Ideas as a precursor to Oracle APEX #JoelKallmanDay

 It seems if I post only once a year, it's for Joel Kallman Day...

Last year I hinted of a small side story to a remediation project that was upgrade the entire stack supporting a (mostly) Oracle Forms application.

Along the way I also had to remediate a little one-Form tool Connor McDonald build for developers, and it had some features of some note.

It should be stated this was written at a time when flip phones were all the rage - and notably before Oracle APEX gave birth to Interactive Reports.

I won't include a screenshot (for privacy concerns), but it's basically a multi-row data block allowing queries and edits of selected records - an Editable Grid, back in the heyday of Forms.

Hmm, let's see a list of default display options, plus the ability to save my own current filter - which stores the values set in Enter-Query mode - remember that?!

Saved Reports

And let's see an ability to re-order the columns, and or even hide specific columns.

Re-order columns

Yes, Connor created a customisable editable grid, in Oracle Forms, a few years before smartphones were a thing.

Editable Grid in APEX

All these highlighted features that come straight of the Oracle APEX box.

An example of great ideas that pre-date the technology that can better support them.

Or is it the ideas that drive the development of better technology?

Or perhaps a bit of both...