Beginning Oracle ® Application Express www.wrox.com $39.99 USA $43.99 CAN Wrox Beginning g uides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved. Recommended Computer Book Categories Database Management General ISBN: 978-0-470-38837-2 Even if you have limited programming experience, this hands-on guide will get you up and running quickly with Oracle Application Express (APEX). It covers the concepts and practical steps involved in building a web application from the ground up using Oracle APEX. You’ll discover how to progress through the complete development process with the help of detailed instructions on creating, customizing, and extending an Oracle database application. Highly respected Oracle expert Rick Greenwald begins by giving you the necessary tools to build a useable order entry system. He then explains how to enhance the system with reports, charts, themes, and templates. You’ll also find out how to use packaged applications and work with multiple applications and you’ll learn how to migrate and integrate data with the Oracle environment. By the end of this book, you’ll have a strong understanding of Oracle APEX and the world of Oracle technology, which will enable you to build your own applications and create further refinements that meet your reporting needs. What you will learn from this book ● Steps to ensure that users enter correct data while using your applications ● The powerful and flexible reports you can create with Oracle APEX ● Advanced options for customizing user interfaces ● Techniques for using the power of PL/SQL to extend the logic in your application ● Ways to implement security for your APEX environment ● The options for deploying an APEX application to another environment ● How to migrate applications from Microsoft ® Access ® to Oracle Application Express Who this b ook is f or This book is for Access developers looking to step up to a more scalable and reliable environment, with reduced maintenance overhead and greater integration between application systems. Oracle ® Application Exp ress Greenwald Beginning Updates, source code, and Wrox technical support at www.wrox.com Beginning Oracle ® Application Express Rick Greenwald spine=.768" Wrox Programmer to Programmer TM Wrox Programmer to Programmer TM spine=.768" Get more out of WROX.com Programmer to Programmer ™ Interact Take an active role online by participating in our P2P forums Wrox Online Library Hundreds of our books are available online through Books24x7.com Wrox Blox Download short informational pieces and code to keep you up to date and out of trouble! Chapters on Demand Purchase individual book chapters in pdf format Join the Community Sign up for our free monthly newsletter at newsletter.wrox.com Browse Ready for more Wrox? We have books and e-books available on .NET, SQL Server, Java, XML, Visual Basic, C#/ C++, and much more! Contact Us. We always like to get feedback from our readers. Have a book idea? Need community support? Let us know by e-mailing wrox-partnerwithus@wrox.com Beginning Oracle® Application Express Introduction xv Part I: Introducing Oracle Application Express Chapter 1: Welcome to Oracle! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Part II: Building an Application with Application Express Chapter 2: J umpstart Oracle Application Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter 3: E xtending Your APEX Application 53 Chapter 4: Validation, Calculation, Navigation, and Lists 87 Chapter 5: Reporting and Charting 123 Chapter 6: C omponents Working Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Chapter 7: C ustomizing User Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Chapter 8: PL/SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Chapter 9: Security 267 Part III: Deploying the Application Chapter 10: D eployment and Administration 291 Chapter 11: Packaged Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 Chapter 12: Migration 327 Index 355 88372ffirs.indd 1 11/10/08 9:52:18 PM 88372ffirs.indd 2 11/10/08 9:52:18 PM Beginning Oracle® Application Express Rick Greenwald 88372ffirs.indd 3 11/10/08 9:52:27 PM Beginning Oracle® Application Express Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-38837-2 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Greenwald, Rick. Beginning Oracle Application express / Rick Greenwald. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-38837-2 (paper/website) 1. Oracle Application express. 2. Application software Development. I. Title. QA76.76.A65G7437 2009 005.1 dc22 2008045553 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, Wrox, the Wrox logo, Wrox Programmer to Programmer, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other coun- tries, and may not be used without written permission. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. All other trade- marks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. 88372ffirs.indd 4 11/10/08 9:52:27 PM Everything I do benefits from the love and support I get from my family — LuAnn, Ellie, Josie, and Robin. I am truly a lucky guy to be surrounded by such extraordinary people. 88372ffirs.indd 5 11/10/08 9:52:27 PM About the Author Rick Greenwald is the author of more than 15 books, primarily focusing on Oracle technology, including Professional Oracle Programming from WROX and Oracle Essentials from O’Reilly, as well as several books about some of the ancestors of Oracle Application Express. Rick is a veteran of over 20 years in the IT industry, as a technologist and evangelist, but his real preoccupations are his family and music. 88372ffirs.indd 6 11/10/08 9:52:27 PM Credits Executive Editor Robert M. Elliott Development Editor Ed Connor Senior Production Editor Debra Banninger Copy Editor Foxxe Editorial Services Editorial Manager Mary Beth Wakefield Production Manager Tim Tate Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher Joseph B. Wikert Project C oordinator, Cover Lynsey Stanford Compositor Craig Johnson, Happenstance Type-O-Rama Proofreader Nancy Carrasco Indexer Johnna Van Hoose Dinse 88372ffirs.indd 7 11/10/08 9:52:27 PM Acknowledgments I would like to thank two people from Oracle Corporation who were the guiding lights of this project: Judson Althoff, who was the executive sponsor of this book, and whose vision of introducing Oracle Application Express to a broader audience led to the volume you are holding; and Nick Kritikos, who not only took that vision and made it a reality, but was kind enough to include me as a partner in the creation of that reality, and guided the process through the labyrinth that the Oracle Corporation can sometimes be. Thanks, Judson and Nick. Certainly, David Peake has been the most important contributor to this book. David is the product manager for Oracle Application Express, and he has been a constant presence throughout the long pro- cess that led to the publication of the book. David has been there for technical advice and guidance, as well as being a sounding board for ideas and direction. In fact, David is nothing less than the “hidden” coauthor of this book. It has been my real pleasure not only working with David but also coming to know him as a friend. Thanks, David — without a doubt, this would not have happened without you. I would also like to call out two people from Wiley who have been instrumental in this book. I will always remember the first time I spoke to Bob Elliot more than 15 years ago from a pay phone in Hawaii. It took a decade for that initial introduction to result in a book, and a few more years to get to this one. Bob has always been there to listen to ideas, guide them in the right direction and offer practical and accurate advice. You should all be so lucky as to have a friend and colleague like Bob. Finally, I would like to thank Ed Connor for his stewardship of the project and editing contribution. This book was not the easiest effort, but Ed brought it through the process with a smooth and steady hand. Thanks, Ed, hope we get to do this again. 88372ffirs.indd 8 11/10/08 9:52:27 PM [...]... pres s? The focus of this book, like its title, points to Oracle Application Express What exactly is Oracle Application Express, also known as Oracle APEX? Oracle Application Express is a rapid application development (RAD) tool built on Oracle technology Oracle APEX runs in an Oracle database instance and comes as a no-cost option with all Oracle databases APEX runs entirely in a browser and does... Introducing Oracle Application Express 1 Chapter 1: Welcome to Oracle! 3 What Do You Need? Why D on’t You Have It? Why O racle? What Is Oracle Application Express? What Ar e You Going to Do? How Will You Do It? How to Sign Up for a Hosted APEX Account Script Files for This Book Summary 3 3 4 5 6 8 9 13 13 Part II: Building an Application with Application Express 15 Chapter 2: J umpstart Oracle Application Express. .. you can use to monitor and manage your APEX applications Chapter 11: Packaged Applications — ​ his chapter gives an overview of packaged applications availT able for Oracle Application Express, with a more detailed look at a select few Chapter 12: Migration — ​ his chapter describes how to migrate applications from Microsoft Access to T Oracle Application Express xvi 88372flast.indd 16 11/10/08 9:53:47... any charges If you want to create the same application using your own installed software, everything you need is either available in the hosted version of primary tool you will be using, Oracle Application Express, or ready for you to download from the Oracle site In fact, the primary tool you will be using, Oracle Application Express, is included with every Oracle database as a no-cost option Once you... Oracle Application Express, as T well as instructions on how to set up a hosted development environment for performing the exercises used in the book Chapter 2: Jumpstart Oracle Application Express — ​ n this chapter, you will leap into creating appliI cations with Oracle Application Express and finish a simple application by the end of the chapter Chapter 3: Extending Your APEX Application — ​ his... Oracle software You are going to like it here This chapter will introduce you to the core technology you will be using to create applications, Oracle Application Express The rest of the book will walk you through the process of creating an application with a hosted version of this product, finishing up with information on expanding your environment with packaged applications and migrating existing applications... 88372flast.indd 14 11/10/08 9:53:47 PM Int roduct ion Oracle Application Express is an easy-to-use application development environment built on the Oracle technology stack There are two aspects of that previous sentence that you may find jarring — ​ hat t Oracle, a company widely known for its database technology, has an application development environment, and that Oracle, a company thought of as delivering high-end,... option Once you become acquainted with the productive potential of Oracle Application Express, you can create almost any application using this tool and deploy that application onto any production Oracle database In other words, the best reason to use Oracle technology is that there are no reasons not to — ​ he quest tion should be “Why not Oracle? ” And, with this book, you have the perfect introduction... maintenance overhead and greater integration between application systems What T his B ook C overs This book covers the use of Oracle Application Express Although the book is based on the 3.5 version, you can use the book with older versions as well However, since the book will use a hosted version of Oracle Application Express, and since both the Oracle database that supports the product and the product... not require any software to be loaded onto your client machines You develop your applications from a browser-based environment, as shown in Figure 1-1, and deploy your applications to a browser-based environment Figure 1-1 5 88372c01.indd 5 11/9/08 4:17:11 PM Part I: Introducing Oracle Application Express Oracle Application Express is a declarative development tool As you will see throughout this book, . wrox-partnerwithus@wrox.com Beginning Oracle Application Express Introduction xv Part I: Introducing Oracle Application Express Chapter 1: Welcome to Oracle! . . 11/10/08 9:52:18 PM Beginning Oracle Application Express Rick Greenwald 88372ffirs.indd 3 11/10/08 9:52:27 PM Beginning Oracle Application Express Published