Some background on how #SmartDB came into existence, where APEX fits in, and thoughts on API's in the #SmartDB architecture.

1. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Separation of Concerns Through API’s
The Essence of #SmartDB
Toon Koppelaars
June 2018

2. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Context
• Context of SmartDB = an application talking to an Oracle database
• Your today's application will likely have polyglot storage going on
• We suggest the Oracle storage is done using #SmartDB
2

3. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
#SmartDB’s Most Important Property
• Outside world has credentials of empty connect schema
• Connect schema can only call API objects
• API objects are stored PL/SQL modules
• “Do Oracle storage using #SmartDB”
==
Not exposing internals of database design to outside world
3

4. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Separation of Concerns: User Interface and Business Logic
4
Empty
Table storage and
business logic (BL)
Connect schema
Other schema(s)
User
Interfaces
Major lesson from 90’s
where we produced
unmaintainable applications
by mixing UI and BL

5. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
SQL
• From this follows: no SQL texts in outside world, all SQL is submitted from
inside database via PL/SQL
• Handwritten by database developers
– Or generated by database developers ( revisit in a moment)
• This enables agility
– Database design can evolve as long as API’s remain same
– Database design can be refactored as long as API’s remain same
5

6. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Claimed Benefits
• Ease of maintenance
• Performance
• Security
• Agility  immunity for changing outside technologies
• …
6

7. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
#SmartDB’s Other Properties
• How to organize/setup this
• Bryn’s “Hard Shell Paper”
– Security is strong driver
• Toon’s “NoPlsql versus SmartB Talk, Part 2”
– Separation of Business Logic + Data Logic + Shared Components is strong driver
• Use schemas to separate concerns
7

8. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
The Atypical Apex…
8
Empty
Table storage and
business logic
Connect schema
Other schema(s)
Browser
Apex engine (UI)
This, in fact, conforms
to #SmartDB’s most
important property
ORDS connect schema
(apex_public_user)
Only “f” is accessible

9. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Repeating History With Apex
9

10. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Repeating History With Apex
10
Model-logic in Client
Model-logic in Server
Risk of creating
unmaintainable
applications
again is high

11. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
API’s
• Transactional Business Function API’s (XAPI)
– Generic case involves multiple tables
• Query-only Business Function API’s (QAPI)
– Generic case involves multiple tables
• Table API’s (TAPI)
– Main focus: supporting CRUD operations on single table
– Centralize logic of a table in your code architecture
– Sometimes generators written for these
11

12. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Positioning API’s
12
SmartDB XAPI’s and
QAPI’s exposed here
TAPI’s live here

13. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
The Issue With UI Tools
• Most UI technologies have been designed to issue single table SQL
– 90’s  Oracle Forms
– 00’s  ADF with ADF-BC
– Since then  Apex
– Lately RESTful services with get/put/post/delete mechanisms also “want to do SQL”
• These technologies assume majority of your app-pages are CRUD pages
– This has never been true imo
• Certainly not for your critical, most-used pages, the ones that add value
– It is less true nowadays with apps running on your personal devices
13
Forcing #SmartDB
here, is potentially
counter-productive

14. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Example (X)API Done #SmartDB Way
14
Given this
database design
with couple of
constraints

15. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Example (X)API Done #SmartDB Way
15
Build this
business function
User need only
supply nine
column values
All others can
be derived

16. Copyright © 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. |
Example (X)API Done #SmartDB Way
16
Input message
for #SmartDB API
Would be JSON
nowadays

17. Copyright © 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 17

18. Copyright © 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 18

19. Copyright © 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 19