What’s Hiding in the APEX Packaged Applications

Scott Spendolini Practice Director

Welcome

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About Me

@sspendol

scott.w.spendolini@accenture.com

Agenda• Overview• What’s Hiding• Summary

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Overview

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Overview• Since the initial release, APEX has included sample

applications that highlight key features– Started with just a couple with HTML DB– APEX 4.2 has 41– APEX 5.0 has 34

• Seven have been removed or consolidated

• Packaged Apps used to be categorized; no longer the case

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Packaged Application Purposes• Instant Functionality

– Simply install and run– Keeping the application locked ensures that it will be updated

as patches are made available• Not via Oracle Support, but via Oracle APEX itself

• Good Starting Point– Install, unlock, modify & run– Ineligible for patching, so you’ll own the support

• Learning Tool– Find what you like and copy it to your application

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Packaged Applications• In APEX 5.0, Packaged Applications have their own

top-level tab– In APEX 4.x, they can be found in a sub-tab under the top-

level Application Builder tab

• Three main sections for Packaged Apps– Gallery– Dashboard– Administration

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Packaged Apps Overview

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Packages Apps Gallery

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Packaged Apps Dashboard

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Packaged Apps Administration

What’s Hiding

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What’s Hiding• There’s a wealth of things hiding in the Packaged

Applications– You just have to know where to look

• Not a bad idea to create a “scratch” workspace and install all of the packaged applications into it– Use the APEX views to quickly search for common

component types– For example, there are 51 distinct plugins alone:

• SELECT name, COUNT(*) FROM apex_appl_plugins WHERE application_id NOT BETWEEN 4000 AND 7999GROUP BY nameORDER BY 2

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What’s Hiding• There are three major types of “goodies” hiding in the

Packaged Applications– New APEX 5 Functionality– Plugins– Other

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New APEX 5 Functionality

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New APEX 5 Functionality• Many of the new features & functionality of APEX 5

have been incorporated into the new Packaged Applications– Some so well that they even seem like they are plugins on the

surface

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Badge Dashboard Report• Applications: Application Standards Tracker • Page: 1• Region: Dashboard• Type: Report Template

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Percent Graph• Applications: Application Standards Tracker • Page: 1• Region: Applications• Type: Column Format

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Data Loading• Application: Sample Data Loading• Page: 2 through 5• Regions: Multiple• Type: Data Loading

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Right Side Column• Application: Go Live Check List• Page: 200• Regions: Multiple• Type: Page Template

& Region Positions

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Plugins

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Plugins• There are 51 new Plugins that are hidden throughout

the Packaged Applications• They encompass a wide range of functionality

– Charts– Maps– Access Control– Items

• Any of these can easily be exported and imported into your applications– May have to also copy tables or other PL/SQL objects; varies

by plugin23

Packaged Application Plugins• ACL Status• ACL Warning• Authorization

Administration• Badge List• Badge List v2• Big Value List• Completeness• D3 Bar Chart• D3 Bubble Chart

Plugin• D3 Collapsible

Tree Chart Plugin• D3 Line Chart• D3 Treemap Chart

Plugin• Flex Field

• Flot Bar Chart v2• Flot Line Chart v2• Flot Pie Chart• Flot Pie Chart v2• Gantt Chart• Google reCaptcha• Group Select List• HTML 5 Bar Chart• Highlight• How To

Instructions• JustGage Gauge• List Report• Masked Field v 1.0• Mini Calendar• Number Stats

• Oracle Elocation Geocoder

• Oracle HTML5 Maps - Region

• Oracle Maps - Get Data

• Oracle Maps - Get Redline

• Oracle Maps - Map Actions

• Oracle Maps - get Circle

• Oracle Maps - get HTML5 Location

• Oracle Maps - set Center / Zoomlevel

• Oracle Maps - set Custom Marker

• SQL Source• Sample Apps

Footer• Simple Checkbox• Slide Tooltip• Slider• Source Display• Star Rating• Tag Cloud• Tags• Timeline and

Status List• Translated

Message• Usage Metrics• Validate_Content

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Sample Apps Footer• Application: Sample Master Detail & others• Page: 1• Regions: Footer• Type: Region Plugin

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Badge List• Application: Bug Tracker• Page: 1• Regions: Bug Summary• Type: Region

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Slide Tooltip• Application: Bug Tracker• Page: 1• Regions: Recent Bugs• Type: Region

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Flot Pie Chart v2• Application: Bug Tracker• Page: 1• Regions: Open Bugs by Status• Type: Region

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HTML 5 Bar Chart• Application: Bug Tracker• Page: 1• Regions: Top Assignees• Type: Region

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Flex Field• Application: Customer Tracker• Page: 2• Regions: Additional Attributes• Type: Item

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Timeline and Status List• Application: Go Live Check List• Page: 1• Regions: Check List Items• Type: Region

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Other

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Other• In addition to native APEX 5 features & Plugins, there

are some other cool things in the Packaged Applications worth mentioning– Google Maps

• Requires a Google API key and subject to limits

– Oracle eLocation• Requires a separate license for production use

– Checklist Report• Basically hand-coded PL/SQL

– Filter Reports• Combination of APEX Items & a Plugin

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Google Maps• Application: Brookstrut Sample Application• Page: 1• Regions: Locations• Type: Integration with

Google Maps

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Oracle eLocation• Application: Geolocation Showcase• Page: 51• Regions: &MAPSERVER_NAME.• Type: Region Plugin

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Oracle eLocation• Application: Geolocation Showcase• Page: 51• Regions: Edit Address• Type: Dynamic Action Plugin

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Checklist Report• Application: Checklist Manager• Page: 1• Regions: Checklist• Type: PL/SQL Dynamic Content

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Filter Report & Plugin• Application: P-Track• Page: 35• Regions: Search Filter & Milestones• Type: HTML & Plugin

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Summary

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Summary• There’s a LOT hiding in the Packaged Applications

– Native Features– Plugins– Other things

• It’s worth your time to install them all and explore what they can do– And then implement that concept in your application

• Some of them may even be usable as internal systems with little or no modifications

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Q & A

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