Presentation given @ APEX SIG in Antwerp (17 June 2010) by Jan Huyzentruyt and Olivier Dupont of iAdvise, demonstrating some of the new, less "spectacular" new features of APEX 4.0

1. your
oracle
solu+ons
partner
APEX 4.0
Feature 135, 184, 301,
315, …
How it was before, How it is now !
By Jan Huyzentruyt & Olivier Dupont

2. APEX - Statement of Direction
“Oracle Application Express 4.0 will
focus on declarative support for Web
2.0 features as well as improved
usability and simplified development.”
Last Updated: February 2, 2010
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3. Agenda
 Introduction
 Features for “Improved usability”
 Features for “Simplified development”
 Multi-Lingual Applications
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4. iAdvise
 Started in 2004
(member of Cronos-group)
 > 55 consultants
 Since 2006:
APEX Core Team
 O2U (the Nederlands)
 Oracle Gold Partner
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5. New Features Descriptions
http://tryapexnow.com/apex/f?p=104
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6. Agenda
 Introduction
 Features for “Improved usability”
 Features for“Simplified development”
 Multi-Lingual Applications
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7. Feature 242
 Modernize Themes:
Improve the base Themes supplied
with Application Express
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8. Feature 242
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9. Feature 242
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10. Feature 242
 New look for Sample Application
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11. Feature: 284
 Improve pop-up help dialog
Modernize the look of the pop-up help
dialog.
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12. Feature: 284
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13. Feature: 284
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14. Feature 320:
 Replacement for script editors
The editor used for editing packages,
procedures, views, ... in SQL Workshop
and scripts in Supporting Objects has
been replaced by a new editor which now
support syntax highlighting, bracket
highlighting, ... The new editor works
now with all modern browsers as well.
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15. Feature 320:
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16. Feature 320:
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17. Feature 36, 49, 50, 301
 Feature 36: Interactive Reports
Improve and extend the capabilities of
interactive reports based on customer
feedback and intuition.
 49: Email attachment
 50: HTML File
 301: Saved Reports
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18. Interactive Reports: Before
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19. Interactive Reports: After
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21. Interactive Reports: Subscription
Result in my mail-box
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22. DEMO
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23. Improved Charting
 Feature 24: Charting engine
Latest flash chart engine
(AnyChart 5.x) to improve
the functionality and visual
presentation
 Feature 25: New Gantt Charts
2 types of Gantt Charts can now be
defined declaratively: Project &
Resource Gantt charts
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24. Feature 25: Resource Gantt
http://tryapexnow.com/apex/f?p=103:12
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25. Agenda
 Introduction
 Features for “Improved usability”
 Features for “Simplified development”
 Multi-Lingual Applications
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26. Many small features
 Feature 271:
Branch to self when no branch found
 Feature 244:
Support #LABEL# placeholder in page
item validation error messages
 ... Making developer life easier !
 Number Items, Date Pickers, Required
Properties …
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27. DEMO
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28. Feature 106 & 135
 135: Apex Advisor
The Advisor is responsible for checking the
integrity and quality of your application.
 106: Application Search
This allows a developer to search the
meta data of the current application and
is designed to aid navigation and
debugging.
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29. Application Adviser: Before
 Write own query on APEX Dictionary Views
to do quality control
 On development standards & conventions
 On good practices
 Build a GUI on top of those queries
 In-house QA application
developed in APEX
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31. Application Advisor: After
 Originally developed by Patrick Wolf
as separate tool (Apex Essentials)
 Integrate APEX Advisor into the APEX
Builder and has two different entry
points:
 Check application
 Check single page
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33. Application Search: Before
 Open export file with editor and
search
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34. Application Search: After
 Google-like search on all metadata
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35. DEMO
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36. Feature 184
 Load excel .xls file into collection
Excel spreadsheets can be directly
uploaded into APEX collection(s). If the
spreadsheet has multiple pages, each
page can optionally be saved in a
separate collection or in one single
collection. In order to utilize this feature
and the options you will need to set
parameters in the configuration file for
the APEX listener.
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37. Load Excel: Before …
 Native .xls not possible
You need to convert to .csv
 Upload CSV
 For Developer:
 For End User:
 Write your own custom PL/SQL solution
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38. Load Excel: After …
 Direct Upload in APEX collection(s)
 One or multiple excel sheets will be
possible
 You need the APEX Listener
 Set specific parameters in the
configuration file (apex-config.xml)
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39. Load Excel: After …
 create a page with
 a “File Browse item”
 a button
 request value = 'XLS2COLLECTION’
 A report region with a similar query:
 … and this should work
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40. DEMO
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41. Agenda
 Introduction
 Features for “Improved usability”
 Features for“Simplified development”
 Multi-Lingual Applications
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42. Feature 315:
 Globalization
Enhancement made to improve
globalization support.
 Language Derived from “session”
 Facelift “Translation Process”
 Translation Dashboard
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43. The Globalization Tab
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44. Translation Process Facelift
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45. Translation Process: step 4
 Still an manual process,
external to APEX
 You must use some kind of
XML editor
 Laborious -Time consuming
 Use our xTra4o-tool
(www.iadvise.be/xtra4o)
“Dictionary”-based
Integrated with google-translate
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46. Translation Dashboard
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47. DEMO
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48. Q&A
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49. Thank You
 Email:
 olivier.dupont@iadvise.be
 jan.huyzentruyt@iadvise.be
 Blogs:
 http://iadviseblog.wordpress.com/
 http://apexcommunity.wordpress.com/
 More APEX info on:
 http://www.apexcommunity.be
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