Learn about Application Features in Oracle APEX 18.1 and how you can take advantage of them.

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Oracle APEX Office Hour
Application Features
Christina Cho
Principal Member of Technical Staff
Oracle APEX
August 9, 2018
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Safe Harbor Statement
The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for
information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a
commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon
in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or
functionality described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.
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Christina Cho
• Principal Member of Technical Staff
• Based in Reston, Virginia
• Joined Oracle in 1998
• Joined APEX Team in 2001
• Work includes Interactive Report, SQL workshop, Data
Workshop, Websheet and Create Application and
Feature wizards.
Brief Introduction

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Oracle APEX Application Features
Overview
Demo
Feature Details
Q & A
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Have you?
Been There, Done That
• Copied useful features from one application into multiple applications
• Time consuming to clean up issues, adjusting naming, etc.
• Wished all developers coded similar features consistently
• Repeatedly built same features over and over

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Application Features
What are application features?
• Useful “features” in every applications
• Implements best-practice
• Write less code and increase productivity
• Build complex functionality with a click
• Already tested and ready for use
• Don’t re-invent!

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Application Features
Creating Application Features
• Require Universal Theme
• Can be added from Create App or Create Page wizards
• Can also be removed
• Generate multiple regions, pages, shared components, etc.
• Entirely contained in the application definition
• Do not create any tables, packages, or procedures

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Application Features
Create App and Create Page Wizard
• About Page
• Access Control
• Activity Reporting
• Configuration Options
• Feedback
• Theme Style

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Application Features
Create Page Wizard Only
• Email Reporting
• Job Reporting (*Available if jobs owned by application parsing schema
exists)

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Demo
Create Application Features
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Feature Details
Application Features
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Access Control
Enhanced in Oracle APEX 18.1
• No APEX$_ACL tables are created
• Uses a built in “Application Access
Control” repository
• Manage user access from the
builder or the application
• Assign multiple roles to a user
• Add multiple users to role(s)

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Access Control
Application Access Control
• New Shared Component in 18.1
• Manage application roles and users
• Create Authorization Schemes based on roles
• Pages and components can declaratively reference authorization
schemes to enforce access
• Roles are exported but User Roles do NOT export

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Access Control
Application Access Control
• New API: APEX_ACL
• APEX views:
• APEX_APPL_ACL_USERS (supports direct DML)
• APEX_APPL_ACL_USER_ROLES
• APEX_APPL_ACL_ROLES

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Application Settings
No Configuration Table
• New Shared Component in 18.1
• No need for configuration table
• Use “On Upgrade Keep Value” to prevent overwriting
• New API: APEX_APP_SETTING

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Feedback
Enhanced in Oracle APEX 18.1
• Simplified user feedback UI
• Review feedbacks from Manage Feedback, No need use Team
Development
• Attach file if Team Development file repository is enabled both at
instance and workspace level
• Enable or Disable attachment from Feedback Settings

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Feedback
Attach File

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Demo
Add Application Features
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Demo
Remove Application Features
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Build Option
About Build Option
• Are declaratively defined
• Can be enabled or disabled
• Can be associated with components
• Frequently used
• “hide” new features not yet ready for use
• Turn on and off application functionality

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Build Option
Remove Application Feature
• All components for each application feature are associated with a build option
• To remove an application feature
1. Navigate to Shared Components
2. Then Build Options
3. Click Remove Component
4. Delete Build option

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Application Features
Summary
• Application features improve development productivity
• Take advantage of them
• Don’t re-invent!
• Extend and customize as needed

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Question 1
Is Application Access Control same as
Authorization Schemes?

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Question 2
When I export and import an application with
Access Control and try to access administration
pages, the page errors out with authorization
scheme failure. What am I doing wrong?

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