As a Developer you might sometimes have the requirement to redirect from one page to another which displays an interactive report, but this report should be filtered by whatever value is selected on the first page.

Every User knows how to set a filter and every Developer knows how to use Page Items in the Report WHERE Clause, but most Developers don’t know how to call a Page and set a Filter for an IR with URL Parameters.

The APEX Application Builder Users Guide has a section where these URL Parameters are described, but when i search for that i won’t come up most of the time. Hence this blogposting (things i blog about always come up in search…).

If anyone wants to look it up in the Documentation it is in Chapter 9, Section Reports, Paragraph “Linking to Interactive Reports”.

For all others, here is a short summary:

1. Read the basic APEX URL Syntax to know whats what
2. use RIR in the ClearCache Section to reset to the default Interactive Report (clear all filters, formats, …) on the target Page
3. use CIR to clear all report settings
4. set Filters in the ParamName/ParamValue Section, using IR<operator>_<column_name> as ParamName where operator can be EQ,LT,GT,LTE,GTE,NEQ,LIKE,N,NN,C,NC
5. you can omit the operator if you want to use “equal” as operator
6. to set a Rowfilter use IR_ROWFILTER as ParamName
7. all these settings target the default public report on the target page. if you want to set filters for any other public report use IR_REPORT_<alias> as Request

If you want to change Interactive Report Filters in a PL/SQL Process use the Package APEX_UTIL, it contains functions like IR_RESET, IR_FILTER and some other IR_* utility functions.

After some quick investigations i detected that some Javascript was missing in my Plugin.

If an Item-Type Plugin is created and it is using something else than an <input> Tag with type=”text” you need to add a Javascript Callback function for getValue and setValue.

Example:

function info_oracleapex_html5_text_field(pSelector,pOptions)
{
  // Register apex.item callbacks
  apex.jQuery(pSelector).each(function(){

    apex.widget.initPageItem(this.id, {
      setValue      : function(pValue, pDisplayValue) {
        apex.jQuery('#' + this.id).val(pValue);
      },
      getValue      : function() {
        return apex.jQuery('#' + this.id).val();
      }
    });
  });
}

You can not only provide Callbacks for setValue and getValue, but also enable, disable, hide and show.

If you are looking for examples you can find some in the file apex_widget_4_1.js (which is provided with your APEX installation in the images/javascript folder).

I already fixed my HTML5 input type plugins and you can download the new version already.

I had to try it out and see what’s new.

What i have found is 2 places where you can choose between desktop and mobile browser and one place where you can enter mobile defaults.

Edit Theme now has a section to enter the template defaults for mobile.

Edit Page Template let’s you choose between desktop and mobile browser.

Create Page Wizard lets you choose if you want to create a page for desktop or for mobile browser.

All these settings don’t have a functional impact on your application. I just helps you to choose the right options.

With Oracle APEX 4.2, when mobile support is fully enabled, i expect to see more things like this as well as an impact on functionality. For example loading the jQuery mobile libraries or switching between Flash- and HTML5-Charts.

Oracle APEX includes the realy nice feature of exporting an Application “As of x minutes ago”.

But there is also a dialog where you can export a single page, without the whole application overhead:

But this dialog lists only currently existing Pages and doesn’t include our deleted Page.

Firebug to the rescue we manipulate the HTML-Code of the Page-Select-List and add our deleted Page 99 which then exports easily “As of 30 minutes ago”.

1. Use Firebugs “Inspect Element” on the Page-Select-List

2. Edit the HTML and insert a new <option>

3. pick the newly added entry from the select-list, enter 30 as number of minutes and press the export button

4. go to the import menu and import the Page-Export File.

That’s all.

Life can be sooo easy using the right tools :-)

Using the Date Picker Item it wasn’t possible to show a popup without the days, so I began a search and found a month picker jQuery Plugin.

Using that it was easy to create an APEX Plugin with simple settings:

Download

Get the Plugin at apex-plugin.com or try a demo over here at first.

But what does that mean on a more technical level? Which Views have changed, which API’s have changed?

Inspired by the Webinar over here I thought i’ll give the redgate Schema Compare Tool a try.

The Setup was pretty easy. After installing that tool on a Windows VM i just started it and created a new compare project where i entered the connection details from my 2 databases where APEX 4.0 and APEX 4.1 is installed.

On the second Tab of this dialog you can specify some options.

Now all you need to do is hit the “Compare Now” Button, wait a minute (which i think is pretty quick) and see the Result Overview:

Now you can zoom in and check the Details of each and every difference found:

As you can see this was just a matter of minutes and a pretty straight forward process.

For now I’m interested in the differences only and don’t want to use Schema Compare to generate a script to update my 4.1 database with the contents of my 4.0 database.
But if you’re about to move an application from dev to test or push it live, the tool can write the upgrade script  and do the upgrade for you too, if you want.

Changes between APEX 4.0 and 4.1

After creating the Diff between 4.0 and 4.1 i browsed the Details and found some changes which were interesting to me.

Please note that this is not a complete evaluation of the differences, nor might it be important to anyone (but me).

Also note, that many objects are for internal use only, therefore i’ll mention names of Public Objects only  (APEX*-Views).

New / Removed Objects

At first i compared the objects that were removed (exist only in APEX_040000 Schema) and the objects that were created new with APEX 4.1 (Schema APEX_040100).

Here we can find some objects dropped and more created which refer to the new Authorizations and Authentications, which are new Plugins in APEX 4.1 (read this one for details on those Plugins).

Other created Objects are used for the new Data Upload Wizard you can implement in an APEX Application.

The third new Cluster deals with the changed Errorhandling as described by Patrick over here.

But there are also things i didn’t expect, like new public Views for dynamic Translations and the Translation Table itself.

New Views:

• APEX_WORKSPACE_GROUP_USERS
• APEX_WORKSPACE_GROUPS
• APEX_APPLICATION_TRANS_DYNAMIC
• APEX_APPLICATION_TRANS_REPOS
• APEX_APPL_LOAD_TABLES
• APEX_APPL_LOAD_TABLE_LOOKUPS
• APEX_APPL_LOAD_TABLE_RULES

New API’s:

• APEX_AUTHENTICATION
• APEX_DATA_LOAD
• APEX_ERROR

Changed Objects

Changes in the previous existing 154 public Views and API’s can be clustered as:

• most (if not all) Views got a new column WORKSPACE_DISPLAY_NAME
• the security check in all relevant Views got enhanced by also checking the SYS_CONTEXT and the new Build-Status RUN_AND_HIDDEN
• Plugins got enhanced by new types (authentication and authorization) and have now up to 15 attributes instead of 10 before
• APEX_APPLICATION_AUTH and APEX_APPLICATION_AUTHORIZATION got rewritten to reflect that Authorizations/Authentications are Plugins now
• APEX_APPLICATION_LIST_ENTRIES do have a flag indicating if the entry should be translated, or not
• APEX_APPLICATION_LISTS can be static or dynamic now, reflected by the new columns LIST_CODE_TYPE and LIST_QUERY
• APEX_APPLICATION_PAGE_BUTTONS: Buttons now can be normal or “hot”, and both Button types (Region Button and Item Button) now have same functionality.
  Another new Button feature is the Button Action “Defined by Dynamic Action” which basically does nothing at all (in APEX 4.0 you would use target URL “#” to achieve the same)
• Dynamic Actions can directly target Buttons which lead to new columns in APEX_APPLICATION_PAGE_DA
• new Errorhandling Function can be defined on Application or on Page Level, changes in APEX_APPLICATION_PAGES
• Validations for Tabular Form Columns have been enhanced: APEX_APPLICATION_PAGE_VAL
• some preperations for mobile Templates have been made, like the “Render Form Items in Table” Flag in APEX_APPLICATION_TEMP_REGION or special defaults for mobile templates in APEX_APPLICATION_THEMES
• APEX_APPLICATIONS has plenty of new and changed colums
• lots of minor changes like new columns in Views that have been missing before (e.g. Condition-Type in APEX_APPLICATION_BC_ENTRIES)

Of course there have been numerous changes in several API Packages, but this would be too much for a single blog post.
If you want to digg that deep, feel free to do a Diff or look directly at the Package Specs of interest.

Happy Coding, everyone !

With ApexLib 2.2 we release a maintenance Version for all those who built APEX Applications with previous versions and want to upgrade to APEX 4.1, without the need of any code changes.

All Applications which worked under APEX 3.x or 4.0 should now work equally under Oracle APEX 4.1 .

But…

There are some small caveats. You cannot mix APEX Errorhandling and ApexLib Errorhandling, especially when using Tabular Forms. Either use only ApexLib Checks for your TabForm, or use only APEX TabForm-Validations. Then everything is fine.

Watch out for my following blogpost about the future of APEX and the ApexLib Framework.

Download Version 2.2. Upgrade from 2.1 is really simple, just re-install the DB-Part.

If he gets voted onto the ODTUG Board of Directors he’ll take care that APEX is further promoted with and thru ODTUG.

Read all about this on his Blog and – if you are a full member of ODTUG – vote for him.

“Wir sind APEX” (a cooperation my company click-click IT Solutions is part of) adds its share to the Community and provides some informational Events and some Workshops in the near future.
See a full listing here.

The widely most interesting Event will be held on October 14 2011 in Vienna. Topic and Title of this Event is “Oracle APEX and the Cloud“. Next to myself there will be Patrick Wolf, Christian Neumüller and Carsten Czarski talking about Oracle APEX and how it can be used within public or private clouds (e.g. provide APEX hosting within your company for your colleagues).

There will be also a guest speaker from a big company presenting about how APEX is currently used in his company.

So if you are somewhere in or around Austria and you do understand german (as this event will be held in german language) you should definitely come. Bookings required !

With this post i give you a listing of links to all ressources mentioned in the webinar, as well as some F.A.Q. regarding mobile on APEX.

There will also be information on a 1-day training on mobile Applications with Oracle APEX, given by me in Oct 2011.

At first a listing of the ressources:

• You can download the slides i used during the webinar
• jQuery mobile -> there you’ll find links to the Documenation, Forum, Blog
• jQuery mobile Device Support Matrix
• Gallery of mobile Webistes built with jQuery mobile
• APEX Statement of Direction
• Blog Post Series “mobile APEX”
• HTML5 Item Type Plugins at www.apex-plugin.com
• Google Visualization Region Type Plugin from Roel Hartman

The most common Questions and their answers:

• Q: Is your mobile Theme available for download?
• A: How I built the mobile Theme is described in a series of Blogposts
• Q: Do I have to develop seperate Pages or Applications for mobile and Standard or does jQuery mobile automatically render my desktop version mobile-friendly?
• A: Mobile Websites and Desktop Websites have one big difference: the screen size. So you will want to make sure, that the little screen you have is used as good as possible. Show only the necessary informations and reduced menues will be beneficiary for the mobile experience. That means: develop one Desktop Application with all the functionality you need, and a separate Application for mobile devices with only the necessary functions on it. Your users will appreciate that.
• Q: Is jQuery mobile limited to iPhones or Android Phones?
• A: Not at all. jQuery mobile tries to cover all mobile devices like phones or tablets. Depending on the device features jQuery mobile tries to make your page as nice and good working as possible. See the Device Support Matrix for Details.
• Q: Do you need extra Skills in HTML or CSS or Javascript to create a mobile APEX Application?
• A: Once you have the mobile theme you only need standard APEX skills to create a mobile Application.

If you are eager to start developing mobile Applications but don’t know how to do that you can attend my 1-Day Training Class for Developing mobile Application with Oracle APEX.
This Training is scheduled to take place on Oct 04th 2011 in Vienna, Austria. If there is enough demand for an extra english-speaking Training class i would schedule an english Training the day before or so.

Please email me at apex [at] click-click.at or comment on this blog post if you are interested in attending an english speaking training class for developing mobile Application with Oracle APEX.