Yesterday the Patchset APEX 4.0.1.00.03 was released and today i can see it in my APEX Builder.As you can see on the picture below there is a new small section on the right side which appears only if there are any important news.

It integrates with Firefox and Internet Explorer to put a wealth of new features to your favourite development tool. The good news is, it’s Open Source and you can use it for free!

After reading Håvard Kristiansen Blogpost about Hotkeys for APEX 4.0 i decided to take Patrick Wolf’s APEX BuilderPlugin and adapt it to be used with APEX 4.0.

It was easier than i thought, basically only the HTML Structure of the APEX Builder had changed and the BuilderPlugin needed different jQuery Selectors.

The new Version 2.0 of the APEX BuilderPlugin now supports APEX 4.0 and 3.x.

Please read the Documentation to get a grip on what the BuilderPlugin can do for you.

I also added some default Keyboard Shortcuts:

• F8: Run Application
• F10: Apply Changes or Create Button
• Ctrl+Shift+S: go to Shared Components
• Ctrl+Shift+E: go to Edit Page
• Ctrl+Shift+>: go to next Page/Wizard Step
• Ctrl+Shift+<: go to previous Page/Wizard Step

You can easily change the defined Shortcuts by editing the apex_builder_plugin.js File as described in the documentation.

Note: When using the ApexLib Framework, the BuilderPlugin adds ApexLib Sections to the Builder where you can easily define the ApexLib Settings.

Now download the BuilderPlugin and enjoy the new comfort of your APEX Builder :-)

• Is ApexLib still under active development?
• Do we need ApexLib on APEX 4.0?
• What about my applications using ApexLib, can i upgrade to APEX 4.0?

In short: you don’t need to worry.

ApexLib continues to make Oracle APEX an even better product and runs perfectly smooth with Version 4.0 of APEX.

Check out the Feature Demonstration Application on apex.oracle.com or download ApexLib Framework and try it on your local database.

Is ApexLib still under active development?

Yes. ApexLib is an ongoing project which aims to improve APEX where it isn’t as perfect or as comfortable as you wish. I’m currently planning improvements especially for APEX 4.0, e.g. even better TabForm support.

Do we need ApexLib Framwork on APEX 4.0 ?

Oracle APEX 4.0 includes many improvements which ApexLib provides for a long time (thanks to Patrick Wolf, who now develops cool new features in APEX).
But there are still plenty things ApexLib can help you with, even when you are using APEX 4.0.

What about my applications using ApexLib, can i upgrade to APEX 4.0?

Absolutely, just make sure you are using the latest version of ApexLib Framework, then you are good to upgrade to APEX 4.0.

Do you include Feature XY in your next release?

If you need certain features for the upcoming release of ApexLib Framwork, just drop me a note. I’ll try to include whatever you need and whatever my limited time makes possible.

I’m soooo happy with ApexLib, it made my application even better!

Good to hear, makes me happy and proud. If you want you also can thank me in USD or EUR :-)

That’s all, hope you enjoy ApexLib Framework and Oracle APEX 4.0!

Peter

P.S.: Make sure to check out the ApexLib Tools, will be more there soon!

Problem is, you experimented on a demo-workspace or on apex.oracle.com and now want to move everything to your own personal development workspace.

And now there are you, hassling around with DDL exports, trying to get your testdata and merge it all together in one install script.

Rescue is near: the very first Tool in the ApexLib Tools Series: ApexLib Schema Export .

This is a one-click-export Tool. All you need to do is install this small APEX Application in your workspace, run it and press the “Export” button.

You’ll end up with a single Export-File containing all of your datamodel, all data and your APEX application.

Then you take this script and execute it in your target schema/workspace. It’ll create all tables, views, whatever, fill in your data and install the APEX application(s).

Important: This Tool is targeted to the smaller applications. If you try it on a big workspace containing lots of tables, lots of data and multiple applications, the export may get too big and break.

But it’s ideal to move your workspace from http://apex.oracle.com to your local development instance.

Read the (short) documentation and download it.

This is a maintenance release containing some bug fixes and new features.

ApexLib Framework 2.1 brings (next to a new design and a new logo) a very cool new feature: AJAX Page Processes. -> that means creating interactive Forms the easy way.

Try it online, check the documentation and download it for your application.

This will be most probably the last release for APEX 2.x and 3.x, upcoming releases of ApexLib will target the special needs in APEX 4.0 (yes, there is still room for improvement *g* ).

If you think ApexLib will help your Application to work better, but don’t know how to use it, or you would like to get better support feel free to contact my office for a custom offer.

Remember: ApexLib is and will ever be free of charge, we also help if you struggle installing and integrating the software, but developing Open Source Software takes up lots of time which limits our resources for providing free in-depth support.

Enjoy using ApexLib Framework, let me know if you would like to see certain features in the next releases.

Struggling with JavaScript, AJAX calls in APEX, Application Processes and still it doesn’t work as you like?

Using the new ApexLib 2.1 all you need to do is create a PL/SQL Page Process and call it from a button with apexlib.process.executePageProcess.

Check out the ApexLib AJAX Page Process over here.

How does it work?

Basically all you need is a PL/SQL Page Process and a Button to trigger the Process execution. ApexLib deals with binding variables and calling the Process via AJAX and writes changed Page-Items back into your Page. So if your Process changes a Page-Item you’ll instantly see it in your Browser.

The function apexlib.process.executePageProcess can be called from JavaScript or from your Button, just set the Button Target to “URL” and the URL Target to “javascript:apexlib.process.executePageProcess(‘pageProcessName’);”.

You can pass a JavaScript function as second argument in call to executePageProcess, which will be executed when the Page Process is finished.
The optional third argument is a REQUEST Keyword, which tells ApexLib that you want to submit the Page after the process was executed and the function from the second argument was executed.

At the Page Process please set Condition to “Never” to assure it isn’t called in standard page processing. Also you have to set the ApexLib Property $APEXLIB_AJAX_PROCESS$ , which tells ApexLib it should prepare some stuff to be able to call this Proces via AJAX.

Still confused? -> Download the latest Version of ApexLib and install the Feature Demonstration Application in your Workspace. Check how i implemented the Demo on Page 100, this should help you to use this Feature in your Application as well.

When displaying error messages in the notification area the rest of the page is shifted downwards a little. This is no problem most of the time, except in this case:

1. you have a form with required fields
2. you enter some of the fields and then realize you don’t want to enter more but leave the form
3. so you press the “Cancel” Button while your cursor is still in an empty required field
4. before the Cancel Button is processed the field validation displays the “Field is required” Message
5. displaying the Error shifts the button downwards, the mouse cursor isn’t hovering above the button anymore
6. the browser decides, that you clicked into empty space and discards Button processing

Long story short, you have to press the button a second time if an error message is displayed in the notification area when pressing the button.

I haven’t found any satisfying solution to avoid this problem in a programmatically way, so this leaves us with few options:

1. ignore it and let your users click a second time
2. have a fixed size notification area (this is kind of complicated, since you never know how many error messages you need to display)
3. my favorite: let the notification area hover above the rest of your form

Solution 3 can look like this, depending on your layout or used theme you’ll have to implement it in a different way.

See a working solution online in the Demo-Application.

All I had to do, was modifying the CSS Settings for the notification area:

.t7notification {
 background:none repeat scroll 0 50% #FFFFCC;
 border:1px solid #FFD700;
 color:#333333;
 font-size:11px;
 font-weight:bold;
 left:25%;
 margin:4px auto;
 opacity:0.8;
 filter:alpha(opacity=80);
 padding:2px;
 position:absolute;
 text-align:center;
 width:50%;
}

As soon as there is a stable release of APEX 4.0 i’ll decide if there is any need for a special version of ApexLib for APEX 4.0. At the moment it looks as if ApexLib works as expected, but some of its features are obsolete due to enhancements of Application Express.

Other Features of ApexLib can be achieved by using new Plugin types.

But: ApexLib development continues, i’m working on some nice features which even don’t exist in APEX 4.0 :-)

If you have any special requirements or would like to see a special new feature in ApexLib just drop a comment and i’ll see what can be done (in my spare time…).

ApexLib Version 2.0 is released, go over there and download it and enjoy the new functions.

What’s new?

• Automatic integration Script ApexLib_integrate_into_application.sql
• AJAX Computations
• Keyboard Shortcuts for Buttons
• Boolean Checkbox handling
• using jQuery 1.3.2 (namespaced to apexlibJquery)

Have fun using it and maybe drop me a note if you like it or don’t: apexlib@oracleapex.info

Whats new, besides that we switched to a new version, is that we namespaced jQuery to apexlibJquery to avoid conflicts with other libraries or other version of jQuery you might use.

If you used ApexLib’s jQuery up to now this means you have to change the references in your code from jQuery to apexlibJquery and review all jQuery calls if you still use the right syntax (since 1.1.2 some things changed slightly).

Otherwise you still can use the old version 1.1.2 of jQuery parallel to the one coming with ApexLib, this wont get in each others way.

You don’t know what jQuery is or what it does? Then you should definitely go over here and check out some examples and tutorials.