APEX 4.0 - Learn more about Dynamic Actions

As many of you may know, APEX 4.0 Early Adopter's was released before Christmas. In this release, we introduce a new feature called 'Dynamic Actions' that provides a declarative way of defining client-side behaviour, without needing to know JavaScript. There is a simple wizard to create new dynamic actions, whereby you just specify 'When' the dynamic action will fire, the 'Action' itself and 'What' will be affected. As I said, you don't have to know JavaScript to do a fair amount with this feature, but there are also some hooks for JavaScript developers to extend the dynamic action framework to do a whole load more!!

To help you understand this feature, I have put together a sample application containing lots of different uses of dynamic actions such as drag and drop, styling page items and interactive reports, retrieving data from the server via AJAX, responding to plug-in item events such as the 'Slider' sliding and more. You can either view the application running on the EA instance here or download it from here, so you can install it in your own EA workspace and have a deeper look. If you haven't yet signed up for the APEX 4.0 Early Adopters, take a look at David Peake's related blog post where he explains how to get started.

Note: If you are installing this application, there is one supporting object defined containing a simple PL/SQL function 'getCommission' used by a couple of the examples. During the install, please install this supporting object to get the full functionality. Also, the application requires that you have a copy of the standard 'EMP' table in the parsing schema for the application.


The application makes use of a number of native dynamic actions (that will be built-in to APEX), but also contains 5 dynamic action plug-in examples which you can look at, install and play around with. The plug-ins are:

• Draggable - Define page elements as draggable, with various options such as restricting by vertical or horizontal axis, transparency during drag, containment and more.
• Droppable - Define page elements as droppable, with various options such as restricting which draggables can be dropped, styling to guide the user where they can drop the element and more.
• Execute PL/SQL Code - Define a PL/SQL snippet right from within the dynamic action that will be executed on the server, via AJAX. This is currently only coded for Theme 1.
• Highlight - Patrick Wolf's plug-in that provides the ability to highlight elements on the page.
• Stripe Report - Used for striping interactive report regions with alternate row colours.
  

I have ensured all the plug-in code is thoroughly commented to try and help you understand exactly what's going on and hopefully get you started in building your own dynamic action plug-ins!!

Plug-ins are 1 of the major components of APEX 4.0 and if you're interested to learn more I can thoroughly recommend taking a look at Patrick Wolf's 'How to create a plug-in' blog post and accompanying downloads.

I hope you like the application and let me know how you get on!!!

Anthony.

PS: Many thanks to Patrick Wolf for his invaluable help in reviewing these plug-ins.

Out Now!! Application Express 3.2.1

The Oracle Application Express 3.2.1 patch set is now available for download and provides not only fixes to the following bugs, but also some additional functionality and considerations as summarised by Joel and detailed in the patch set notes.

You can get hold of it by either:

• Downloading the full version from OTN.


• Download the patch set 8548651 from METALINK.

If you're upgrading from any APEX version pre-3.2, then you'll need to use the full OTN release. Otherwise if you're upgrading from 3.2, then you only need the patch set.

Also in this patch set, we have included an additional documentation chapter, entitled Accessibility in Oracle Application Express. This aims to provide information for users who are accessing Oracle Application Express utilizing only a keyboard or Freedom Scientific's screen reader JAWS. It details the current accessibility issues in APEX and shows workarounds where they are possible. (We hope to address a number of these issues in APEX 4.0.)

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who uses APEX with keyboard only, screen reader or other assistive technology to get feedback on how we can hopefully get better at being accessible to our users with disabilities. Also if you use APEX to build applications that have strict accessibility requirements and have feedback on your experiences then I would love to hear from you also.

Please drop me an email at the email address in my profile if you would like to talk about this.

Anthony.

OTNs APEX Developer Competition 2009

Are you the...

  ...travelling type?  Fancy winning a free ticket for Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco (October 11 - 15) to meet with like minded APEX enthusiasts and learn more about APEX and other Oracle technology?


Or maybe more the...

  ...bragging type?  How would the words 'Oracle Application Express Developer Competition Winner 2009' look on your CV? It does have a certain ring to it, don't you think?


Or even the...

  ...academic type?   What about the prospect of furthering your understanding of APEX by paging through your winning copy of 'Pro Oracle Application Express'?


Whatever your reasons, enter the OTN 'Oracle Application Express Developer Competition 2009' by submitting an APEX application that stands out from the crowd and you could be in with the opportunity of winning one of these great prizes or accolades!

For more information, including submission guidelines, all important judging criteria and registration details, please visit the OTN page and David Peake's related post. Entries close 24 August, 2009.

Good luck!

APEX SIG in the UK - Finally!

So after much discussion and a lot of hard work from Justin Hudd from e-DBA, the 1st APEX SIG event in the UK is now officially going ahead and booked for February 13th at the Oracle City Office in London. The agenda is as follows:

• Introduction - Justin Hudd (e-DBA)
• Latest & Greatest - David Peake (APEX Product Manager)
• APEX @ Oracle - Learn How Oracle Utilises Application Express (Me)
• What happens on an APEX Page? - Dimitri Gielis (APEX Evangelists)
• Using APEX to Expose your Business to the Web - Matt Nolan & Vincent Migue (e-DBA)
• Dispelling Myths about Application Express - John Scott (APEX Evangelists and author of Pro Oracle Application Express)
• APEX Forum – A Chance to ask the Experts

Then the usual post event drinks at a nearby drinkery.

If your interested in coming along then you'll need to register for the event via the website. Pricing varies on the following:

• If you are already a member of UKOUG then it's free to attend (and you can buy additional places at the members rate of £80 plus VAT for colleagues).
• If you are not a member then they have setup a non-member rate of £160 plus VAT.

There are only 55 places available so attendance is limited.

Hopefully see you there!