Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Oracle APEX Training

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be doing some online Oracle Application Express (APEX) training! After giving talks around the world, writing several books, and teaching at a local Institute of Technology I think it's only natural to expand into the online world.

The first course I'm teaching is called APEX Web Components covering CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery. The course go over each of the technologies and how to integrate and enhance your APEX applications.

This course will run from April 14th to April 16th from 12-4pm EDT each day. For more information and to register go to: http://clarifit-orclapexweb.eventbrite.com/?aff=talkapex As an added bonus as a reader of this blog use discount code TALKAPEX for an additional $100 off registration. 

If you'd like to keep informed of future classes please sign up for our email list.


Monday, February 24, 2014

APEX Shortcuts


The other day I was dabbling around in APEX and noticed a link for Shortcuts in the Shared Components section.



I’ve never used Shortcuts before (let along knew about them) so I tried it out. To start here’s how Shortcuts are described (as copied from APEX screen):

Shortcuts are a repository of shared static or dynamic HTML. Shortcuts are substitution strings that are expanded using the syntax: "SHORTCUT_NAME". Shortcuts are used in the following locations:

  • Region Source for regions of type HTML_WITH_SHORTCUTS
  • Region Templates, Region Headers & Footers
  • Item Labels
  • Item Default Value
  • Item Post Element Text
  • Item Help Text
  • HTML Header of a page

Creating shortcuts on page item labels and page item post element text attributes can include the following substitution strings: 
#CURRENT_FORM_ELEMENT# 
#CURRENT_ITEM_ID# 
#CURRENT_ITEM_NAME# 
#CURRENT_ITEM_HELP_TEXT#

To reference Shortcuts you need to use the “shortcutname” syntax (quotes included). Since they are wrapped in quotes and could conflict with regular text I strong recommend using a naming scheme such as SC_NAME.

Note: I previously wrote an article about the different ways to reference APEX variables. I have updated it to include Shortcuts. The article is available here.

Shortcuts can either be statically defined or reference a PL/SQL function. It’s important to note that if you do call a PL/SQL function it will execute the code each time the Shortcut is referenced. For example, if you have the same Shortcut in three different regions on a page it’ll call the function three times. This may be a good or bad thing depending on how you use it.

Though I haven’t found an immediate need for Shortcuts I think there could be some situations where it can come in handy for labels and templates especially since it allows you to reference a function which can dynamically generate content.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

APEX Theme Competition

In case you haven't heard, ODTUG is hosting an APEX Theme Competition. This is your chance to show off what you can do and also win some amazing prizes including a Kscope 15 pass!

For more information go to http://competition.odtug.com/