each having their own workspaces where they build applications
Each of these workspaces can be granted access to one or more schemas as appropriate
DBAs manage the infrastructure <> Departments responsible for building their own applications
#14:Application Express is best suited being co-located with the data it is maintaining
Can also integrate into a SOA environment using Web Services or utilize DB Links to other Oracle databases
#15:You do not need any client software – simply a web browser and URL to access development environment and to run applications
#16:Go here to rapidly build declarative applications based on your Oracle Database tables
#17:SQL Workshop is designed to allow Application Developers to maintain database objects such as tables, packages, functions, views, etc
Not as fully featured as a dedicated tool such as SQL Developer but has all the essentials for browsing, creating and maintaining DB objects
Essential when direct access to underlying schemas not provided such as for hosted environments like apex.oracle.com
- Object Browser to review and maintain DB Objects
- SQL Commands to run SQL
- SQL Scripts to upload and execute script files
Utilities include Query Builder, Data Workshop, Generate DDL, Schema Comparison and more
RESTful Services to define Web Services using SQL and PL/SQL against the database
#18:Team Development allows development teams to better manage their APEX projects by defining milestones, features, to-dos and bugs
Features, to-dos and bugs can be associated with specific applications and pages as necessary
Developers can readily configure feedback to allow their end-users to provide comments on applications.
The feedback also captures relevant session state details and can be readily converted to a feature, to-do or bug.
#19:Workspace Administrators can administer their workspace and use the various reports to monitor activity
Manage Service allows them to request more space or access to another schema
Manage Users and Groups allows them to define developers and end-users
#20:- Rapid “declarative” environment with numerous wizards to define pages and regions
- Extend report source, validations, processes, etc using SQL and PL/SQL or call packages, functions in the Oracle Database
APEX lives within the Oracle Database making it easy for DBAs to manage and at the data source making it very scalable
Can readily configure provisioning to allow access across your organization from a single Oracle instance
#21:With Application Express you can build very simple applications, say by converting a spreadsheet, to extremely complex applications that integrate with several other systems
Rapidly develop applications on top of Oracle Tables
Provide “Interactive” reporting capabilities
Convert a spreadsheet to run on the Oracle database and provide a single source of truth
Rearchitect your Forms applications and re-use all of the existing database objects using a tool that Forms developers can easily learn and relate to as SQL and PL/SQL based
Improve security and performance of Access applications by converting them to Oracle using SQL Developer to define the data structures and migrate data and APEX to build the applications on top of
#22:Just about every RAD tool can quickly build the components listed on the left-hand side using wizards just like APEX
However, for those components in the center many require significant hand-coding, whereas APEX handles such features declaratively
Then when you look at the components on the right-hand side this is where APEX separates itself from the rest
- The translation services within APEX allow developers to use one code base and deliver mulitple languages
- Conditional processing is available on almost every component - From pages to items, including processing can have simple “is null” to complex conditions such as calls to Oracle database functions
- Build-in Authentication themes, authorization schemes, and session state management make it easy to secure and manage user sessions allowing developers to concentrate on solving the business solutions rather than coding all of the plumbing required
#23:Interactive Reports are very simple to write “SELECT * FROM My_Favorite_Table” but very powerful reporting capability
End Users can manipulate the data by selecting columns, sorting, filtering, adding computations, highlights, aggregates and more.
Then they can save the reports, download them or subscribe to them.
Case in Point: Oracle Audit Vault used to have over 300 reports defined that they replaced with approx. 30 Interactive Reports.
Much lower development and maintenance effort and much more capabilities for the end users.
Now auditors can pick the columns that are important to them and arrange the information as they need to for each specific audit rather than trying to find a
pre-defined report that is close to their requirements.
#24:Spreadsheets are very popular amongst end-users.
APEX developers can readily build a wizard to allow end-users to upload spreadsheet data into an existing table
APEX developers or power-users can easily create a complete CRUD application using the Create Application Wizard
Developers can also use SQL Workshop utilities to create a table or update an existing table from a spreadsheet as well
#25:Build calendars for date based data such as Events or Task Dates
#26:APEX includes a wide variety of “Flash-prefered” or HTML5 Charts to visually show your data
When defined as “Flash-preferred” then if Flash is not available such as on an iPad, then the chart will be rendered using HTML5.
Maps can show country or state aggregates
You can also define Project and Resource Gantt Charts
You simply define the chart type and corresponding SQL source
#27:Quickly build pages to manage parent-child relationships
#28:Build tabular forms and like the master-detail forms you can declaratively define validations using columns.
#29:Incorporate client-side interactivity declaratively and without needing Javascript or AJAX.
Rather than writing lines and lines of Javascript and AJAX that is hard to maintain and needs JS skills use the simple wizards and declarative constructs to specify when to fire, what to do, and what to operate on.
Simple examples include enabling/disbaling Commission field when Job = SALESMAN; AJAX call to retrieve Location and Number of Employees when Department changed.
#30:The Application Builder is enhanced to support the declarative building of mobile applications. Among the numerous changes made are: Updated Create Application wizard to support generation of applications for Desktop or Mobile; Updated Create Page and Region wizards, to expose Components applicable to Mobile applications
By incorporating jQuery Mobile application wills render correctly on all mobile devices, old and new. Applications will run on iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile etc.
For older devices that don’t fully support HTML5 equivalent components will be rendered so that users can still maintain data.
Updating charting engine allows defining HTML5 charts for mobile applications
Text fields can now have sub-types of Email, Phone and URL which will bring up appropriate keyboards on HTML5 compliant devices
#31:Plug-Ins allow developers to incorporate custom item types,region types, processes, dynamic actions, authentication and authorization schemes
The Plug-in OTN page has several different plug-ins developed by the APEX Development Team
[http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex/application-express/apex-plug-ins-182042.html]
There is also an external site with over 120 plug-ins [http://www.apex-plugin.com/]
#32:RESTful Web Services in APEX 4.2 provides stateless access to data and logic, through the use of SQL and PL/SQL using the Oracle APEX Listener 2.0 or later.
APEX can also consume both RESTful and SOAP based Web Services
#33:Oracle Application Express includes a number of packaged business applications, which are available free of charge, can be used as production applications and will be supported by Oracle. These applications enable customers to improve their business processes and secondly, a set of sample feature applications have been designed to help customers quickly understand specific capabilities of Application Express.
The packaged applications are locked and can't be modified by customers. Customers who wish to modify a packaged applications or simply review its implementation will be able to unlock the application. Once unlocked, the application is no longer supported by Oracle and can no longer be updated. Customers can always return to a supported version by removing the unlocked copy and re-installing the locked version.
#34:Websheets are designed for business users rather than developers. They combine design and runtime into a common environment and is similar in operation to WIKIs.
The major difference between a WIKI and Websheets is that once you add data to a WIKI it becomes stale and dated, whereas with Websheets you can incorporate data elements directly into your pages.
Within a Websheet you can define data-grids ,which are spreadsheets stored in the Oracle Database, define reports on tables, or write SQL directly against tables within your Oracle Database schema.
Whenever a user accesses the Websheet page the data is now queried directly from the database.
#35:The Oracle Store and Partner Store [http://partner.oracle.com] are two great examples of APEX applications running on the Internet.
The Oracle Store handles orders for over 150 countries and can be shown in 13 languages.
When you choose a country different business rules are invoked within the ordering process.
The APEX application interfaces with over 12 major back-office systems such as Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, EBS, etc.
#36:When you sign up for Oracle Database Cloud Service you get a slice of an Oracle Database.
The development tool of choice for the Oracle Database Cloud Service is Oracle Application Express.
In fact when you log into the service you are presented with the Application Express Builder.
![34 Copyright © 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights
reserved.
• Database enabled WIKI
• Annotations (easily add files, links, notes, and tags)
• Use [[SQL ]] tag
• Presentation mode
• Multi user
Oracle Application Express (Oracle APEX)
Websheets](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/apex-overview-157752-250701101635-80a9e882/85/apex-overview-low-code-developpement-tools-34-320.jpg)
