Presenting APEX

We have just updated the APEX OTN Home Page with a few new sections: Latest Collateral and Latest Books. Under Latest Collateral you can access a PDF which gives a comprehensive overview of APEX together with a short video which is reportedly the most viewed video on OTN.

The Presentations page has also been revamped with the latest and greatest slides we have developed for presenting on APEX. One of the key additions is the seven new powerpoint decks at the top, broken into categories. They are designed to allow people to build their own presentation using slides from each deck based on their audience, how much time they have and what they want to concentrate on.


One of the other key additions is the APEX Conference Sessions application. This application lists all of the APEX sessions at major Oracle conferences since 2007. Where possible there are also links to the associated presentations or a link to the Conference site.



For upcoming conferences the addition of dates, times, and rooms will allow you to create your own agenda.

What started out as a post from Dimtiri Gielis: Is APEX still worth looking at? and was followed by John Scott: Charting the Rise of Application Express, led me to dust off the application I built to list all the Oracle Openworld Sessions last year {Thanks guys for the inspiration!}. I then added all the presentations available from Oracle conferences or those where the presentations are publicly available. For conferences such as Kaleidoscope I have added links to their site for the given presentation, unless they were given by Oracle. The Hands-On Labs have links to the actual Oracle By Examples that are used. Finally I have updated all the agenda details for Collaborate and Kaleidoscope 2009.

Please drop me a line with any missing / incorrect information.

Hope you find this collateral useful and informative.

Cheers,
David

APEX 3.2 available for Download

APEX 3.2 has just been released and you can now download it from OTN here.

As previously noted, there is new documentation, Oracle by Examples and other updated content on the APEX OTN Page.

With every new release there are a number of additional security enhancements the development team adds. However, this release introduces a significant number of new security capabilities. So even if you aren't interested in converting Oracle Forms to APEX it is still strongly recommended that you upgrade to this release as soon as possible.

Regards,
David

Additional resources for APEX 3.2

For those of you wishing to try out APEX 3.2 and not quite sure where to start we have just released a new Oracle By Example (OBE): Converting Your Oracle Forms Application to Oracle Application Express. This OBE was created by Marcie Young from curriculum development and includes the necessary XML files and tables to be able to perform a Forms conversion on our hosted site. We hope to have another new OBE on Security available very shortly as well.

Also the APEX 3.2 Documentation has just been released on OTN. Terri Jennings and Drue Baker from our documentation team have expanded the documentation to include more on what the new features are about on top of the usual detail on how to use all the features.

For Forms Conversion check out the following Migration Guide chapters - Chapter 2 - Overview of the Migration Process and Appendix A - Oracle Forms Generation Capabilities and Workarounds.

In respect of all the security enhancements we have completely revamped the Application Builder User's Guide - Chapter 13 Managing Application Security to make it easier for developers and administrators to learn how to harden the security of their applications and the development environment.

Marc Sewtz has even created a new graphic which outlines the APEX Forms Conversion Project:

APEX in the Cloud?

There has been a lot of talk about running applications in the cloud.
Oracle is certainly a player in this new paradigm and is partnering with Amazon to offer deployment of Oracle software in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) environment.
{See Oracle Cloud Computing Center}

So my question is - Has anyone deployed any APEX applications in the cloud?
If so I would love to get as much detail as possible.
If you prefer email me directly on david.peake@oracle.com

Regards,
David

APEX 3.2 now available on apex.oracle.com

For all those people who have been itching to try out Forms Conversion for yourself now is your chance.

Joel Kallman has updated the free hosted "development" environment on http://apex.oracle.com to APEX 3.2.

A special thank-you to all those that participated in the "limited" Early Adopter program. Regrettably we couldn't conduct our usual open EA program. I had literally hundreds of requests, as recently as in the last few days, which we couldn't accommodate. To all those people who have been waiting please try out the hosted site and let us know of any issues via the OTN Forum.

The 3.2 New Features page gives an overview of the new functionality available.

Getting Started

You will need to have at least one installation of Oracle Forms 9i or 10g. These two versions include the Forms2XML utility required to create XML files from Forms source files (fmb's, mmb's, etc.).

We have done very limited testing with Forms 4.5 and 6i fmb files and successfully run them through the Forms2XML utility without needing to upgrade the Forms to 9i or 10g prior to the conversion. However, we can not guarantee that the utility will always work for these older Forms modules. If it fails you will need to upgrade your Forms 4.5 and/or 6i source to Forms 9i or 10g and then run them through the utility.

Once you have created the XML files you will need to go to Application Migration from the APEX Builder Home page and create a project. You will also need to build the referenced tables and views within your workspace. After loading up the XML files you can start conversion and the manual post-generation enhancements required.

My Conferences for February

In February I will be presenting at the following conferences:

Oracle Develop - Moscow, Russia 4 - 5 February
Oracle Develop - Prague, Czech Republic 10 -11 February
UKOUG APEX SIG - London, UK 13 February
South-Eastern Oracle User Conference (SEOUC) - Charlotte, North Carolina 25 - 26 February

Each of these are quite different events and I always love getting out and meeting people. I also love to talk, so if you're able to get to any of these don't hesitate to come up to me for a chat.

Regards,
David

Preserving User Saved Interactive Reports

There have been several posts on the APEX Forum relating to issues with saving User's Interactive Reports (IRs).

A few examples are:
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=828056
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=706257
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=845768
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=719362

Background on how IRs are saved:
There are two distinct means of saving IRs - As "Default" reports performed by developers when running the application from the Application Builder and users saving reports at runtime.

When a developer saves a default report then that report definition is used to render the report in the runtime environment. When a user saves an IR it is saved into the APEX meta-data tables using the unique id for the report against that user. The unique id is based on the specific region id of the IR. This is critical when discussing issues being faced and their solutions below.

If the application is a PUBLIC application then Users will not be given the option to save IRs as there is no user details to associate that report with so every user would then see everyone's saved reports.


Basically there are three main issues being raised:

1. Preserving user saved IRs when rebuilding environments
2. Preserving user saved IRs when updating application
3. Sharing user saved IRs between different users

1. Preserving user saved IRs when rebuilding environments
This issue relates to the ability to backup user saved IRs so that should you need to migrate your applications from one server to another or restore from backups then users will not lose their saved reports.

In APEX 3.2 we have resolved this issue by allowing you to save these reports as part of the Application Export. We have included a new select list option on the Export screen within the Application Builder - Export Saved Reports
Specify whether to include Saved Interactive Reports in the application export. This will enable you to export the customized settings of users for all Interactive Reports in the application. Options include:

• Yes includes Saved Reports in the application export.
• No does not include Saved Reports in the application export.

We have also updated the command-line export utility to include a new switch - expSavedReports: Export all user saved interactive reports. Updating the command-line utility was imperative given that we strongly recommend that "production" environments be configured as run-time only. Therefore, once you have installed APEX 3.2 (Once available) then you should modify your command-line batch program to also include exporting the IRs.

You may well ask why we implemented it as part of the export rather than as a stand-alone utility. The answer is related to the way the IRs are saved and the fact they are tied to the Region_Id for the IR. When an application is imported it retains the same Region_Ids providing the Application ID is the same as when it was exported. If the imported application is given a new Application ID then all the Region_Ids are changed and the saved IRs will not link to the region.

2. Preserving user saved IRs when updating application
This is direclty related to how IRs are saved against a specific Region_Id and how the Region_Id is determined when importing an application. If the Application ID on export and import are the same then the Region_ID will be preserved and any saved IRs will be available. To ensure this select "Install As Application:" option of 'Reuse Application ID xxx From Export File', not 'Auto Assign New Application ID' or 'Change Application ID'.

If the Application ID is changed during the import then new Region_Ids will be defined and none of the previous saved IRs will be shown for the users. To avoid this it is essential that the application id is not changed between environments. The best practice to avoid these sorts of issues is to develop your applications in DEV - Export the application and put into source control. Then only ever build from source control into every other environment and not from exports taken from staging / test / UAT etc. When installing into environments where you want the saved IRs preserved never assign a new Application ID during Import.

3. Sharing user saved IRs between different users
This is a very common request and one which there is no supported solution for.
We plan to investigate this issue as part of our APEX 4.0 development.

The best solution currently is to have the developer create a "default" report layout.

Hope this helps answer most questions on saving IRs

Regards,
David

Books, Books, Books + Authors wanted

Well it is the start of a new year so what better time to take the time to read some books.
No matter what your preferred genre, it is also important to keep up with reading new technical books. Unfortunately, I am a very poor reader when it comes to books - technical or otherwise.

There is a new APEX book which has just hit Amazon - Rick Greenwald's Beginning Oracle Application Express (WROX Publishing). I am expecting a shipment any day of a box full of these books that I will be giving away at various events. I had the pleasure of working closely with Rick on this book, which is aimed at new developers to APEX and power business users. I think this book is excellent for anyone when they are first getting into APEX.

As most of you are probably already aware John Scott's Pro Oracle Application Express (Apres Publishing), with contributions from Scott Spendolini, book is also available. I bought a copy from the Oracle Store at Oracle Openworld. I must confess I haven't read it yet (only scanned through) but plan on taking it with me on some long flights I have coming up.

There is also a new book being written by Douwe Pieter van den Bos on Forms Conversion to APEX for Pakt Publishing. According to Douwe Pieter he is progressing well and has delivered the first chapters to the editor. Can't wait for this book to get published as there will hopefully be a lot of Oracle Forms Developers queuing up to buy this book.

Finally, Pakt Publishing also has another book in the pipeline which is an introdcution to Oracle Application Express. They are currently seeking authors to help contribute. If you have ever wanted to be part of writing a book then here is your big chance. Pakt want to get this book out in the summer.

So for all you budding authors who want to see your name on the cover of a book, and also have some free bandwidth, contact James Lumsden [jamesl@packtpub.com] from Pakt Publishing.

Happy reading,
David

On the Road ... Again

I recently had the pleasure of spending a few days in Quebec City giving a keynote and conducting a Migration workshop. Very beautiful part of the world, but unfortunately it was all work and no play.

I have just landed in Birmingham for the UKOUG. {To prevent jetlag I am currently sitting in the hotel lobby doing email, blogs, OTN updates, etc ... and you thought international travel was so glamorous}

It's Sunday morning I got very little sleep on the plane, they don't have a room available until this afternoon, and the weather is overcast. However, I am excited to be over here in Blighty for my inaugural UKOUG.

Our development team is very geographical dispersed.
One of our newer team members, though not new to Oracle or APEX, Anthony Rayner is based here in the UK. This week will provide a good opportunity for us to spend some quality face-to-face time and go out on some customer visits.

While here I have a few presentations:

• Monday 1:10 - 2:10 (Hall 9) Oracle Application Express Now and in the Future
• Tuesday 1:15 - 2:00 (Foyer 1, Level 5) Tools: APEX, JDEV, Forms, SQL DEV - the choice is yours hosted by Grant Ronald with Duncan Mills, Sue Harper and myself.

Roel Hartman and Dimitri Gielis have already posted a list of other APEX sessions.

There is an unofficial APEX Meetup Monday night straight after the UKOUG event. I am looking forward to catching up with many from the APEX community. There are sure to be several familiar faces, but I hope to also meet many others from our growing community who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet especially as I haven't been over to Europe much.


Next weekend is sure to be a real treat as I am off to see the final round of the World Rally Championship in Wales with my Uncle. I even brought an Aussie flag as there is a young up-and-coming Australian superstar called Chris Atkinson who drives for Subaru and is currently sitting in equal 4th in the championship. Had to bring lots of cold weather gear as it is almost gauranteed to be wet and very very cold standing in the middle of a forest waiting for cars to flashing past - I can't wait :)


The following week I am off to Beijing for "Oracle Develop - The premier development event", which is always fun as I get to spend time with some of my fellow PMs in foreign lands.


You will be pleased to know that we are happy with the progress being made with APEX 3.2 and have been getting some very valuable feedback from the limited early adopters.

Cheers,
David

"Limited" Early Adopter for APEX 3.2 has started

All,

Given our development timeframe we were unable to conduct an open Early Adopter program for APEX 3.2 Forms Conversion. Instead a very small number of customers have been invited to participate in a limited early adopter program.

Unfortunately for all those not invited you will need to wait for APEX 3.2 to be released before you can start playing with our Forms conversion offering.

I'm sure some of those involved will blog about their experience.

In the coming weeks I will be posting more information relating to APEX 3.2 Forms Conversion.

Regards,
David