Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Oracle APEX 4 Early Adopter Phase II

For a few years now I’ve been developing applications using oracle application express (what was HTML DB).
APEX runs on top of oracle database. Since database version 11.1 the installation and configuration of APEX is made very easy and is one of the options within the database installer.
Because APEX is part of the database its maintenance is done by the DBA that maintain the company DB’s and no other special backup, monitor or any other actions are required.
The application express as its name is fast to learn and results are shown in a few hours’ work. To develop a simple application all you need to know is SQL.
More complex applications can be developed such as dynamic charts, interactive reports, dynamic operations on other servers and platforms can be created by using PL/SQL and java scripts.
Oracle has released APEX 4.0 for early adopters a few months ago. We are currently at phase 2.
The new version includes a much needed enhancements such as:
1.   Websheets.
2.   Team development.
3.   Build in dynamic actions. Reduce the need for complex coding using PL/SQL and java scripts.
4.   Plug-ins, widgets.
5.   Improved charting, current APEX chart are based on Anychart version 3, APEX 4.0 chart are based in Anychart version 5 that provide smarter flash chart (Anychart version 5 can be installed upon APEX 3 you can follow the installation instructions in APEX evangelist site http://anychart.apex-evangelists.com/pls/apex/f?p=755:17:0::NO:::)
6.   Enhanced interactive reports.
7.   Improved out of the box themes.
Oracle provides a playground for testing APEX 4.0 http://tryapexnow.com/  hosted on Amazon cloud, take into consideration that there are still many bugs and the application does not always run smooth.
Have any questions let me know.

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