Help APEX find it's way

In case you missed it, there was an OTN forum post about asking about the APEX5 release date. As Hilary mentions, it's Oracle's privilege to release it whenever they like.

That being said, there is an APEX Feature Request application.

While new feature will always be cool, I'd also like to see an introspection regarding some facets of the Development Builder.

I've requested a few myself, but for example (to get creative juices flowing)

• conditional on dynamic action true/false actions
• improvements in dynamic action copy
• extent cache infrastructure, including APIs (another similar entry)
• more multi-row editing facilities, similar edit all on page components, and grid edit for pages - but not so buried.
• features aiding release management / version control
  (possibly via extending build options?)
• littler things like adding static ID attribute in component wizards
• compile attribute inline documentation online
• all encompassing comments dictionary view
• small win - delete multiple templates at a time

I think it's also fairly safe to expect a third User Interface for tablets.
All of this on top of what is already mentioned in the APEX Statement of Direction.

For more APEX 5 thoughts, check out

• some recent commentary in Europe from Christian Rokitta 
• desires from Peter Raganitsch
• browser support info from Joel Kallman 
• session reviews from Bart Peeters
• and a post I forgot I did.

Let me know if you've seen any others.

I look forward to the next release, whenever it may come ;-)

Scott

ps - the post also noted 4.2.3 would be 'soon'

Post eastern Insync 2013

It's been over a month since my last confession - mainly due to a lot of interstate travel.

The reason for most of the travel was the AUSOUG Insync Conference Series - on the eastern coast anyway. So in the past month I've been to Sydney (and surrounds), Melbourne (twice) & Brisbane (extra 90 mins to fly home).

The conference series was due to begin in Sydney on the 15th, but unfortunately due to a number of factors (which I won't get into here) it had to be cancelled, along with the Canberra and Adelaide legs. Perth preparations are still going strong, and we look forward to bucking the trend.

This turned out expensive for me because I had promised my wife would come over on frequent flyer points and we'd spent time driving through the blue mountains and other touristy type things. And extra two days of that when the company can't sport for accommodation before I head to the Melbourne gig after the weekend - bummer!

I'll just say Sydney was beautiful and treated us to lovely weather - but we had no success whale watching day.

Melbourne was cold, and the conference numbers were lower than previous. Penny (my boss) was still happy with the turnouts to our talks and networking engagement was reasonably successful.

My presentations went well, and for those coming to Perth and want to join any of the half-day workshops (eg: DB 12c, JDeveloper & APEX) I recommend you bring your laptops and become aware of software needs before hand to make the most of the time. See further comments below.

Some presentations I'm keepto keep an eye out for in Perth in November:

1. Penny Cookson - Redesigning core on-line systems in ADF JDeveloper - if you ever want a case study on a ADF migration project - this is the perfect chance
2. Scott Wesley (me) - APEX in your Hands - another case study on an APEX application preparing for deployment on a tablet. We hope to get our client involved with the intro to this in Perth
3. Chris Muir (et al) - The Future of Oracle Forms: Upgrade. Modernize, or Migrate - if you still use Oracle Forms, come even just to keep yourself informed on where things are at and what's truly available.
4. Mark Lancaster - APEX 4.2 Building Responsive application using Twitter Bootstrap - a good overview of a framework worth incoroporating into your applications - it's not hard.
5. Penny Cookson - New Optimizer Features in Oracle 12c - A technical look at tuning features in 12c, with a funny twist. Uber nerd alert.
6. Kylie Payne - ADF for Newbies - I know there are plenty of you out there. Fresh perspective from an Oracle professional.
7. Connor McDonald - CloneDB - a new one from Connor, let's place bets on the slide count.
8. Jeff Kemp - APEX and row level security - presenting the works of an excellent blog post
9. Phil Robinson - Testing the limits of testing - everybody should be incorporating more testing.

We have a few more to be confirmed from Oracle ACEs.

Workshop tips

1. DB 12c - Martin Power - bring a 64 bit laptop with plenty of gigs free. Download his recommended files first and do your best to get VirtualBox booting beforehand. He brings a thumbdrive with a pre-built image, but it will take a while to copy, initiate, boot.
2. Forms -> ADF - Penny Cookson - Read her setup instructions and try your best to come prepared
3. APEX Plugins - Scott Wesley - the easiest to prepare for - just bring a laptop! You can also do it easily in your own 4.2 environment, just grab a few files beforehand so you can play along.

For those in the east - also good was

1. Guy Harrison - Avoiding death by Big Data - a lighthearted but effective 1000 ft view of how big data is shaping our world. I enjoy his talks, and try to incorporate some of his style in mine. Imitation is the sincerest form flattery, they say...
2. Tim Daniell - Being Productive in IT - a different, thought provoking comparison of the human brain and an Oracle database.
3. Connor McDonald - SQL Tuning 101 - if you missed it last year, too bad - a fast paced, humorous look at SQL basics that everyone will learn from.

SAGE will be exhibiting in Perth and will continue our fine form of booth design, thanks to Branka.

Scott

ps - to all Australian readers - happy footy finals month.

Get SQL Developer 4 going in 4 steps

After a little hiccup on my part, I've started using SQL Developer 4 Early Adopter 1 on two computers I work on. It's pretty easy:

1. Download SQL Developer 4 and it’s required JDK from:
   http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer/downloads/sqldev-download-v4-1925679.html
    
2. Unpack this to a folder on your system
   sqldeveloper-4.0.0.12.27-no-jre.zip
   I used
   c:\sqldeveloper4EA\ 
3. Install the latest JDK,  probably not accepting the new toolbar for your browser...
   jdk-7u25-windows-i586.exe
   
4. Open by running - I tend to copy a shortcut on my quick-launch bar
   sqldeveloper.exeWhen prompted for location of java.exe the first time you open, I used
   C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25
   I also allow it to copy my existing preferences across.

Job done, let's see what interesting features I encounter. 

The slightly flashier icon

If you want to actively learn more, you must visit www.thatjeffsmith.com

Scott

12c for Windows

Did you know that Oracle 12c has been available for Windows for a week already?

https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/oracle_database_12c_is_available

I've downloaded it, but let's see how long it takes to find a chance to install it, let alone play!

SAGE seminars at Insync13

It's officially less than a month before the 2013 Insync national conference series kicks off in Sydney.

The SAGE Computing Services team has a heavy presence this year. You can find Penny & myself scattered amongst all Australian states, with Kylie & Ray boosting the Perth schedule. Check out the Insync website for schedule updates.

Penny
Case Study: Redesigning core on-line systems in ADF JDeveloper
New Optimizer Features in Oracle 12c
Redeveloping a legacy application in JDeveloper ADF - a half day workshop

Scott
APEX in your hands: Lessons learnt from a tablet project
Reasons why you should upgrade your APEX environment

Spice up your APEX application with third party plug-ins - a half day workshop

Ray
"Elementary my Dear Weblogic" - the Case of Spying on ADF

Kylie
Oracle ADF for Newbies: Surviving your first project

We'll be posting further information about the workshops on the Sage website, but remember - you'll need to at least bring your laptop.

Keep an eye out for Eddie, too - he's working on something regaring ADF Essentials.

Scott

APEX rendering issues in IE10

I'm sure anyone who's tried to write an APEX application that works across the "big 3" browsers - Chrome, Firefox & IE will be familiar with the pain of rendering differences.

Especially when it comes to version differences across Internet Explorer.

Thanks to Trent in the OTN forum, I have this nifty tip if you find some rendering issues in IE10 using APEX that aren't present in 'normal' pages.

Ensure your page template has the meta http-equiv illustrated here

<!--[if (gt IE 9)|!(IE)]>  <!--> 
  <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1">  
<!--<![endif]-->

Instead of

<!--[if (gt IE 9)|!(IE)]><!-->  <!--<![endif]-->

I found this improved rendering of (amongst now doubt other issues)

• sliders rendered properly;
• login form fields had expected width;
• and the list template "Featured List with Subtext" rendered consistently.

Scott

12 new 12c features for developers

I haven't installed 12c yet because
a) I haven't had the time
b) my Linux skills aren't the best

What I have done though is read through some of the documentation in the New Features manual.

The APEX features are just regurgitating what's in 4.2, since that's what's shipped out of the box with 12c - but I always like to look through what's improved with SQL and PL/SQL.

No doubt many of you may have seen or read presentations on what's coming up as early as last year, but for those who haven't - here are some I've spotted that made the cut for 12c and I look foward to tinkering with

1. PL/SQL function in the WITH clause. I think this may sometimes come in handy, and other times it will be abused and lead to some real ugly code. Performance will be interesting.
2. Increased size limit for VARCHAR2 etc - no doubt people have been asking for this since at least 8i...
3. dbms_utility.expand_sql_text - Recursively replace any view references with relevant tables. This would have been brilliant in a project I often visit where there are views upon views upon views.
4. utl_call_stack - returns structured information about an exception stack. Tom Kyte has already blogged about this one, I'd suggest he's been pushing for something like this for a while.
5. Sequences can be used as column DEFAULT. Yes. So very yes. Though again I will be interested in performance, since 11g's :new.id := my_seq.nextval was the same as selecting from dual.
6. Default value on explicit null insertion - for those times where you really must have a default value in the column!
   
7. Identity columns - full examples are scant, but looks interesting.
8. row_limiting_clause - for top-N reporting, apparently an ANSI standard. This definitely needs exploring.
9. Row pattern matching. Um, wow. Big data influences?
10. Cross apply; Lateral clauses. From what I think is going on here, this could be mighty handy.
11. SYS_CONTEXT sys_session_roles - role interrogation for current session - cool, and will be very handy. A little late for many Forms applications, though.
12. TRUNCATE TABLE CASCADE - where is that sledgehammer?

I listened to an Oracle Magazine podcast recently talking about MySQL - I wonder if the collaboration going on here has influenced 12c features, because it sounds like the quality of MySQL is enhanced with Oracle IP.

Of course, if you're in Australia or would like to visit, the Insync13 national conference series already has a bunch of 12c presentations that span JDeveloper, Optimizer, Coherence, Weblogic and general features.