Create Rapid Web Applications Using Oracle Application Express

Create Rapid Web Applications Using Oracle Application Express
A practical guide to rapidly develop professional web applications
By
Riaz Ahmed
KINDLE EDITION
*****
PUBLISHED BY:
Riaz Ahmed on KDP Amazon
Create Rapid Web Applications Using Oracle Application Express

ISBN: 9781466350656
Copyright 2012 Riaz Ahmed
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Table Of Contents
1. Oracle Application Express - Introduction
1.1 What is APEX?
1.2 Migrating to APEX
1.3 APEX and Excel
1.4 APEX and Access
1.5 About Oracle Application Express Architecture
1.6 Convert Legacy Applications
1.7 APEX Development Environment
1.8 What you need to develop the sample web application?
1.9 Download and Install Oracle XE database
1.10 Summary
2. The Building Blocks

2.1 What are we going to create?
2.2 Understanding the Application
2.2.1 The Home Page
2.2.2 Manage Customers
2.2.3 Setup Products
2.2.4 Place Orders
2.2.5 Generate Graphical Reports
2.2.6 Advanced Reporting
2.2.7 Users Management
2.3 Start Building
2.4 The Underlying Database Objects
2.4.1 Viewing Database Objects in the Object Browser
2.5 The Shared Components
2.5.1 Tabs
2.5.2 Lists
2.5.2(a) Tasks List
2.5.2(b) Report Tabs List
2.5.2(c) Order Wizard List
2.5.3 Breadcrumbs
2.5.4 Navigation Bar Entries
2.5.4(a) Print Navigation Entry
2.5.4(b) Feedback Entry
2.5.5 Authentication Scheme
2.5.6 Authorization Scheme
2.5.6(a) Admin Users Scheme
2.5.6(b) Edit Products Scheme
2.5.6(c) Verify Order Ownership Scheme
2.5.7 Security Attributes
2.5.8 List of Values (LOV)
2.5.8(a) Categories LOV
2.5.8(b) Products LOV
2.5.8(c) Products with Price LOV
2.5.8(d) States LOV
2.5.8(e) Y or N LOV
2.5.9 Shortcuts
2.5.10 Images
2.5.11 Globalization Attributes
2.6 Summary
3. The Home Page

3.1 About the Home Page
3.2 Modify the Home Page
3.2.1 Modify Page Attributes
3.2.2 Create Regions
3.2.2(a) Sales Quota Region 1
3.2.2(b) Sales Quota Region 2
3.2.2(c) Top Customers Region
3.2.2(d) Top Products Region
3.2.2(e) Top Orders by Date Region
3.2.2(f) Sample Application Region
3.2.2(g) Tasks Region
3.2.3 Create Buttons
3.2.3(a) View Customers Button
3.2.3(b) View Products Button
3.2.3(c) View Orders Button
3.3 Test your Work
3.4 Summary
4. Manage Customers
4.1 About Customer Management
4.2 Create Pages to Manage Customers
4.3 Modify Customers Page - Page 2
4.3.1 Modify Region Attributes
4.3.2 Modify Button Attributes
4.4 Modify Customer Details Page - Page 7
4.4.1 Modify Region - Customer Details
4.4.2 Create Region - Order for this Customer
4.4.3 Create Region - New Customer
4.4.4 Modify Items Attributes
4.4.5 Create Validation - Check Customer Credit Limit
4.4.6 Create Validation - Can't Delete Customer with Orders
4.5 Test your Work
4.6 Summary
5. Setup Products
5.1 About Products Setup
5.2 Create Pages for Products Setup
5.3 Modify Products Page - Page 3
5.3.3 Create Region - Top 5 Products
5.4 Modify Product Details Page - Page 6
5.4.2 Modify Region - Product Details
5.4.3 Create Region - Product Image
5.4.4 Create Button to Delete Image
5.4.6 Create Item - Image
5.4.7 Create Process - Delete Image
5.5 Test your Work
5.6 Summary
6. Place Orders
6.1 About Order Pages
6.2 Create Orders and Order Detail Pages
6.3 Modify Orders Page - Page 4
6.3.1 Delete the default Region - Orders
6.3.2 Create Region - Orders
6.3.3 Modify the Default Primary Interactive Report
6.3.4 Create Alternative Report
6.3.4(a) Report View
6.3.4(b) Chart View
6.3.4(c) Group By View
6.3.5 Create Public Report
6.3.5(a) Report View
6.3.5(b) Chart View
6.3.5(c) Group By View
6.3.6 Modify Button - Create
6.3.7 Delete Computation - P29_ORDER_ID
6.3.8 Create a Branch
6.4 Modify Order Details Page - Page 29
6.4.3 Modify Button
6.4.4 Create/Modify Items
6.4.5 Create Process - Add Rows
6.5 Test your Work
6.6 Create Page Identify Customer - Page 11
6.6.2 Create Region - Identify Customer
6.6.3 Create Region - Order Progress
6.6.4 Create Button - Cancel
6.6.5 Create Button - Next
6.6.6 Create Items
6.6.7 Create Process under Page Rendering
6.6.8 Create Dynamic Actions
6.6.9 Create Validation - Customer ID Not Null
6.6.10 Create Branches
6.7 Test your Work
6.8 The Create Customer Page - Page 18
6.8.3 Delete Region
6.8.5 Modify Button - Cancel
6.8.6 Delete Processes and Button
6.8.7 Create New Buttons
6.8.8 Modify Process - reset page
6.8.9 Modify Branch
6.9 Test your Work
6.10 Create Page Select Items - Page 12
6.10.2 Create Region - Select Items
6.10.5 Create Items
6.10.6 Create Computation
6.10.7 Create Processes
6.10.7(a)Add Product to the Order Collection
6.10.7(b)Remove Product from the Order Collection
6.10.8 Create Process - Place Order
6.11 Test your Work
6.12 Create Product Info Page - Page 20
6.12.2 Create Region - Product Image
6.12.3 Create Region - Product Information
6.12.4 Create Button - Close
6.12.5 Create Item
6.13 Test your Work
6.14 Create Order Summary Page - Page 14
6.14.2 Create Region - Order Summary
6.14.3 Create Region - Order Header
6.14.4 Create Region - Order Lines
6.14.7 Create Item
6.15 Complete Testing
6.16 Summary
7. Generate Graphical Reports

7.1 About Oracle APEX Reports
7.2 Create Page Zero
7.3 Customer Orders Report - Page 17
7.3.1 Create Region - Customer Orders
7.4 Sales by Category and Product Report - Page 16
7.4.1 Create Region - Sales by Category
7.4.2 Create Region - Sales by Products
7.5 Sales by Category/Month Report - Page 5
7.5.1 Create Region - Sales by Category/Month
7.6 Order Calendar Report - Page 10
7.7 Customer Map Report - Page 13
7.8 Product Order Tree - Page 19
7.9 Summary
8. Advanced Reporting
8.1 About Advanced Reporting
8.2 Install BI Publisher
8.3 Configure APEX to use BI Publisher as a Print Server
8.4 Enable Network Services in Oracle Database
8.5 Test the Print Server
8.6 Install BI Publisher Desktop
8.7 Create Monthly Order Review Report
8.7.1 Create the Report Query
8.7.2 Create Report Template in MS Word
8.7.3 Format Report
8.7.4 Conditional Formatting
8.7.5 Summary Calculation
8.7.6 Add a Summary Chart
8.7.7 Add a Pivot Table
8.8 Upload Report Template to APEX
8.9 Run the Report
8.10 Create a Commercial Invoice
8.10.1 Create Query for the Invoice
8.10.2 Create Invoice Template in MS Word
8.10.3 Upload the Template to APEX
8.10.4 Call the Report from a Page
8.10.5 Test Your Work
8.11 Summary
9. Users Management
9.1 About Users Management
9.1.1 Custom_Auth Function
9.1.2 Custom_Hash Function
9.2 The Manager Users Page - Page 8
9.2.4 Create Validation - User Name Not Null
9.2.5 Create Validation - Products Not Null
9.2.6 Create Process - ApplyMRU
9.2.7 Create Process - Add Row
9.3 The Reset Password Page - Page 9
9.3.3 Create Region - Error!
9.3.6 Create Item
9.3.7 Create Validation - Passwords Must Match
9.3.8 Delete Processes
9.3.9 Create Process - Update Password
9.3.10 Modify Branch
9.3.11 Create Branch
9.4 Test your Work
9.5 Hide the Administration Tab
9.6 Application Feedback
9.7 Summary
PREFACE
Welcome aboard!
In this fast paced technological age, where things change rapidly, no one
has the time to go through lengthy concept books just to assess what the
technology has for them. As an IT professional, I too prefer concise
practical books that do not take long to understand the features offered
by the new technology.
As a strong supporter of practical stuff, I have endeavored to write this
book on Oracle Application Express. In this book, I am sharing my
personal APEX learning experience that I got by developing a clone of
the sample application provided with Oracle Application Express. This
book will walk you through to create a professional looking web-based
database application. A great starting point for novice and equally
beneficial for intermediate users, this book will allow users to
practically explore Oracle Application Express (APEX) themselves.
Besides creation of individual application pages, this book will
demonstrate many professional techniques, summarized at the end of
each chapter, to apply them to your own projects.
Leaving out the boring bits, this book will emphasize on the inspiring
and realistic example from the first chapter and will provide guidance in
the following areas to make it a one-stop solution:
1. APEX introduction
2. Create APEX development environment
3. Create a professional looking web-based database application
in APEX
5. Application deployment
6. Access the application, remotely and in LAN
If you really want to know what APEX is, try the practical stuff
provided in this book and become an APEX fan. I hope this to be the
best practical book on Oracle Application Express.
Chapter 1 - Oracle Application Express - Introduction

1.1 What is APEX?
Oracle Application Express (oracle APEX), is a rapid web application development tool for the
Oracle database. It runs in an Oracle database instance and comes as a no-cost option with Oracle
database. If you want to develop and deploy fast and secure professional applications then Oracle
APEX must be your choice. The only requirements are a web browser and a little programming
experience. Besides ease of use and flexibility, Oracle application express provides the qualities of
an enterprise database, scalability, security, integrity, availability and above all the web development
experience.
It has the web-based application development environment to build web applications. You are not
required to install any client software to develop, deploy, or run APEX applications. Following are
the three primary tools provided by Oracle APEX:
1. Application Builder – to create dynamic database driven web applications

2. SQL Workshop – to browse your database objects, run ad-hoc SQL queries, as well as
graphical query builder
3. Utilities – allows for data to be loaded and unloaded from both flat files and spreadsheets
Develop any application through an easy declarative development process of Application Express.
However, you can use HTML to extend the presentation of your client interfaces and add Oracle’s
standard PL/SQL procedural language to supply additional logical operations.
With this productive tool you can build applications that report on database data. Create hyper text
linked reports to easily link to other reports, charts, and data entry forms. Charts have built-in drill-
down functionality, so that a user can get more detailed information on any of the sections of the chart
with a simple mouse click. You can effectively communicate data using the charting engine by
presenting SQL queries graphically. Use declarative form controls including shuttles, text editors,
date pickers, checkboxes, radio groups, and select lists to manipulate data.
Easily and instantly build opportunistic and departmental database applications with the help of
simple wizards. This makes Application Express a natural replacement for multi-user desktop
database applications. Create highly professional, secure, and scalable applications without scripting
languages and complex framework.
Application Express provides a declarative programming environment, which means that no code is
generated or compiled during development. You just interact through wizards and property sheets.
Reports and charts are defined with simple SQL queries, so some knowledge of SQL is very helpful.
Besides, if procedural logic is needed, you can also write PL/SQL code.
Oracle Application Express lives entirely within your Oracle database. It is comprised of nothing
more than data in tables and large amount of PL/SQL code. The essence of Oracle Application
Express is approximately 215 tables and 200 PL/SQL objects containing 300,000+ lines of code. The
Application Express engine renders applications in real time from data stored in database tables.
When you create or extend an application, Oracle Application Express creates or modifies metadata
stored in database tables. When the application is run, the Application Express engine then reads the
metadata and displays the application.
1.2 Migrating to APEX

Velocity in the demand for new applications and functionality rises as businesses grow. As a
developer, you are expected to rapidly respond to these needs. Over the years, desktop database and
spreadsheet tools have enormously contributed to data management due to the ease and user
friendliness these applications extend to their audience. Besides benefits, these applications have
scalability and functionality limitations that not only results in dozens of different applications and
data sources but also adds extra overhead in their maintenance. Due to these issues, organizations are
unable to continue their standard practices, leaving mission-critical data at risk. These fragmented
systems may also cause loss of business opportunity. Finally, significant amount of time and resource
is required to put these data blocks together to get the desired information. In addition to above, the
following points provide some more drawbacks of desktop applications:
1. Installation of client software, such as Excel, on every machine

2. Lack of data sharing with other applications
3. Simultaneous data access inability in spreadsheets
4. May not be the part of regular data backup
5. Critical and confidential data can easily be moved via email or pocket storage devices
Having gone through the above stuff, it is clear that you need a tool that has the capability to cope
with these shortfalls. The following list shows how APEX allows you to handle most of these issues:
1. Central management of data and applications

2. No installation of software is required on client machines, the only requirement is a
supported browser
3. Shared development and application access
4. Being central, data and applications become a part of regular backup procedure
5. Data and application access control, empowered by audit trail
The above glimpses have disclosed that APEX is capable of far more than just being an Excel or
Access replacement. Give it a try by replacing your existing desktop applications with APEX
application, and enjoy the benefits that this robust technology offers.
1.3 APEX and Excel

You can easily and quickly migrate spreadsheet to Oracle Application Express using the Create
Application wizard. Simple mouse clicks moves crucial data into an Oracle database from a
spreadsheet. Using wizard to create a spreadsheet based application creates a lot of functionality to
automatically manage the data. These application have built-in data manipulation methods that allow
you to query, insert, delete, and modify the data. APEX has made it so simple to create a complete
application which interacts with data with a few mouse clicks, and all that without writing a single
line of code.
The application you create based on spreadsheet allows you to view reports and charts for the
columns you selected in the Create Application wizard. Although these report and charts provide
useful information, you can customize and extend them to display the information according to your
own needs. Creation of reports and charts with ease is another reason to consider worksheet
migration to APEX.
1.4 APEX and Access

Microsoft Access has been a part of business workflow in many organizations. Similar to Excel,
Microsoft Access has to be installed on client machine to use the application. Access does not
support Web Services to facilitate interoperability with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
enabled components. Access database size is limited to 2 GB, whereas there in no database size
limitations in Application Express. The architecture of Application Express supports thousands of
concurrent users on a small 2 CPU server as opposed to 255 users in Access (recommended figure is
20 users only). Application Express can run on Windows, MAC, and Linux, Access is only Windows
based. In Application Express, data and application are managed on a hosted server providing
consolidated data management. On the other hand, information is fragmented in Access as each
application is contained in one or more files. Concurrent development is another big advantage in
Application Express. Multiple developers can work on the same or different applications within a
workspace. In contrast, Access supports single development environment and allows only one
developer to use the mdb file at a given time.
Oracle has provided a feature, Application Migration Workshop, in Application Express that assists
in migrating application from a personal Access database, with minimal effort, to the world number
one and most powerful database. Along with the Oracle SQL Developer Migration Workbench, it is a
complete solution for your Access Migration requirements.
Initially, you are required to migrate schema definition and data using the SQL Developer Migration
Workbench and then utilize the new Application Migration Workshop to migrate Access forms and
reports. The last step is refining your new application taking advantage of all the power and
capabilities of Oracle APEX. Please note that Access forms and reports contain business logic that
cannot be generated using the migration wizard. The solution performs the bulk of the migration work
by recovering the design from existing Access application and generating APEX application based on
the findings. Follow the link http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex/application-
express/tutorial-090294.html and go through the Access Migration Tutorial.
1.5 About Oracle Application Express Architecture

In previous versions, Oracle HTTP Server (Apache) with mod_plsql plug-in was configured to
access Oracle Application Express engine Figure 1-1.
Figure 1-1
With Oracle Database 11.1 and later, Oracle HTTP Server is replaced by embedded PL/SQL
gateway (EPG). The embedded PL/SQL gateway runs in the XML DB HTTP server in the Oracl
database and includes the core features of mod_plsql, but does not require the Oracle HTTP Server
powered by Apache. See the Figure 1-2 that illustrate Oracle Application Express architecture using
the Embedded PL/SQL Gateway.
Figure 1-2
1.6 Convert Legacy Applications

Convert your legacy Oracle Forms and Microsoft Access applications through Application Migration
Workshop that generates an Oracle APEX application from the retrieved objects.
Oracle Forms modernization projects are often undertaken to convert legacy applications to the latest
Oracle Database version and enable developers to satisfy user demands for greater user interactivity
and Web 2.0 capabilities.
1.7 APEX Development Environment

Oracle Application Express runs within the Oracle database environment. You have a few choices on
how you want to use APEX.
- You can download a free copy of a developer edition of Oracle Database. We will use this
approach in this book to create our sample web application. In section 1.9 I will guide you how
to download and install Oracle Database XE.
- You can also use a hosted version of Oracle Application Express at http://apex.oracle.com to
create this application. Although the examples should work with either of the two options, we
are going to use the first one.
1.8 What you need to develop the sample web application?

You will create the sample web application on your own computer. For this, you need to download
Oracle Database Express Edition 11g Release 2. Oracle Database Express Edition (Oracle Database
XE) is an entry-level, small-footprint database. It's free to develop, deploy, and distribute; fast to
download; and simple to administer. In prior versions, you were required to download and install
APEX 4 separately. With current XE, you already have the latest APEX version installed. The next
section will guide you to download and install Oracle Database XE.
1.9 Download and Install Oracle XE Database

Assuming you are using Windows XP SP2 or later, follow the sequence mentioned below to
download Oracle Express Edition Database 11g Release 2:
1. Click or copy http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/express-edition/11gxe-
beta-download-302519.html in your browser.
2. Accept the License Agreement.
3. Click on the link Oracle Database 11.2 Express Edition for Windows x32.
4. Enter your Username and Password. If you don't have an Oracle account, Sign Up for
a free Oracle Web account and repeat the download process.
5. Save File OracleXE112_Win32.zip on your computer.
6. Once downloaded, extract the .zip file, and launch the setup file under Disk1 folder to
start installation.
7. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
During the installation you are required to enter and confirm SYSTEM user password. Provide
a password that you can easily remember since you’ll need it in chapter 2. I set it to manager.
The Summary page provides the APEX port, 8080, as shown in Figure 1-3. Your Installation
might have configured a different port. This port is used in the URL to connect to the APEX
environment.
1.10 Summary
This chapter introduced you to some of the important basic concepts of Oracle Application Express.
You were also guided to download and install the latest version of Oracle XE database which
contains APEX 4. In the coming chapters, our main focus will be on the practical aspect of this robust
technology. Once you get familiar with Oracle Application Express, you can explore other areas on
your own to become a master. The rest of the book will guide you to build a professional looking web
based database application, which will provide you the techniques to build your own applications.
Chapter 2 - The Building Blocks
2.1 What are we going to create?

The format of this book is to teach you about Oracle APEX by iteratively developing the sample sales
application from scratch provided with Oracle Application Express. Each chapter explores a basic
area of functionality and the development techniques you will need to achieve that functionality.
This application is fully functional and scalable and has been chosen as an example because you can
learn most of the techniques you will need for your own future work. The primary purpose of this
book is to teach you how to use Oracle Application Express to realize your own development goals.
By the time you reach the end of the examples in this book, you will have a clear understanding of
Oracle Application Express and will be able to extend the application in almost any direction.
In this chapter we are going to create the building blocks through the Shared Components interface.
But before that, I would like to brief you a little about what we’re going to create.
2.2 Understanding the Application

The application we will be creating in this book, features an easy-to-use interface for adding,
updating, deleting and viewing order and related products and customers information. Users can
navigate among the pages using the Home, Customers, Products, Orders, and Reports tabs. When you
log into the application using demo for User Name and the name of the workspace in lower case - asa
in our scenario (short for Apex Sample Application), the following home page appears as shown in
Figure 2-1.
The following sections briefly describe specific functionality of each page:
2.2.1 The Home Page

Let’s first take a look at the tagged areas to acquaint ourselves with different sections of a page:
A: Application Logo
B: Navigation Bar
C: Tabs
D: Breadcrumb
E-J: Regions
K: Button
L: List
The Home page contains six regions (E-J):
- Sales Quota
- Top Customers
- Top Products
- Top Orders by date
- Sample Application
- Tasks
Sales Quota demonstrates the use of a Flash Dial chart. This chart displays a value based on an
underlying SQL statement to measure sales against the defined quota for the logged in user.
Note: The Flash Dial Chart is not displayed if you log in as an Admin user.
Top Customers is a report based on a SQL query and displays a subset of the information that
appears on the Customers page. Users can link to additional details by clicking the customer name or
by clicking the View Customer icon (a right arrow, marked as K in the above figure) in the upper
right corner of the region.
Top Products is also a report based on a SQL query. This report displays a subset of the information
that displays on the Products page. Users can link to product details by clicking the product name or
by clicking the View Products icon in the upper right corner of the region.
Orders by Date displays orders by date and order amount. Users can view the Orders page by
clicking the right arrow in the upper right corner.
Sample Application is a simple HTML region that displays static Welcome text. You can create this
type of region to display explanatory information to users.
Tasks contains a list with links to other pages within the application. Links available on the Home
page Tasks list include:
- Enter a New Order links to a wizard for creating a new order.
- Add a New Customer links to a form for entering new customer information.
- Add a New Product links to a form for adding new products.
2.2.2 Manage Customers

The Customers page enables users to view and edit customer information.
Figure 2-2
Customers is an interactive report for tracking customer information. To search for a customer, enter
a customer name in the Search field and click Go. To sort by customer name, click the column
heading and then select the Up or Down arrow to sort in ascending or descending mode.
You can change the appearance of the report using the Actions menu. To update existing customer
information, click the Edit icon (the yellow pencil icon to the left). To add a new customer, click
the Create Customer button.
2.2.3 Setup Products

The Products page enables users to view and edit product information. The Products page consists of
two main regions:
- Products
- Top 5 Products
Products displays product information. This region is based on a SQL query that uses a custom
function for displaying images stored in the database.
The page has three view options; Icon, Report, and Detail. By default, the page is displayed inIcon
view. To edit product information in Icon view, click an image.
To view the information in a report format, click the View Report icon. In Report view, you can sort
by product category by clicking the column heading and then selecting the Up or Down arrow to sort
in ascending or descending mode. Users can change the appearance of the report using the Actions
menu. To edit a product description, click the Edit icon. To add a new product, click the Create
Product button at the top of the page.
Top 5 Products is also a SQL report. This report outlines the top five products based on quantities
sold.
2.2.4 Place Orders

The Orders page enables users to view and edit customer orders.
Figure 2-4
The Orders tab contain three interactive reports Primary, Monthly Review, and Customer Review for
tracking order information. To sort by column, click the column heading and then select the Up or
Down arrow to sort in ascending or descending mode. You can change the appearance of the report
using the Actions menu. To update existing order information, click the Edit icon. To add a new
order, click the Enter New Order button.
2.2.5 Generate Graphical Reports

Figure 2-5
The Reports page enables you to view information in various formats, including bar chart, cluster bar,
pie chart, calendar, map, and tree. There are six graphical reports, view each report by making a
selection under Reports on the right side of the page. Clicking the corresponding bar in the chart, will
drill you down to the respective detail information.
2.2.6 Advanced Reporting

With advanced reporting, you can author, manage, and deliver all your reports and documents easier
and faster. Using familiar desktop tools, you can create everything from pixel-perfect customer facing
documents to critical management reports. View reports online or take a hard copy in various formats
including PDF, Word , Excel and HTML and schedule tens of thousands of documents per hour to
deliver these reports to multiple destinations.
2.2.7 Users Management
Application users are managed through the Administration page. The Administration page displays
only if you log in to the Application using the user name admin. The Application makes use of a
custom authentication scheme that stores user names and obfuscated passwords in a table. The
Manage Users page enables you to manage additional users. To add a new user, click Add User at the
bottom of the page. To delete a user, select the user and click Remove Selected Users. Note that this
custom authentication scheme does not use any user names or passwords associated with Oracle
Application Express application developers.
Figure 2-6
2.3 Start Building

Let’s start by logging in to the APEX world. First of all we are going to create the workspace for our
application.
1. Click Start > All Programs > Oracle Database 11g Express Edition > Get Started. The
following screen will appear in your browser:
2. Click the Application Express button
3. Enter System in the username and manager in the password.
4. Fill the next screen as show in Figure 2-8 and click the Create Workspace button. I used asa in
small letters for the password. This user will be the administrator of our application.
5. Successfully created workspace ASA, message appears. Click the ‘click here’ link to login.
Note: For subsequent login enter http://localhost:8080/apex or http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex

or http://yourcomputerIP:8080/apex in your browser.
6. Enter the case-sensitive password in Figure 2-10 and click login button.
Figure 2-10
7. Click the Application Builder icon. Figure 2-11
8. Click the Create button (Figure 2-12) to create a new application.
9. Click the Database icon

10. Click From Scratch (Figure 2-14)
11. Enter APEX Sample Application in the Name box and match other parameters with those as
shown in Figure 2-15. Click Next.
12. Click Blank under Select Page Type and then click the Add Page button. Your screen should
look like Figure 2-16.
13. Click the Create button

14. On the next screen click the Previous button, scroll down and click Theme 4
15. Click the Create button. Your screen should resemble Figure 2-17. APEX created the
application with two pages, Page 1 and Login.
In this exercise, we created a workspace and built a blank structure for our application with two
default pages. We will work in detail on individual pages from chapter 3.
In the next section we will go through another block, the underlying database objects, that already
exist for our sample application.
2.4 The Underlying Database Objects

We are going to use the following default objects that were created during the database installation:
Tables: DEMO_CUSTOMERS, DEMO_ORDERS, DEMO_ORDER_ITEM
DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO, DEMO_STATES, DEMO_USERS
Indexes: DEMO_CUSTOMERS_PK, DEMO_CUST_NAME_I
DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS_PK, DEMO_ORDER_PK, DEMO_ORD_CUSTOMER_
DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO_PK, DEMO_USERS_PK
Sequence: DEMO_CUST_SEQ, DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS_SEQ, DEMO_ORD_SE
DEMO_PROD_SEQ, DEMO_USERS_SEQ
Functions: CUSTOM_AUTH, CUSTOM_HASH
Triggers: BI_DEMO_USERS, DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS_GET_PRICE, DEMO_USERS_
INSERT_DEMO_CUST, INSERT_DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS, INSERT_DEMO_PR
UPDATE_ORDER_TOTAL
2.4.1 Viewing Database Objects in Object Browser

You can view the database objects in Object Browser.
1. On the Workspace home page, click SQL Workshop and then Object
Browser. Object Browser appears.
2. Select an object type from the Object list in the upper left corner of the page. For example,
to view tables, select Tables.
3. To search for an object name, enter keywords in the search field beneath the Object list.
4. To perform a specific task related to the selected object, select the appropriate task button.
For example, to modify a column in the DEMO_CUSTOMERS table:

a. From the Objects list, select Tables.
b. From the list of tables, select DEMO_CUSTOMERS.
c. When the DEMO_CUSTOMERS table appears, click the Modify Column tab.
5. To view additional object details, select a tab beneath the object name. For example, to
view the data in the DEMO_CUSTOMERS table:
1. From the Tables list, select DEMO_CUSTOMERS.

2. Select the Data tab.
A report appears that displays the data in the DEMO_CUSTOMERS table.
Figure 2-18
2.5 The Shared Components

The Shared Components section of the Page Definition contains common elements that can display or
be applied on any page within an application. Note Shared Components only display on the Page
Definition after you add them. Following are the Shared Components that we are going to create
individually in this exercise for our application:
- 2.5.1 Tabs
- 2.5.2 Lists
- 2.5.3 Breadcrumbs
- 2.5.4 Navigation Bar Entries
- 2.5.5 Authentication Scheme
- 2.5.6 Authorization Scheme
- 2.5.7 Security Attributes
- 2.5.8 List of Values (LOV)
- 2.5.9 Shortcuts
- 2.5.10 Images
- 2.5.11 Globalization Attributes
Let’s Start!
If you are logged off, login to the application using http://localhost:8080/apex. Enter the following
credentials:
a. Workspace: asa
b. Username: asa
c. Password: asa
1. Click Application Builder

2. Click APEX Sample Application
3. Click the Shared Components icon (between Supporting Object and Utilities icons)
2.5.1 Tabs
In this exercise we are going to create our application tabs. Tabs are an effective way to navigate
between pages of an application. Application Builder includes two types of tabs: standard tabs and
parent tabs. An application having only one level of tabs uses a standard tab set. A standard tab set is
associated with a specific page. You can use standard tabs to link users to other pages within your
application. A parent tab set functions as a container to hold a group of standard tabs. Parent tabs give
users another level of navigation and context (or sense of place) within the application.
1. In the Shared Components under Navigation Section click Tabs

2. Click Manage Tabs
3. Click Add beside Page 1 to create a new tab using tab wizard
4. Enter Customers in Tab Label, click Next
5. Enter 2 for Tab Current for Page, click Next
6. Enter 2 in Sequence box, click Next
7. Accept the default condition type ‘No Display Condition’ and click Next
8. Click Create Tab button
The Customers tab is created. Create four more tabs Products, Orders, Reports, and
Administration and set the attributes as shown in the following table. After creating all the tabs, edit
tab Page 1 and set appropriate attribute values using the table’s Home column. Edit each tab and set
values for Tab Also Current for Pages. Click Apply Changes button after modifying each tab
values. Tab Also Current for Pages means that the tab will be active for the listed page. Once
finished, your tabs should look like Figure 2-20
Figure 2-20
2.5.2 Lists
After creating tabs, our next task is to create lists. A list is a collection of links that is rendered using
a template. For each list entry, you specify display text, a target URL, and other attributes that control
when and how the list entry displays. You control the display of the list and the appearance of all list
entries by linking the list to a template.
2.5.2 (a) Tasks List
In this exercise we are going to create a list named Tasks that appear on the Home page of our
application see Figure 2-1. This list is used to create new Orders, Customers, and Products.
1. Go to Shared Components page

2. Click Lists under Navigation Section
4. Enter Tasks in the Name box, click Next and enter the following values in the next screen
5. Click Next button and accept the default values in the next screen
Figure 2-21
7. Edit Enter New Order list item and set following attributes
- Clear Cache: 11
- Remove 11 from List Entry Current for Condition
Repeat the same process for other two entries by entering 7 and 6 in Clear Cache box respectively
and removing values from the List Entry Current for Condition box.
2.5.2 (b) Report Tabs List
This list appears on the right side of the all pages under the Reports tab to display graphical reports.
See Figure 2-5.
1. Go to Shared Components, Navigation Section – Lists, Click Create button

2. Name=Report Tabs, List Template=Vertical Sidebar List, Click Next
3. Enter the following values
4. Click Next button, accept the default values in the next screen and click the Create button
The wizard allowed you to create five entries. We will create Product Order Tree entry here:
5. Click the newly created Reports Tab icon

6. Click Create List Entry button
7. Enter Product Order Tree in List Entry Label
8. Enter 19 in Page in the Target section, click Create button
That’s it. Your Reports Tab list should look like figure 2-22
Figure 2-22
2.5.2 (c) Order Wizard List

This list is used while creating orders. In our application, we will create an order using a wizard in
the following sequence:
a) Identify Customer
b) Create Customer (if one doesn’t exist)
c) Select Items
d) Show Order Summary
1. Go to Shared Components, Navigation Section – Lists, Click the Create button

2. Name=Order Wizard, List Template=Wizard Progress List, Click Next
3. Enter the following values
Please note that no values will be set for Target Page ID and will be left blank for all the four
entries.
4. Click the Next button, accept the default values in the next screen and click Create button
5. Click the newly created list Order Wizard
6. Edit each list item, set Target Type attribute to No Target, and set the following attributes:
List Entry Current for Condition represents corresponding page number for each step during
order creation.
7. Edit Create Customer list item and set the following attributes:
Condition Type: SQL Expression
Expression 1: NVL(:P11_CUSTOMER_OPTIONS,'EXISTING') = 'NEW'
Figure 2-23
2.5.3 Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs provide hierarchical navigation to any number of levels. Breadcrumb entries are
associated with pages and also identify a parent page. Here we will modify the default breadcrumb
entry. Rest of the breadcrumb entries will be defined while creating individual application pages.
1. Go to Shared Components, click Breadcrumbs under Navigation section

2. Click Breadcrumb icon
3. Click Edit Breadcrumb Name button
4. Enter Main Menu in Breadcrumb Name box, click Apply Changes button
5. Click the pencil icon to the left of Page1 to edit
6. Enter Home in Short Name box, click Apply Changes button
2.5.4 Navigation Bar Entries

Use a navigation bar to link users to various pages within an application. Typically a navigation bar
is used to enable users to log in, log out, or link to Help text. The location of a navigation bar depends
upon the associated page template. A navigation bar icon enables you to display a link from an image
or text. When you create a navigation bar icon you can specify an image name, text, display sequence,
and target location (a URL or page).
The navigation bar in our application will have Print, Feedback, and Logout links. Besides, it will
show the currently logged in user. In this exercise we are going to create these links. Please note that
the Logout entry was created automatically when we initially created the application.
2.5.4 (a) Print Navigation Entry
1. Go to Shared Components, Navigation Section – Navigation Bar Entries and clickCreate

button
2. Select From Scratch
3. Click Navigation to URL
4. Enter Print in Entry Label
5. Enter &APP_PAGE_ID.(add the terminating period). In Page box, put a check on Printer
Friendly
2.5.4 (b) Feedback Entry
Before starting this exercise, we have to turn feedback on.
1. Go to Shared Components
2. Click Globalization Attributes under Globalization section
3. Click Definition tab
4. In the Properties section set Allow Feedback to Yes
5. Click Apply Changes button
6. Go to Shared Components, Navigation Section – Navigation Bar Entries and click theCreate
button
7. Select From Scratch
8. Click Feedback
9. Select 101.Login for Feedback Page
10. Click Create button
We have not yet created the feedback page in our application which will have the ID 102. But to
complete this exercise we have to make some minor changes in the automatically created javascript to
reflect the actual feedback page number.
11. Click Feedback icon in the Navigation Bar Entries list

12. Scroll down to the Target section
13. In URL Target, replace all the three 101 with 102
14. click Apply Changes button
2.5.5 Authentication Scheme

Authentication is the process of establishing each user’s identity before they can access your
application. There are three preconfigured authentication schemes which are created at the time of
application creation. In our application, we are going to use custom authentication scheme that is
based on the username and password values stored in the DEMO_USERS table and will be using
CUSTOM_AUTH function.
2. Click Authentication Schemes under Security section
3. Click Application Express scheme
4. Change the Name to Custom Scheme and Description to This is a custom authentication
scheme.
5. In Authentication Function replace –BUILTIN- with return custom_auth function
The currently applied authentication scheme contains a check mark on its icon. Please make
sure that the CUSTOM SCHEME we created in this exercise has that check. If not, click the
Change Current tab on the same page. Select the scheme from the drop down list and click the
Make Current button.
2.5.6 Authorization Scheme

Authorization schemes help you identify additional security beyond simple user authentication. For
example users with administration rights may have access to more navigation bar icons, pages, and
tabs than other users. This type of access right will be implemented in our application where the tab
Administration will only be accessed by admin users.
2.5.6 (a) Admin Users Scheme
2. Click Authorization Schemes under Security section
4. Select From Scratch and click Next
5. Enter Admin Users in the Name box
6. Select Exists SQL Query for Scheme Type
7. In Expression 1 type select 1 from demo_users where user_name = :APP_USER and
admin_user = 'Y'
8. In Identify error message type You need to be an Admin User in order to view this page.
9. Select once per page view under Evaluation Point
2.5.6 (b) Edit Products Scheme

1. In Authorization Scheme Click Create button
3. Enter Edit Products in the Name box
4. Select Exists SQL Query for Scheme Type
5. In Expression 1 type select 1 from demo_users where user_name = :APP_USER and
products = 'Y'
6. In Identify error message type You are not authorized to edit Product Information.
2.5.6 (c) Verify Order Ownership Scheme
1. In Authorization Scheme Click Create button

3. Enter Verify Order Ownership in the Name box
4. Select PL/SQL Function Returning Boolean for Scheme Type
5. In Expression 1 type:
declare
l_count number;
begin
select count(*) into l_count from demo_orders
where order_id = :P29_ORDER_ID and user_id =
(select user_id from demo_users where user_name = :APP_USER);
if l_count > 0 or :APP_USER = 'ADMIN' then
return true;
else
:P29_ORDER_ID := 1;
return false;
end if;
end;
6. In Identify error message type:
You are not authorized to view this order! Click <a href="f?
p=&APP_ID.:4:&SESSION.">here</a> to continue

Note: Whenever you create an authorization scheme a reciprocal opposite {NOT} scheme is
created by APEX. For example, we created Admin Users scheme above, APEX created a
reciprocal scheme{Not Admin Users}. In Chapter 3 Section 3.2.2, we will apply both
authorization schemes Admin Users and {Not Admin Users} to the Home page regions Sales
Quota A and B.
2.5.7 Security Attributes

Security Attributes are set for application wide security settings.
1. In Shared Components click Security Attributes under Security section

2. Click Show All tab
3. In Login URL type f?p=&APP_ID.:LOGIN:&SESSION. (don’t forget to put the terminating
dot)
4. Make sure Authentication Scheme is set to CUSTOM SCHEME
5. Set Session State Protection to Disabled
2.5.8 List of Values (LOV)

List of values is used to control the values displayed and limits the user’s selection. List of values can
be static (based on values you enter) or dynamic (based on a SQL query). In this exercise we are
going to create both types of LOVs.
2.5.8 (a) Categories LOV
1. In Shared Components click Lists of Values under User Interface section

4. Enter Categories in the Name box
5. Select Static as Type, Click Next
6. Fill in the values as show in the following figure and click Create List of Values button
2.5.8 (b) Products LOV
1. In Lists of Values Click Create button

3. Enter Products in the Name box
4. Select Dynamic as Type, Click Next
5. In the Query box type select product_name d, product_id r from demo_product_info order by
1
6. Click Create List of Values button
2.5.8 (c) Products with Price LOV
1. In Lists of Values click Create button

3. Enter Products with Price in the Name box
5. In the Query box type:
select htf.escape_sc(product_name) || ' [$' || list_price || ']' d, product_id r from

demo_product_info order by 1
2.5.8 (d) States LOV

3. Enter States in the Name box
5. In the Query box type:
select initcap(state_name) display_value, st return_value from demo_states order by 1
2.5.8 (e) Y or N LOV

3. Enter Y or N in the Name box
4. Select Static as Type, Click Next
5. Fill in the values as show in the following figure and click Create List of Values button
2.5.9 Shortcuts
Use Shortcuts to write frequently used code once and then reference it in many places within your
application. In this section we will create a shortcut to display a confirmation message whenever the
Delete button is clicked on any page of the application. The following figure illustrates how it works.
When you click the Delete button, the APEX javascript function, that is created automatically with the
page having the Delete button, sends a DELETE request along with a variable,
htmldb_delete_message, initialized in the page’s Global Variable Declaration section. This variable
contains a reference to a shortcut named DELETE_CONFIRM_MSG, that holds a message, Would
you like to perform this delete action?
Delete Confirmation Message Shortcut
1. In Shared Components click Shortcuts under User Interface section

4. Enter Delete_Confirm_Msg in the Name box
5. Select Text with JavaScript Escaped Single Quotes as Type
6. In Shortcut box type Would you like to perform this delete action?
2.5.10 Images
Application Express images are divided into two categories:
Workspace images are available to all applications for a given workspace

Application images are available for only one application
Add Application Logo image
1. In Shared Components click Images under Files section

3. Select APEX Sample Application from the Application drop down list
4. Click Browse button and select any picture to act as your application logo, I used 511 x 29
logo.jpg
5. Click upload button
2.5.11 Globalization Attributes
1. In Shared Components click Globalization Attributes under Globalization section

2. On Globalization page set the following attributes:
3. Click the Definition tab

4. Select Image as Logo Type
5. Enter #APP_IMAGES#logo.jpg in Logo box (Use the correct case for the image file name
and extension else the logo will not be displayed)
6. Click Apply Changes
2.6 Summary
In this chapter we created all the components required by our application. After going through the
application introduction we:
- Created a Workspace
- Created a blank application
- Saw underlying database objects
- Created all shared components
From the next chapter we are going to create all the pages of our web application, starting with the
Home page.
Chapter 3 - The Home Page

3.1 About the Home Page
In this chapter we will complete the Home page of our sample application. The first page that appears
when a user successfully logs in to the application, the Home page is a dashboard which contains the
following six regions:
A/B. Sales Quota: Sales measured against quota for the logged in user. Region B will be visible for
Admin users.
C. Top Customers: List of top seven customers with most orders. When you click a customer in this
list, you are taken to the Customer Details page showing customer profile and details of all orders
placed by that customer. You can also see a tiny right arrow, [H], to the right of this region that
invokes Customers’ main page.
D. Top Products: Similar to Top Customers, this region displays top selling products with all the
drill down functionality described in the previous section.
E. Top Orders by Date: This list shows top orders on any particular day.
F. Sample Application: It is a simple HTML region that displays static Welcome text. You can create
this type of region to display explanatory information to users.
G. Tasks: This region contains a list with links to other pages within the application. Links available
on the Home page include:
- Enter a New Order links to a wizard for creating a new order.
- Add a New Customer links to a page for entering new customer information.
- Add a New Product links to a form for adding new products.
Please see section 2.2.1 Chapter 2 for more information on the Home page.
Let’s start!
3.2 Modify the Home Page
1. Login to APEX usinghttp://localhost:8080/apex. See section 2.5, chapter 2 for login

information.
2. Click the Application Builder icon
4. Click on Page 1 having home icon. This will bring up the definition page as show in figure
3-2. Click Component View button, if the view of your page is different from that in figure 3-2.
For clarity purpose, only those sections of the page are shown in figure 3-2 that have some
values. Blank sections have been truncated from the screen shot.
1. In Page Rendering, click the Edit icon in Page section (see Figure 3-2). Click Show All tab
and set the following attributes. After setting these attributes, click Apply Changes button.
3.2.2 Create Regions

A. Sales Quota Region 1
Let’s create our first region, Sales Quota. This region will be displayed for users other than Admin
to graphically measure their sales against the allotted quota.
1. In the Regions section, delete the two existing regions Page 1 and Breadcrumbs. Click each
region and click the Delete button and confirm deletion.
2. Click Create icon in the Regions section to create a new Region.
3. Click Chart
4. Click Flash Chart
5. Click Guages
6. Click Dial
7. Enter Sales Quota in Title, 10 in Sequence and click the Next button
8. Click Next to accept the default settings
9. Enter the following SQL Query
10. Click the Create Region button

11. Click link in the Regions section and set the following attributes:
12. Click the Chart Attributes tab on the same page and set the following chart attributes:
B. Sales Quota Region 2
Create another Sales Quota region with sequence number 11. This region will be displayed for
Admin users.

2. Click HTML
3. Click HTML
4. Enter Sales Quota in Title
5. Enter 11 in Sequence and click Next
6. Click Create Region
7. Click the newly created Region Sales Quota with sequence 11, set the following attributes
and apply changes.
C. Top Customers Region
Create region, Top Customers, to show top 7 customers with highest orders.
1. Click Create icon in the Regions section

2. Click Reports
3. Click SQL Report
4. Enter Top Customers in Title, 20 in Sequence and click Next
5. Enter the following SQL Query in the next page:
Select b.cust_last_name || ', ' || b.cust_first_name || '-' || count(a.order_id) || 'Order(s)'

customer_name, sum(a.order_total) order_total, b.customer_id id
from demo_orders a, demo_customers b
where a.customer_id = b.customer_id
group by b.customer_id, b.cust_last_name || ', ' || b.cust_first_name
order by nvl(sum(a.order_total),0) Desc
7. Edit the newly created region, Top Customers, set the following attribute:
8. Click on the Report Attributes tab on the same page and set the following attributes:
9. In Column Attribute section, edit column Customer_Name by clicking the pencil icon to
its left
10. Scroll down to Column Link section, set the following attributes and click the apply
changes button twice.
Note: You can input the above values using the keyboard or use the adjacent icons and
to select values from the popup list. The above link will work when we create Page 7 in
Chapter 4.
D. Top Products Region
Create region Top Products with sequence number 30 to show 7 top selling products.
2. Click Reports
3. Click SQL Report
4. Enter Top Products in Title, 30 in Sequence and click Next
5. In the next screen, enter the following SQL Query:
Select p.product_name||' - '||SUM(oi.quantity)||' x '||to_char(p.list_price,'L999G99')||''
product,
SUM(oi.quantity * oi.unit_price) sales, p.product_id
from demo_order_items oi, demo_product_info p
where oi.product_id = p.product_id
group by p.product_id, p.product_name, p.list_price
order by 2 Desc

7. Edit the newly created region, Top Products, and set the following attribute:
8. Click on the Report Attributes tab and set the following attributes:
9. In Column Attributes section, edit column Product by clicking the pencil icon to its left
10. Go to Column Link section, set the following attributes and apply changes
Note: The above link will work when we create Page 6 in Chapter 5.
E. Top Orders by Date Region

Create region, Top Orders by Date, to show top 7 ordering days.
2. Click Reports
3. Click SQL Report
4. Enter Top orders by Date in Title, 40 in Sequence and click Next
5. Enter the following SQL Query in the next screen:
Select o.order_timestamp order_day, sum(o.order_total) sales

from demo_orders o
group by o.order_timestamp
order by 2 Desc
7. Edit the newly created region, Top Orders by Date, and set the following attribute:
8. Click on the Report Attributes tab and set the following attributes:
F. Sample Application Region

Create a sidebar region to display welcome text about the application. This region will be displayed
on the right side of the existing regions.

2. Click HTML
3. Click HTML
4. Enter APEX Sample Application in Title, 50 in Sequence and click Next
5. Click Create Region button
6. Edit the newly created Region, set the following attributes and apply changes.
G. Tasks Region
In this exercise we will create another sidebar region which will display the list “TASK” that we
created in Chapter 2 Section 2.5.2 (a). This list will be displayed just under the welcome region we
created above and will contain the following entries:
- Enter a New Order
- Add a New Customer
- Add a New Product
Note: Since we have not yet created the corresponding pages, the list is attached to, an error
will be displayed when you click on any of the above links displaying page not found message.
These links will be effective after we create relevant pages in chapters 6, 4, and 5 respectively.

2. Click List
3. Enter Tasks in Title, 60 in Sequence and click Next
4. Select Tasks as the List
5. Click Create List Region
6. Click to edit the newly created Region and set the following attributes and apply
changes.
We have created all the six regions of our Home page. In the next section, we will create buttons that
will be linked to relevant pages in our applications.

You might have noticed three tiny buttons (small right-pointing arrows) under Top Customers, Top
Products, and Top Orders by Date region titles. Here we are going to create these buttons. You’ll be
redirected to the relevant page when you click any of these buttons. For instance, if you click the
button in Top Customers region, you will be redirected to the Customers page.
A. View Customers Button
1. Click Create icon in the Buttons section to create a new Button
2. Select Top Customers (1) 20 as the region
3. Click Create a button in a region position
4. Enter VIEW_CUSTOMERS in the Button Name box
5. Enter View Customer in Label
6. Select Region Template Position #CREATE#
7. Enter 10 in Sequence
8. Click Create Button
9. Edit the newly created button and set the following attributes:
B. View Products Button

2. Select Top Products (1) 30 as the region
4. Enter VIEW_PRODUCTS in the Button Name box
5. Enter View Products in Label
C. View Orders Button

2. Select Top Orders by Date (1) 40 as the region
4. Enter VIEW_ORDERS in the Button Name box
5. Enter View Orders in Label
3.3 Test your Work

The Home page is ready. Let’s give it a try. Before running, have a look at the page definition and
compare it with Figure 3-2. The important thing to note here is that you performed all the tasks in
Page Rendering section to create and modify objects, the Shared Components area was populated
automatically by APEX based on your component and attribute selection while creating those objects.
Run the page using the RUN button . Enter demo and asa for username and password
respectively. Your Home page should look like Figure 3-1, shown at the start of this chapter. As
mentioned earlier the links on this page will not work right now since the corresponding pages will
be created in subsequent chapters. After completing Chapter 6, you can check the functionality of
these links and the three buttons we created here in this chapter.
3.4 Summary
Congratulations! You’ve created your first professional looking page in APEX. In this chapter we
learned the following techniques while creating this page:
- Presented data for management information
- Graphical presentation of data
- Formed a dashboard to create multiple types of regions on different positions to display
database and static data
- Created linked columns to show details
- Implemented drilldown functionality to switch to other pages in the application using links and
buttons
Chapter 4 - Manage Customers

4.1 About Customer Management
We are going to create two pages in this chapter to view and edit customer information. Page 2
(Figure 4-1) will display list of all customers while Page 7 will allow user to either modify existing
customer’s record or enter a new customer. When a customer’s record is called for modification, all
the orders placed by that customer will be shown under his profile. Rather than involving in too much
details at this stage, let’s start the practical work to see how these pages work.
Figure 4-1
1. If logged off, login to APEX using http://localhost:8080/apex

2. Click Application Builder icon
3. Open APEX Sample Application by clicking its icon
4.2 Create Pages to Manage Customers

1. Click the Create Page button
2. Click Form
3. Click Form on a Table with Report
4. Select ASA in Table/View Owner and click Next
5. Click to call List of Value, click DEMO_CUSTOMERS table and click Next
6. In Create Report Page, set the following attributes:
7. Enter Customers in Entry Name under Create Breadcrumb Entry section, clickHome
under Select Parent Entry, and click Next
8. Click on Use an existing tab set and reuse an existing tab within that tab set, select
Tab Set TS1, and click Next
9. Select T_CUSTOMERS for Use Tab, click Next
10. In Select Column list select the following columns using Ctrl+Click:
Cust_First_Name, Cust_Last_Name, Cust_Street_Address1, Cust_Street_Address2
Cust_City, Cust_State, Cust_Postal_Code
11. Click Next
12. Select any edit link image and click Next
13. In Create form Page set the following attributes:
14. Enter Customer Details in Entry Name under Create Breadcrumb Entry section, click Next
15. Select CUSTOMER_ID for Primary Key Column 1, click Next
16. Click Existing Sequence icon, select DEMO_CUST_SEQ for Sequence, click Next
17. In Select Column(s) select all columns, click Next
18. Select Yes for Insert, Update, and Delete and click Next
19. Click Finish
20. Click Edit Page
21. Click Application 101 breadcrumb, two pages, 2-Customers and 7-Customer Details, have
been created.
22. Click 2-Customers page
Note: We will use Application 101 throughout this book for our APEX Sample Application ID
4.3 Modify Customers Page – Page 2

1. Click under Regions
2. Enter the following SQL in Region Source to replace the existing statement:
3. Click Apply Changes twice
4. Click Run. (If required, use demo and asa as username and password respectively)
5. Click Actions button, click Select Columns. Make sure all the columns appear in Display
in Report section. If not, move all the columns to it. Using the arrow icons, arrange columns in
the following order and click Apply button:
Customer Name, Address, City, State, and Postal Code
6. Click Actions, Save Report, select As Default Report Settings and click Apply
7. Click Edit Page2 in the Developer Toolbar at the bottom of your screen
8. Click in Regions
9. Set meaningful headings for all columns as follows:
Customer Name, Address, City, State, and Zip Code

1. Click under Buttons section, set the following attributes and Apply
Changes:
2. Click Run to test page number 2. Enter demo and asa in username and password
respectively in the login page. The page will look like Figure 4-1
3. Click the Create Customer button. Customer Details page (Page 7) appears.
4.4 Modify Customer Details Page – Page 7

Click Edit Page 7 in Developer Toolbar at the bottom of your screen to modify this page.
4.4.1 Modify Region - Customer Details

1. Click in regions and set Display Point to Page Template Body (2. items
below region content)
4.4.2 Create Region – Order for this Customer

This region will display existing orders for the selected customer, as shown in Figure 4-3, and will
not be displayed while creating a new customer.
1. Click Create in Regions section

2. Click Report
3. Click SQL Report
4. Enter Orders for this Customer in Title, select Page Template Body (2. items below
region content) in Display Point and click Next
5. In Enter SQL Query box enter the following statement:
6. Click Next twice

7. In Condition Type select Value of Item in Expression 1 Is NOT NULL. Enter
P7_CUSTOMER_ID in Expression 1, click Create Region button
8. Click Report in the newly created region

9. Change Column Attributes as show in the following figure. Arrange the column using the
pointers to move columns up and down:
Figure 4-2
10. Scroll down to Break Formatting section and set:
11. Move up to the Column Attributes section, edit the following columns and Apply
Changes:
12. Click Apply Changes to save region attributes
4.4.3 Create Region – New Customer

It is a HTML sidebar region that displays help text while creating a new customer.

2. Click HTML
3. Click the first choice HTML
4. Enter New Customer in Title, select Sidebar Region for Region Template, select Page
Template Region Position 3 for Display Point and click Next
5. In Enter HTML Text Region Source: enter the following text and click Next
Enter the new customer details. Please ensure these details are correct as they are
used for ordering and invoicing.
Where possible obtain the customer phone number(s) to aid in contacting the customer
at a later date.
6. In Condition Type, select Value of Item in Expression 1 Is NULL, enter

P7_CUSTOEMR_ID in Expression 1 and click Create Region

Click each item in ITEMS section and apply the following attributes:
We created a list of values STATES in Chapter 2 section 2.5.8(d). Here we’re going to use that list.
We will change customer’s state field from Text to a Select List.
1. Click P7_CUST_STATE item

2. Change Display As from Text to Select List
3. Enter State in Label
4. Set Template to Required with help
5. Set Value Required to Yes
6. Select STATES in Named LOV
7. Set Display Extra Values to No
8. Set Display Null Value to Yes
9. Enter -Choose State- in Null Display Value
4.4.5 Create Validation – Check Customer Credit Limit

1. Click Create in Validation section
2. Click Page Level Validation
3. Click PL/SQL
4. Select PL/SQL Expression and click Next
5. Enter Check Credit Limit in Validation Name, click Next
6. In Validation enter :P7_CREDIT_LIMIT <= 5000
7. In Error Message enter A customer's Credit Limit must be less than or equal to $5,000
8. Click Next and then Create button
4.4.6 Create Validation – Can’t Delete Customer with Orders

3. Click PL/SQL
4. Select Function Returning Boolean and click Next
5. Enter Can’t Delete Customer with Orders in Validation Name, click Next
6. In Validation enter the following code:
begin
for c1 in (select 'x' from demo_orders where customer_id = :P7_CUSTOMER_ID)
loop
RETURN FALSE;
end loop;
RETURN TRUE;
end;
7. In Error Message enter, Can't delete customer with existing orders and click Next
8. Select DELETE (Delete) from When Button Pressed list
4.5 Test your Work

Click the Run button. Click Home tab. Click Customers tab. Edit Bradley, Eugene’s record. Your
page should look like Figure 4-3. The page has two regions. The upper region, Customer Details,
displays customer’s profile while the lower region, Orders for this Customer, contains all the orders
placed by Bradley. If you click the link Order # 1, the system will try to open the orders page (Page
29) and will return an error since that page has not been created so far. Also please note that this link
is active if you’re logged in as user demo (because demo created this order) and will be displayed
as a text if admin is the currently logged in user.
You are free to test your work. Try by adding, modifying, and deleting a new customer. Try to delete
Bradley, Eugene and see what happen. Also check the credit limit validation that we created in
section 4.4.5.
Figure 4-3
4.6 Summary
We learned the following techniques in this chapter:
- Linking master page to the detail
- Show order details for the selected customer
- Enable order detail link for the user who entered the order
- Created validation to prevent customer record deletion having existing orders
- Implemented Credit Limit check
Chapter 5 - Setup Products

5.1 About Products Setup
The objective of this chapter is to create pages to view, add, modify, and delete products. Page 3
(Figure 5-1,2,3) will allow users to browse product information using three different views. It will
also display top five products in a sidebar region. Page 6 (Figure 5-4) will be used to manipulate
products information.
Figure 5-2 Products Report View
Figure 5-3 Products Detail View

1. Login to APEX using http://localhost:8080/apex
5.2 Create Pages for Product Setup

1. Click Create Page button
2. Click Form
3. Click Form on a Table with Report
4. Select ASA in Table/View Owner, click Next
5. Click to call List of Value, click DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO table, click Next
6. In Create Report Page, set the following attributes:
7. Enter Products in Entry Name under Create Breadcrumb Entry section, clickHome under
Select Parent Entry, and click Next
Tab Set TS1, click Next
9. Select T_PRODUCTS for Use Tab, click Next
10. In Select Column list select the following columns using Ctrl+Click:
Product_Name, Product_Description, Category, Product_Avail, List_Price,
Product_Image
11. Click Next
12. Select any edit link image and click Next
13. In Create form Page set the following attributes:
14. Enter Product Details in Entry Name under Create Breadcrumb Entry section, click Next
15. Select PRODUCT_ID for Primary Key Column 1, click Next
16. Click Existing Sequence icon, select DEMO_PROD_SEQ for Sequence, click Next
17. In Select Column(s) select all columns except MIMETYPE, FILENAME, and
IMAGE_LAST_UPDATE, click Next
18. Select Yes for Insert, Update, and Delete and click Next
19. Click Finish
20. Click Edit Page
21. Click the Application 101 breadcrumb, two pages, 3-Products and 6-Product Details, have
been created.
22. Click the 3-Products page
5.3 Modify Products Page – Page 3

1. In page 3, click Edit under Page section, click Show All, scroll down to HTML Header
and Body Attribute, and enter the following script in HTML Header:
<style>
.apexir_WORKSHEET_ICONS {border: none !important; -moz-box-shadow: none
!important; -box-shadow: none !important; -webkit-box-shadow: none !important;}
.apexir_WORKSHEET_ICONS td {border-bottom: none !important}
.apexir_WORKSHEET_ICONS td img {border: 4px solid #CCC; -moz-border-radius
4px; -webkit-border-radius: 4px;}
</style>

1. Click under Regions section
2. Enter the following SQL in Region Source to replace the existing statement:
3. Click Apply Changes twice
4. Click Run. (If required, use demo and asa as username and password respectively)
5. Click Actions button, click Select Columns. Make sure all the columns appear in Display
in Report section. If not, move all the columns to it. Using the arrow icons, arrange columns in
the desired order and click Apply button
6. Click Actions, Save Report, select As Default Report Settings and click Apply
7. Click Edit Page3 in the Developer Toolbar at the bottom of your screen
8. Click in Regions
9. In Column Attributes, set meaningful headings for all columns as follows:
Name, Description, Category, Available, Price, Units, Sales, Customers, Last Sale,
Image, Icon Link, Image, Detail Img No style
10. Edit the last four columns and apply the following attributes:
11. Scroll down to Icon View Section and set the following attributes:
12. In Detail View section set Detail View Enabled to Yes
13. In Before Rows enter the following script:
14. In For Each Row enter the following script:
15. In After Rows enter the following script:

<tr><td colspan="7" class="separator"></td></tr>
</table>
5.3.3 Create Region – Top 5 Products

This region will display list of top five products on the right side of the page.

2. Click Report
3. Click SQL Report
4. Enter Top 5 Products in Title, select Sidebar Region, Alternative 1 in Region Template,
select Page Template Region Position 3 in Display Point and click Next
5. In Enter SQL Query write the following statement:

SELECT b.product_name, SUM(a.quantity * b.list_price)
FROM DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS a, DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO b
WHERE a.product_id = b.product_id
GROUP BY b.product_name
ORDER BY 2 desc
6. Click Next twice

8. Edit the newly created region
9. Click Report Attributes tab and set the following attributes:

1. Click under Buttons section, set the following attributes and Apply
Changes:
2. Click Run to test page number 3. Enter demo and asa in username and password
respectively in the login page. The page will look like Figure 5-1. There are 3 different views of
this page (Icon, Report, and Detail), click each one of them and see the output.
3. Click Create Product button. Product Details page (Page 6) appears.
5.4 Modify Product Details Page – Page 6

Click Edit Page 6 in Developer Toolbar to modify this page.

1. Click Edit under Page section, click Show All, scroll down to Security section and set
Authorization Scheme to Edit Products. This setting ensures that only authorized users can
modify product’s details. The Edit Products scheme was created in chapter2 section 2.5.6 (b).
Click the Apply Changes button.
5.4.2 Modify Region - Product Details

1. Click in regions and set Display Point to Page Template Body (2. items below
region content), and Apply Changes.
5.4.3 Create Region – Product Image

To show the image of the selected product, we will create an HTML region on the right side of the
page.

2. Click HTML
3. Click HTML
4. Enter Product Image in Title, select Sidebar Region for Region Template, select Page
Template Region Position 3 in Display Point and click Next twice
5. In Condition Type select PL/SQL Function Body Returning a Booleanand enter the
following block in Expression 1:
declare
begin
if :P6_PRODUCT_ID is not null then
for c1 in (select nvl(dbms_lob.getlength(product_image),0) l
from demo_product_info
where product_id = :P6_PRODUCT_ID)
loop
if c1.l > 0 then
return true;
end if;
end loop;
end if;
return false;
end;
5.4.4 Create Button to delete image – Delete

1. Click Create in Buttons section
2. Select Product Image(1) 20 for the button region
4. Enter DELETE_IMAGE in Button Name
5. Enter Delete in Label and click Next
6. Select Below Region in Position
7. Click Next and then Create Button

Click each item and set the following attributes:
We created a list of values CATEGORIES in Chapter 2 section 2.5.8(a). Here we’re going to use that
list. We will change the Category field from Text to a Select List.
1. Click P6_CATEGORY item

2. Change Display As from Text to Select List
4. Set Value Required to Yes
5. Select CATEGORIES in Named LOV
Next, we will change PRODUCT_AVAIL field to Radio Group with two options Yes and No. This
LOV was also created in chapter 2 section 2.5.8(e).
1. Click P6_PRODUCT_AVAIL item

2. Change Display As from Text to Radio Group
3. Set Label to Product Available
5. Set Value Required to No
6. Select Y OR N in Named LOV
8. Scroll down to Default section and set Default value to Y
Modify attributes of item P6_PRODUCT_IMAGE to handle product image

1. Click P6_PRODUCT_IMAGE item
2. In HTML Table Cell Attributes Click the LOV button and select nowrap="nowrap"
3. In Settings section, set Storage Type to BLOB column specified in item Source attribute
4. Enter MIMETYPE in MIME Type Column (all in caps)
5. Enter FILENAME in Filename Column (all in caps)
6. Enter IMAGE_LAST_UPDATE in BLOB Last Updated Column (all in caps)
5.4.6 Create Item – IMAGE

In this section we will create a new item named Image to display product image in the HTML region
created in section 5.4.3.
1. Click Create in Items section
2. Click on Display Only icon
3. Type P6_IMAGE in Item Name
4. Select Product Image (1) 20 for Region and click Next
5. Clear the Label box, set Left for Field Alignment, set -Select Label Template- for Label
Template, and click Next
6. Set Show Line Breaks to No, click Next
7. Select PL/SQL Function Body in Source Type and enter the following code in Source
value:
return '<img
src="'||apex_util.get_blob_file_src('P6_PRODUCT_IMAGE',:P6_PRODUCT_ID)||'"
/>';
8. Click Create Item button
9. Edit the newly created item and scroll down to Conditions section
10. Select Exists (SQL query returns at least one row) in Condition Type
11. In Expression 1 enter:
SELECT mimetype from demo_product_info where product_id = :P6_PRODUCT_ID
and mimetype like 'image%'
12. Scroll down to Security section and set Escape special characters to No
5.4.7 Create Process (Under Page Processing) – Delete Image

1. Click Create in Processes under Page Processing section
2. Click PL/SQL
3. Type DELETE IMAGE in Name, 15 in Sequence, and click Next
4. In enter PL/SQL Page Process enter the following code and click Next:
update demo_product_info
set product_image = null,
mimetype = null,
filename=null,
image_last_update=null
where product_id = :P6_PRODUCT_ID;
5. In Success Message type Product image deleted and click Next

6. In When Button Pressed select DELETE_IMAGE (Delete)
7. Click Create Process
5.5 Test Your Work

Click the Run button and then the Home tab. Click the Products tab. Click the three buttons
individually to see different views of products. Click the View Icons button and click the Bag icon.
The page should look like Figure 5-4, displaying the selected product’s details.
Figure 5-4
Test by adding, modifying, and deleting a new product. Use the Browse button to upload product
image.
5.6 Summary
We learned the following techniques in this chapter:
- How to create Icon, Report, and Detail views to display products
- Displayed top selling products with the selling figures
- Handling images. Upload, delete, and view images to and from database tables
- Used dynamic and static LOVs to store legitimate data in tables
Chapter 6 - Place Orders
6.1 About Order Pages

This chapter will teach you how to create professional looking order forms. Orders from customers
will be taken through a sequence of form (wizard). The first form will allow user to select an existing
customer or create a new one. In the second step, user will select products to order and the last step
will show summary of the placed order. Once an order is created, you can view, modify, and delete it
through the Order Details page using the edit icon in the orders’ main page. Couple of other pages
will be created as well to create a new customer, if one does not exist, and to display product
information such as Description, Category and Price. Following are the details of pages that we are
going to create in this exercise:

6.2 Create Orders and Order Detail Pages

1. Click the Create Page button
2. Click Form
3. Click Master Detail Form
4. Select ASA in Table/View Owner, select DEMO_ORDERS (table)in Table/View
Name, select all columns using , and click Next
5. Select ASA in Table/View Owner, select DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS (table)in
Table/View Name, select all columns using , and click Next
6. Click Existing Sequence icon, select DEMO_ORD_SEQ for Sequence, click Next
7. Click Existing Sequence icon, select DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS_SEQ for Sequence,
click Next
8. Click Next to accept the default options in Define Master Options
9. Click Next to choose the default layout
10. Set Page Attributes and Breadcrumb sections as shown in Figure 6-1 and click Next
11. Click Use an existing tab set and reuse an existing tab within that tab set., click Next
12. Select T_ORDERS:label=”ORDERS” and click Next
13. Click Create
14. Click Edit Page
6.3 Modify Orders Page – Page 4

6.3.1 Delete the Default Region – Orders
We need to delete the default region, Orders, to create a new region with the same name and with
interactive functionality.
1. Click in Regions section and click Delete button and confirm to delete the region
2. Go to Page 4
6.3.2 Create Region - Orders

2. Click Report
3. Click Interactive Report
4. In Create Region set the following attributes:
5. In Enter a SQL SELECT Statement type the following statement:
select
o.order_id,
to_date(to_char(o.order_timestamp,'mm yyyy'), 'mm yyyy') order_month,
o.order_timestamp order_date,
u.user_name sales_rep,
o.order_total,
c.cust_last_name || ', ' || c.cust_first_name customer_name,
(select count(*) from demo_order_items oi where oi.order_id = o.order_id)
order_items
from
demo_orders o,
demo_customers c,
demo_users u
where
o.customer_id = c.customer_id
and o.user_id = u.user_id

7. Click Interactive Report under Regions
8. In Column Attributes, set meaningful headings for all columns as follows:
Order #, Order Month, Order Date, Customer Name, Sales Rep, Order Items, Order
Total
9. Edit ORDER_MONTH column and enter Month YYYY in Number/Date Format

10. Edit ORDER_TOTAL column and select $5,234.10 for Number/Date Format and apply
changes
11. Scroll down to Search Bar section and put a check on Save Public Report
12. Scroll down to Link Column section
13. Set Link Column to Link to Custom Target
14. Enter 29 in Page
15. In Item 1 click and select P29_ORDER_ID for Name and #ORDER_ID# for Value
6.3.3 Modify the Default Primary Interactive Report

The default Primary Report is the report that is displayed initially. This report cannot be renamed or
deleted.
1. Click Run to run Page 4
2. Click Actions and then Select Columns
3. Move Order Month to Do Not Display pane
4. Using the arrow to the right, sort the columns in Display in Report section as under:
Order #, Order Date, Customer Name, Sales Rep, Order Items, and Order Total
5. Click Apply
6. Click Actions, Save Report, As Default Report Setting, select Primary and Click Apply
6.3.4 Create Alternative Report

Alternative report enables developers to create multiple report layouts. Only developers can save,
rename, or delete an Alternative Report. Perform the following steps to create a new alternative
report with 1. Primary Report selected:
A. Report View
1. Click Actions > Save Report > As Default Report Setting > select Alternative, in Name
enter Monthly Review and click Apply
2. In Reports drop down list select 2. Monthly Review
3. Click Actions and then Select Columns
4. Move Order Month to Display in Report section, click Apply
5. Click Actions > Format > Control Break > Select Order Month in row 1 under Column, set
Status to Enabled and click Apply
6. Click Actions > Format > Aggregate > Select Average for Function > Order Total for
Column and click Apply
7. Click Actions > Format > Highlight, type Orders $2,000 in Name, set Highlight Type to
Cell, click [green] for Background Color, click [blue] for Text Color, in Highlight Condition set
Column to Order Total, Operator to (greater than), Expression to 2000 and click Apply
8. Click Actions > Format > Highlight, type Orders $900 in Name, set Highlight Type to Row,
click [yellow] for Background Color, click [Red] for Text Color, in Highlight Condition set
Column to Order Total, Operator to (less than or equal to), Expression to 900 and click Apply
9. Click Actions > Format > Sort > Select Order # in row 1 under column and click Apply
The output should look like the following figure.

B. Chart View
1. Click Actions > Format > Chart

2. Select the 1st option (horizontal bar) in Chart Type
3. Select Order Month for Label
4. Enter Period in Axis Title for Label
5. Select Order Total for Value
6. Enter Total Orders Amount in Axis Title for Value
7. Select Sum for Function
8. Select Label-Ascending for Sort
9. Click Apply
The chart should look like Figure 6-5. If the chart doesn’t appear, click the icon in the search
bar. Move your mouse over each bar to see total amount for the month.
Figure 6-5
C. Group By View
1. Click to switch back to Report View

2. Click Actions > Format > Group By
3. Set attributes as show in Figure 6-6, click Apply
The output should look like Figure 6-7
Figure 6-7
4. Click Actions
5. Click Save Report
6. As Default Report Setting
7. Select Alternative, the Name should be Monthly Review
8. Click Apply
6.3.5 Create Public Report
This type of report can be saved, renamed, or deleted by the end user who created it. Other users can
view and save the layout as another report.
A. Report View
1. Select 1. Primary Report in Reports

2. Click Actions
3. Click Save Report
4. As Named Report
5. In Name enter Customer Review, put a check on Public
6. Click Apply
7. Click Reports drop down list in the Search Bar and select 1. Customer Review
8. Click Actions
9. Click Format
10. Control Break
11. Select Customer Name in row 1 under Column,
12. Set Status to Enabled and
13. Click Apply.
The output should be like Figure 6-8.
Figure 6-8
B. Chart View
1. Click Actions
2. Click Format
3. Click Chart
4. Select the 1st option in Chart Type
5. Select Customer Name for Label
6. Enter Customer in Axis Title for Label
7. Select Order Total for Value
8. Enter Average Order Total in Axis Title for Value
9. Select Average for Function
10. Select Label-Ascending for Sort
11. Click Apply
The output should look similar to Figure 6-9.
Figure 6-9
C. Group By View
1. Click to switch back to Report View
2. Click Actions > Format > Group By
3. Set attributes as show in Figure 6-10, click Apply
Figure 6-10
The output should look like Figure 6-11

Figure 6-11
4. Click Actions > Save Report > As Named Report > Alternative, the Name should
contain Customer Review, Public should be checked, click Apply
6.3.6 Modify Button – Create

1. Click Edit Page 4 in Developer Toolbar
2. Click in button region to modify this button and set the following attributes and
apply changes:
6.3.7 Delete Computation – P29_ORDER_ID

1. Click under Computations in Page Processing section
2. Click Delete button and then confirm deletion
6.3.8 Create a Branch

Here we are going to create a new branch to call Order wizard – page 11 when
ENTER_NEW_ORDER button is pressed.
1. Click Create in Branches section
2. Click Next to accept the default values
3. Enter 11 in Page, put a check on include process success message, enter 11 in Clear
Cache, click Next
4. Enter 5 in Sequence and select ENTER_NEW_ORDER for When Button Pressed, click
Create Branch
6.4 Modify Order Details Page – Page 29
1. Enter 29 in Page and click Go button to call page 29
2. Click Edit under Page section
3. Scroll down to Security section and set Authorization Scheme to Verify Order
Ownership. This scheme was created in chapter 2, section 2.5.6 (c) to allow order manipulation
to the user who created the order.

1. Click in Regions section, set the following attributes and apply changes:
2. Click region and set the following attributes:
3. In Region Source replace existing SQL statement with:

select oi.order_item_id,
oi.order_id,
oi.product_id,
oi.unit_price,
oi.quantity,
(oi.unit_price * oi.quantity) extended_price,
dbms_lob.getlength(product_image) product_image ,
decode(nvl(dbms_lob.getlength(pi.product_image),0),0,null,
'<img style="border: 4px solid #CCC; -moz-border-radius: 4px; -webkit-border-
radius: 4px;" '||
'src="'||
apex_util.get_blob_file_src('P6_PRODUCT_IMAGE',pi.product_id)||
'" height="75" width="75" alt="Product Image" title="Product Image" />')
detail_img
from DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS oi, DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO pi
where oi.ORDER_ID = :P29_ORDER_ID
and oi.product_id = pi.product_id (+)

5. Click Report under Regions
6. Under Column Attributes edit each column and set the following attributes:
7. In Column Attributes change Headings, Alignment, Show, Sum,

and Sort to match Figure 6-12
Figure 6-12
6.4.3 Modify Button

1. Click Add Row button (last in the button region)
2. Set Action to Submit Page under Action When Button Clicked and Apply Changes
6.4.4 Create/Modify Items

1. Click Create in Items region
2. Click Display Only
3. Enter P29_CUSTOMER_INFO in Item Name, 10 in Sequence, set Region to Order
#&P29_ORDER_ID. (1) 10, and click Next
4. Enter Customer Info in Label, set Label Alignment to Right top, Field Alignment to Left,
Label Template to Optional, click Next
5. Set Show Line Breaks to No, click Next

6. Set Source Type to SQL Query (return single value) and enter the following query in
Source Value:
select htf.escape_sc(cust_first_name) || ' ' || htf.escape_sc(cust_last_name) || ' ' ||
htf.escape_sc(cust_street_address1) || decode(cust_street_address2, null, null, ' '
|| htf.escape_sc(cust_street_address2)) || '' || htf.escape_sc(cust_city) || ', ' ||
htf.escape_sc(cust_state) || ' ' || htf.escape_sc(cust_postal_code) from
demo_customers where customer_id = :P29_CUSTOMER_ID
7. Click Create Item
Edit all the items individually and set the corresponding attributes shown under each item.
1. Edit the newly created item, P29_CUSTOMER_INFO, scroll down to Security section
and set Escape special characters to No
2. P29_ORDER_TIMESTAMP
3. P29_ORDER_TOTAL
4. P29_USER_ID
5. P29_ORDER_ID_NEXT
6. P29_ORDER_ID_PREV
7. P29_ORDER_ID_COUNT
8. P29_CUSTOMER_ID
9. P29_ORDER_ID
6.4.5 Create Process – Add Rows

1. Click Create in Processes under Page Processing
2. Click Data Manipulation
3. Select Add rows to tabular form and click Next
4. Enter AddRows in Name, 70 in Sequence and click Next
5. Enter 1 in Number of Rows
6. In Failure Message enter Unable to add rows
7. Select APPLY_CHANGES_ADD for When Button Pressed
6.5 Test your Work
Click the Run button and then the Home tab. Click Orders tab. The page should look like Figure 6-13.
Click , in front of Order # 1. Order Details page resembling Figure 6-14 appears. You can navigate
to other records using the Next and Previous buttons.
The page is ready. Try adding more products, delete a few and check the page’s functionality. We use
these two pages to manipulate existing orders; in the next sections we will create pages to enter new
orders.
Figure 6-13
Figure 6-14
6.6 Create Page Identify Customer – Page 11

As mentioned earlier, the user will go through a series of steps to enter a new order. We created these
steps in Order Wizard list in Chapter 2 section 2.5.2 (c). The rest of this chapter will guide you how
to create those four pages.
In this exercise we will create Page 11 (New Order – Identify Customer).
1. In Application’s main page click Create Page button

2. Click Blank Page icon
3. Enter 11 in Page Number, click Next
4. Enter New Order – Identify Customer in Name, select Main Menu for Breadcrumb,
click Orders link under Select Parent Entry to populate Parent Entry box, and click Next
5. Select Use an existing tab set and reuse an existing tab within that tab set., and click
Next
6. Select TS1, click Next
7. Select T_ORDERS, click Next
8. Click Finish
9. Click Edit Page icon

2. Select One Level Tabs – Left Sidebar (fixed-width / DIV based) in Page Template and
apply changes
6.6.2 Create Region – Identify Customer

2. Click HTML
3. Click HTML again
4. Enter Identify Customer in Title, select Wizard Region in Region Template, click Next
6.6.3 Create Region – Order Progress

2. Click List
3. Enter Order Progress in Title, select No Template in Region Template, set Display Point
to Page Template Region Position 2, click Next
4. Select Order Wizard in List
6.6.4 Create Button – Cancel

2. Select Identify Customer (1) 10 and click Next
4. Enter CANCEL in Button Name, Cancel in Label, and click Next
5. Select Region Template Position #CLOSE# for Position, click Next
6. Set Execute Validation to No
6.6.5 Create Button – Next

2. Select Identify Customer (1) 10 and click Next
4. Enter NEXT in Name, Next > in Label, label="NEXT" in Button Attributes, and click
Next
5. Select Region Template Position #NEXT# for Position, click Next
6. Set Execute Validation to No
6.6.6 Create Items

2. Click Radio
3. Enter P11_CUSTOMER_OPTIONSin Item Name, select Identify Customer (1) 10 in
Region, Next
4. Enter Create Order for: in Label, click Next twice
5. Enter STATIC2:Existing customer;EXISTING,New customer;NEW in List of values
Query
6. Enter EXISTING in Item Source Value
7. Enter EXISTING in Default
10. Click Popup List of Values
11. Enter Popup LOV in Type, Next
12. Enter P11_CUSTOMER_IDin Item Name, select Identify Customer (1) 10 in Region,
Next
13. Enter Customer in Label, select Required with help in Label Template, click Next
14. Set Value Required to Yes, click Next
15. Set Display Null Value to No and enter the following statement in List of Values Query:
select cust_last_name || ', ' || cust_first_name d, customer_id r from demo_customers
order by cust_last_name
6.6.7 Create Process (Page Rendering)

1. Click Create in Processes section under Page Rendering
2. Click PL/SQL
3. Enter Create or Truncate Order Collection in Name, click Next
4. In PL/SQL Page Process enter:
apex_collection.create_or_truncate_collection (p_collection_name => 'ORDER');

6.6.8 Create Dynamic Actions (Page Rendering)
1. Click Create in Dynamic Actions under Page Rendering
2. Click on Standard
3. Enter Hide/Show Customer in Name, click Next
4. Using the LOV, select P11_CUSTOMER_OPTION for Item(s), enter EXISTING in
Value, click Next
5. Select Show, click Next
6. Select Item(s) in Selection Type, move P11_CUSTOMER_ID to the right pane
7. Click Create
8. Edit the Dynamic Action
9. Click under True Actions and set Show all page items on the same line to Yes
10. Click under False Actions and set Show all page items on the same line to Yes
6.6.9 Create Validation – Customer ID Not Null

1. Click Create in Validations
2. Click Item Level Validation
3. Select Identify Customer: 20. P11_CUSTOMER_ID (Customer) and click Next
4. Click Item Not Null
6. Select P11_CUSTOMER_ID in Validate Item and enter Please select a customer in
error message
7. Select NEXT for When Button Pressed, Value of Item in Expression 1 = Expression 2
for Condition Type, enter P11_CUSTOMER_OPTIONS in Expression 1 and EXISTING in
Expression 2
8. Click Create

1. Click Create in Branches
2. Click Next to accept default Branch Point and Branch Type options
3. Enter 12 in Page, put a check mark on reset pagination for this page and include process
success message, enter 12 in Clear Cache, and click Next
4. Select NEXT for When Button Pressed, Value of Item in Expression 1 = Expression 2
for Condition Type, enter P11_CUSTOMER_OPTIONS in Expression 1 and EXISTING in
Expression 2
5. Click Create Branch
6. Click Create in Branches to create a second branch
8. Enter 18 in Page, put a check mark on include process success message, enter 18 in Clear
Cache, and click Next
9. Enter 10 for Sequence, select NEXT for When Button Pressed, Value of Item in
Expression 1 = Expression 2 for Condition Type, enter P11_CUSTOMER_OPTIONS in
Expression 1 and NEW in Expression 2
11. Click Create in Branches to create the third branch
13. Enter 4 in Page, put a check mark on include process success message, click Next
14. Enter 10 for Sequence, select CANCEL for When Button Pressed
6.7 Test your Work

Click Run > Home > Orders and click Enter New Order button. Your page should look like Figure 6-
15. Select Existing Customer and Click the LOV button to call list of customers. Click the New
Customer option, the Dynamic Action created in section 6.6.8 invokes to hide the Customer LOV. At
this stage if you click the Next button, error ERR-1016 Application "103" Page "18" not found will
be displayed. Our next step is to create Page 18, New Order – Create Customer.
Figure 6-15
6.8 The Create Customer Page – Page 18

You can select an existing customer or create a new one while creating an order. In this exercise we
will create Page 18, New Order – Create Customer by copying Page 7 – Customer Details. This
page will be used to enter new customer’s profile in the Order Wizard, when you select the New
Customer option and click Next.
1. Click Application 101 in the Developer’s Toolbar

2. Click Page 7 – Customer Details
3. Click button and select New page as a copy
4. Click Page in this application
5. Complete the next screen as show in the following figure and click Next
Figure 6-16 (Some portion of the figure truncated for clarity)
6. Click Next to accept all New Values

10. Click Finish
11. Click Edit Page

2. Set Page Template to One Level Tabs – Left and Right Sidebar (fixed-width / DIV left
and optional table-based right)

1. Click in Regions section
2. Set Template to Wizard Region and Display Point to Page Template Body (3. Items
above region content)
6.8.3 Delete Region

1. Click in Regions section
2. Click and confirm to delete the region

2. Click the List icon
3. Enter Order Progress in Title, select No Template for Region Template, select Page
Template Region Position 2 for Display Point, and click Next
4. Select Order Wizard for List and click Next
6.8.5 Modify Button – Cancel

1. Click in Buttons Region
2. Enter 4 in Page under Action When Button Clicked
We have to remove Delete and Create buttons in the Buttons section. But before that, we have to
remove few Processes, since these processes have reference to the two buttons.
6.8.6 Delete Processes and Button

1. Click under Validations
2. Click and confirm deletion
3. Click under Processes
4. Click Delete button and confirm deletion
5. Click in Buttons region
6. Click Delete button and confirm deletion
7. Click and buttons and delete them using the same technique mentioned above
6.8.7 Create New Buttons

2. Select Customer Details (1) 10 and click Next
4. Enter PREVIOUS in Button Name and < Previous in Label, click Next
5. Select Region Template Position #DELETE# in Position and click Next
6. Select Redirect to Page in this Application and enter 11 in Page, click Next
8. Edit the newly created button
9. Select SQL Delete action in Database Action under Action When Button Clicked
12. Select Customer Details (1) 10 and click Next
14. Enter INSERTin Button Name and Next > in Label, select Button, Alternative 1- Hot
Button in Button Template, click Next
15. Select Region Template Position #CHANGE# in Position and click Next
17. Edit the newly created button
18. Select SQL Insert action in Database Action under Action When Button Clicked
6.8.8 Modify Processes

1. Click Row of DEMO_CUSTOMERS under Processes
2. Enter P18_CUSTOMER_ID for Return Key Into Item
4. Click the reset page process for modification
5. Under Conditions set When Button Pressed to PREVIOUS (< Previous)
6. Set Condition Type to Never
6.8.9 Modify Branch

1. Click Go To Page under Branches
2. Under Action, enter 12 in Page
3. Select INSERT (Next>) for When Button Pressed
6.9 Test your Work

Click the Run button. Click Home tab. Click Orders tab and click Enter New Order button. Select
New Customer option and click Next. Your page should look like Figure 6-17. Right now you cannot
proceed further because the called page – Page 12 Select Products is not ready and will be created in
the next section. After completing Page 12, you can revisit this page to create a new customer and
move ahead in the sequence.
Figure 6-17
6.10 Create Page Select Items – Page 12

Having identified the customer, the second step in the order wizard is to add products to the order. In
this exercise we will create Page 12 to select items and enter the required quantities.

2. Click
4. Enter 12 in Page Number and click Next
Figure 6-18 (Some portion of the figure truncated for clarity)
9. Click Finish
10. Click Edit Page

2. Set Page Template to One Level Tabs – Left and Right Sidebar (fixed-width / DIV left
and optional table-based right)
3. In JavaScript section enter the following function in Function and Global Variable
Declaration:
function productPopup(productID) {
var url;
url = 'f?p=&APP_ID.:20:&SESSION.::::P20_PRODUCT_ID:' + productID;
html_PopUp(url,'ProductInfo',700,400,1,1);
};
4. Enter the following code in HTML Header under HTML Header and Body Attribute and
Apply Changes
6.10.2 Create Region – Select Items
2. Click the PL/SQL Dynamic Content icon
3. Enter Select Items in Title, select Wizard Region for Region Template and click Next
4. In PL/SQL Source type the following code:

Template Region Position 2 for Display Point, and click Next

2. Click on Select Items (1) 11 and click Next
4. Enter CANCEL in Button Name and Cancel in Label, click Next
5. Select Region Template Position #CLOSE# in Position and click Next
6. Click Next to accept default values
8. Click Create to create the second button
9. Click Select Item (1) 11 and click Next
11. Enter PLACE_ORDERin Button Name and Place Order in Label, select Button,
Alternative 1- Hot Button in Button Template, click Next
12. Select Region Template Position #CREATE# in Position and click Next
14. In Condition Type select Exists (SQL query returns at least one row) and enter the
following statement in Expression 1:
select 1 from apex_collections where collection_name = 'ORDER'
16. Click Create to create another button
17. Click Select Item (1) 11 and click Next
19. Enter PREVIOUS in Button Name and < Previous in Label, click Next
20. Select Region Template Position #PREVIOUS# in Position and click Next
21. Select No for Execute Validations and click Next
6.10.5 Create Items

2. Click Hidden
3. Enter P12_PRODUCT_ID in Item Name, select Select Items (1) 11 in Region, and click
Next
4. Select No for Value Protected, click Next
7. Click Hidden
8. Enter P12_CUSTOMER_NAME in Item Name, select Order Progress (1) 21 in Region,
and click Next
6.10.6 Create Computation (Page Rendering)

1. Click Create in Computations section under Page Rendering
2. Click Item on this page
3. Select P12_CUSTOMER_NAME (Order Progress)in Compute Name, Before
Region(s) in Computation Point, SQL Query (return in single value) in Computation Type,
and click Next
4. In Computation enter the following select statement:
select cust_first_name || ' ' || cust_last_name from

demo_customers where customer_id =
:P11_CUSTOMER_ID
6.10.7 Create Processes (Page Rendering)
1. Add Product to the Order Collection
1. Click Create in Processes section under Page Rendering

2. Click PL/SQL
3. Enter Add product to the order collection in Name and click Next
4. Enter the following code in PL/SQL Page Process and click Next:
for x in (select * from demo_product_info where product_id = :P12_PRODUCT_ID)
loop
apex_collection.add_member(p_collection_name => 'ORDER',
p_c001 => x.product_id,
p_c002 => x.product_name,
p_c003 => x.list_price,
p_c004 => 1);
end loop;
5. Click Next to leave messages blank

6. Select Request=Expression 1 in Condition Type and enter ADD in Expression 1
B. Remove Product from the Order Collection
1. Click Create to create another Process
2. Click PL/SQL
3. Enter Remove product from the order collection in Name and click Next
for x in
(select seq_id, c001 from apex_collections
where collection_name = 'ORDER' and c001 = :P12_PRODUCT_ID)
loop
apex_collection.delete_member(p_collection_name => 'ORDER', p_seq => x.seq_id);
--htp.p('removed an item');
end loop;

6. Select Request=Expression 1 in Condition Type and enter REMOVE in Expression 1
6.10.8 Create Process – Place Order

1. Click Create in Processes section under Page Processing
2. Click PL/SQL
3. Enter Place Order in Name and click Next
6. Select PLACE_ORDER (Place Order) in When Button Pressed

2. Click Next to accept default Branch Point and Branch Type values
3. Enter 14 in Page, put a check on include process success message, and click Next
4. Enter 10 in Sequence and select PLACE_ORDER (Place Order) in When Button Pressed
6. Click Create to create another branch
7. Click Next to accept default Branch Point and Branch Type values
8. Enter 4 in Page, put a check on include process success message, and click Next
9. Enter 10 in Sequence and select CANCEL (Cancel) in When Button Pressed
6.11 Test your Work
Navigate to the Orders page using the Home tab route and click the button Enter New Order. Select an
Existing Customer using the LOV and click Next. Click the button next to Business Shirt to add it
to Current Order pane. Click the same button again and see increase in Quantity and Total. Add few
more products and observe the change in the Current Order section. Click the cross sign to remove
a product from the section. After completion, your page should look like Figure 6-19.
Click the Place Order button. This action will cause error ERR-1002 Unable to find item ID for item
"P14_ORDER_ID" in application "103" indicating missing Page 14, the Order Summary page.
Similarly, if you click on Business Shirt link, you will get ERR-1016 Application "103" Page "20"
not found (requested language="en") error which refers to Product Information page - Page 20. In the
next sections we will create these two pages to complete our order placement exercises.
6.12 Create Product Info Page – Page 20

In the previous exercise, you created a page to add products to the order. You can allow user to also
check the product details such as Description, Category, and Price before placing orders. In this
exercise we are going to create a page – Page 20, which will show the above details.

2. Click
5. Enter Product Info in Name, leave the default -do not use breadcrumbs on page- selected
in Breadcrumb and click Next
6. Select No for Would you like to use tabs for this new page, click Next
7. Click Finish
8. Click Edit Page

2. Set Page Template to Popup in Display Attributes
6.12.2 Create Region – Product Image

2. Click the Report icon
3. Click on SQL Report icon
4. Enter Product Image in Title, select No Template for Region Template, select Page
Template Body (2. Items below region content) for Display Point, and click Next
5. In Enter SQL Query type the following statement:
select decode(nvl(dbms_lob.getlength(product_image),0),0,null,'<img
src="'||apex_util.get_blob_file_src('P6_PRODUCT_IMAGE',product_id)||'" />')
image
where product_id = :P20_PRODUCT_ID

7. Click the Report link next to Product Image
8. Set Headings Type to None
9. Click to edit the sole IMAGE column
10. Select Standard Report Column for Display As and apply changes
11. In Report Attributes, set Report Template to default: HTML (standard), Pagination
Scheme to No Pagination Selected, and Enable Partial Page Refresh to No
6.12.3 Create Region – Product Information

1. Click Create to create another region
4. Enter Product Information in Title, select Region without Title for Region Template,
select Page Template Body (2. Items below region content) for Display Point, select 2 for
Columns, and click Next

select product_name,
product_description,
category,
list_price
from demo_product_info where product_id = :P20_PRODUCT_ID

7. Click the Report link next to Product Image
8. Set Column Attributes as show in Figure 6-20
Figure 6-20
9. Set Report Template to default: vertical report, look 2 (exclude null columns),
Pagination Scheme to No Pagination Selected, and Enable Partial Page Refresh to No
6.12.4 Create Button – Close

2. Click on Product Information (2) 20 in Select a Region and click Next
4. Enter CLOSEin Button Name, Close Product Info Window, in Label, select HTML
Button in Button Style, and click Next
5. Click Next to accept default values
6. Select Redirect to URL in Action and enter javascript:window.close() in URL Target
6.12.5 Create Item

2. Click Hidden
3. Enter P20_PRODUCT_ID in Item Name, select Product Information (2) 20 in Region,
and click Next
6.13 Test your Work

Click the Application101 breadcrumb, click Run Application and navigate to the Orders page. Click
Enter New Order button. Select an Existing Customer using the LOV and click Next. Click the
link under the Products column. A popup window like Figure 6-21 should appear. Click
Close Product Info Window button to switch back. Click some more product links to test your work.
Figure 6-21
6.14 Create Order Summary Page – Page 14

After adding products to the Order form, user clicks the Place Order button. The next page, Order
Summary, comes up to show the details of the placed order. Here we are going to create this page
which will have the number 14 and will be the last step in the Order Wizard sequence.

2. Click

9. Click Finish
10. Click Edit Page

2. Set Page Template to One Level Tabs – Left Sidebar (fixed-width / DIV based)
6.14.2 Create Region – Order Summary

2. Click HTML
3. Click HTML again
4. Enter Order Summary in Title, select Wizard Region in Region Template, enter 50 in
Sequence and click Next
6.14.3 Create Region – Order Header

1. Click Create to create the second region
2. Click the PL/SQL Dynamic Content icon
3. Enter Order Header in Title, select No Template for Region Template, select Order
Summary (1) 50 for Parent Region, enter 20 in Sequence, and click Next
4. In PL/SQL Source type the following code:
begin
for x in (select c.cust_first_name, c.cust_last_name, cust_street_address1,
cust_street_address2, cust_city, cust_state, cust_postal_code from demo_customers c,
demo_orders o
where c.customer_id = o.customer_id and o.order_id = :P14_ORDER_ID)
loop
htp.p('ORDER #' ||
:P14_ORDER_ID || ' ');
htp.p(htf.escape_sc(x.cust_first_name) || ' ' || htf.escape_sc(x.cust_last_name) || ' ');
htp.p(htf.escape_sc(x.cust_street_address1) || ' ');
if x.cust_street_address2 is not null then
htp.p(htf.escape_sc(x.cust_street_address2) || ' ');
end if;
htp.p(htf.escape_sc(x.cust_city) || ', ' || x.cust_state || ' ' ||
htf.escape_sc(x.cust_postal_code) || ' ');
end loop;
end;
6.14.4 Create Region – Order Lines

1. Click Create in region to create third region
4. Enter Order Lines in Title, select No Template for Region Template, select Order
Summary (1) 50 for Parent Region, enter 30 in Sequence, and click Next
select p.product_name, oi.unit_price, oi.quantity, (oi.unit_price * oi.quantity)
exteneded_price
where oi.product_id = p.product_id and oi.order_id = :P14_ORDER_ID

Template Region Position 2 for Display Point, enter 40 in Sequence, and click Next

2. Click on Order Summary (1) 50 and click Next
4. Enter RETURN in Button Name and View Orders in Label, click Next
5. Select Region Template Position #CLOSE# in Position and click Next
6. Select Redirect to Page in this Application for Action and enter 4 in Page
8. Click Create to create another button
9. Click on Order Summary (1) 50 and click Next
11. Enter HOME in Button Name and Home in Label, click Next
12. Select Region Template Position #CREATE# in Position and click Next
13. Select Redirect to Page in this Application for Action and enter 1 in Page
6.14.7 Create Item

2. Click Hidden
3. Enter P14_PRODUCT_ID in Item Name, select Order Lines (1) 30 in Region, and click
Next
6.15 Complete Testing

Congratulation! You have completed the most tiresome but interesting chapter of the book. This
chapter taught you many techniques that we will see in the Summary section. Right now, we are going
to test the whole work that we did in this chapter.
1. Move to the application’s Home page.
2. Click Orders tab and click Enter New Order button.
3. Select New Customer and click Next
4. Fill in the New Customer form using your own name, address etc. and click Next
5. In Select Item page add few products to the Current Order pane
6. Click Place Order button. Order Summary Page appears as shown in Figure 6-23
Figure 6-23
7. Click View Orders button in the Order Summary Page to move to Orders main page. The
newly created order should appear on top of the orders list
8. Click to edit the new created order. The page should look like figure 6-14 displayed
earlier in this chapter. Try to add or remove products on this page and save your modifications.
6.16 Summary
The lengthy chapter of the book demonstrated the following techniques:
- Utilization of wizard using Order Progress list
- Created master/detail forms
- Created Primary and Alternative reports
- Created Public Reports
- Report, Chart, and Group by views of data
- Use of Control Break, Highlight, and Aggregate functions
- Drill down to data entry page from report
- Added Processes in Page Rendering
- Created a new customer without leaving the order’s page
- Utilized Dynamic Actions to Show/Hide page item
- How to use style in pages
- Usage of PL/SQL code in pages
- Call a popup window to display information
- Summarize data
Chapter 7 - Generate Graphical Reports

7.1 About Oracle APEX Reports
While creating order pages in the previous chapter, we did some work on interactive reports and saw
how easy it was to create flexible and powerful reports in Oracle Application Express. In this
chapter we will take a step ahead and will create the following reports to graphically present the
data:

7.2 Create Page Zero

Prior to creating reports, we will create the reports menu. This menu will be displayed to the right on
all report pages. In order to achieve this task, we need to create Page zero. Page zero components are
displayed on all pages if their region's display point is contained within the selected page template.
Conditional Display attributes can be used to suppress display. This is a very simple and effective
way of sharing APEX objects throughout the application. In this exercise we will create Page Zero
for our application to display the list, Report Tabs, created in chapter 2 section 2.5.2 (b). As
mentioned above, Page zero components are shared across the application, therefore, we are going to
put a condition to display the reports list only on pages related to the Reports tab.

2. Click Page Zero icon
3. Click Finish
4. Page Zero’s definitions appear
6. Click List
7. Enter Reports in Title, set Template to Navigation Region, Display Point to Page Template
Region Position 3 and click Next
8. Set List to Reports Tab
9. Set Condition Type to Current Page Is Contained Within Expression 1 (comma delimited list
of pages) and enter 5,10,13,16,17,19 in Expression 1
Now we can create the reports to present data graphically. Let’s start with the Customers Order
report.
7.3 Customer Orders Report – Page 17

1. Click Application 101 in the application breadcrumb
5. Fill the next page as shown in Figure 7-1 and click Next
Next
12. Select T_REPORTS, click Next
13. Click Finish
7.3.1 Create Region – Customer Orders

2. Click Chart
4. Click on Horizontal Bar option
Figure 7-2
5. Click on 3D Stacked Bar Chart

6. Enter Customer Orders in Title, select Chart Region for Region Template, select Page
7. In Display Attributes settings, enter titles and select option as shown in Figure 7-3 and
click Next
Figure 7-3
select 'f?
p=&APP_ID.:7:'||:app_session||':::7:P7_CUSTOMER_ID:'||c.customer_id||',17:' link,
c.cust_last_name||', '||c.cust_first_name Customer_Name,
sum (decode(p.category,'Accessories',oi.quantity * oi.unit_price,0))
"Accessories",
sum (decode(p.category,'Mens',oi.quantity * oi.unit_price,0)) "Mens",
sum (decode(p.category,'Womens',oi.quantity * oi.unit_price,0)) "Womens"
from demo_customers c
, demo_orders o
, demo_order_items oi
, demo_product_info p
where c.customer_id = o.customer_id
and o.order_id = oi.order_id
and oi.product_id = p.product_id
group by c.customer_id, c.cust_last_name, c.cust_first_name
order by c.cust_last_name

10. Click Customer Orders link in Regions to modify couple of attributes
11. Click the Chart Attributes tab
12. Scroll down to Legend Settings, enter Categories in Legend Title and select Horizontal for
Legend Element Layout
14. Click Run to test your work
Move your cursor over the chart bars and different portions within a particular bar. You will see a
tooltip showing order amount of the corresponding customer.
Figure 7-4
7.4 Sales by Category and Product Report – Page 16

1. Click Application 101 in Developer’s Toolbar
5. Fill the next page as shown in Figure 7-5 and click Next
Next
9. Click Finish
7.4.1 Create Region – Sales by Category

2. Click Chart
4. Click on Pie and Doughnut option
5. Click on 3D Pie
6. Enter Select by Category in Title, select Chart Region for Region Template, select Page
click Next
Figure 7-6
select null, p.category label, sum(o.order_total)
from demo_orders o, demo_order_items oi, demo_product_info p
where o.order_id = oi.order_id
and oi.product_id = p.product_id
group by category order by 3 desc

10. Click Sales by Category link in Regions
12. Set Chart Width to 600 and Chart Height to 400
14. Click Run.
The screen should look like Figure 7-7. The chart displays graphical data for the sold Categories.
Move the mouse cursor over Accessories in the pie chart. You will see the amount of orders placed
for Accessories. Switch to other two areas to see sales figures for the respective categories.
Figure 7-7
7.4.2 Create Region – Sales by Product

1. Click Create to create region for products chart
2. Click Chart
4. Click on Horizontal Bar option
5. Click on 3D Bar Chart
6. Enter Select by Product in Title, select Chart Region for Region Template, select Page
click Next
Figure 7-8
8. In Enter SQL Query enter the following statement:
select 'f?p=&APP_ID.:6:'||:app_session||':::6:P6_PRODUCT_ID:'||p.product_id||':
link,
p.product_name||' [$'||p.list_price||']' product,
SUM(oi.quantity * oi.unit_price) sales
where oi.product_id = p.product_id
group by p.product_id, p.product_name, p.list_price
order by p.product_name

10. Click Run.
The chart should look like Figure 7-9. The page now has two regions displaying graphical data for
category and product sales. Move the mouse cursor over each bar and see respective sales figures.
Click on the bar representing Bag’s data, the system will drill you down to the products page to show
you product’s details.
Figure 7-9
7.5 Sales by Category / Month Report – Page 5

5. Enter Sales by Category / Month in Name and complete the page as you did in the
previous sections
Next
9. Click Finish
7.5.1 Create Region – Sales by Category/ Month

2. Click Chart
4. Click on Column option
5. Click on 3D Column
6. Enter Select by Category / Month in Title, select Chart Region for Region Template,
select Page Template Body (2. Items below region content) for Display Point, and click Next
click Next
Figure 7-10

10. Click Sales by Category / Month link in Regions
12. Scroll down to Legend Settings section and set enter Categories in Legend Title
14. Click Run.
The output should look like Figure 7-11. The chart displays comparative sales figures for each
category during a month.
Figure 7-11
7.6 Order Calendar Report – Page 10

3. Click Calendar icon
4. Click on SQL Calendar
5. Fill the next entries as shown in Figure 7-12 and click Next
Figure 7-12
6. Select Use an existing tab set and reuse an existing tab within that tab set., select TS1,
and click Next
9. In the next screen, the Date Column is set to ORDER_TIMESTAMP and Display Column
to ORD
10. Click Next
11. Click Finish
12. Click Run Page icon
The report should look like Figure 7-13. Click Albert Lambert’s name link in the calendar report to
drill down and browse his order details. Click the browser’s back button. Try and test Weekly,
Daily, Previous, Today and Next buttons and see respective functionalities.
Figure 7-13
7.7 Customer Map Report – Page 13

3. Click Map
4. Click United States of America
Figure 7-14
5. Expand the Country folder and click on States (Click the word “States” to
proceed)
6. Fill the next screen as shown in Figure 7-15 and click Next
Figure 7-15
7. Click Do not use tabs and click Next

8. Enter Customer Map in Map Title and click Next
9. In Enter SQL Query type the following statement and click Next:
10. Click Finish

11. Click Edit Page
12. Click Edit Page Section
13. Set Standard Tab Set to TS1 and apply changes
14. Click Map in Regions
15. Scroll down to Display Settings section and set Map Region Column toREGION_ID and
apply changes
16. Click Run.
The page should look like Figure 7-16. This map shows number of customers in any particular
state. Clicking any state link will take you to the customers’ main page to display records of that
state’s customers. Click the Illinois state marked as IL-2, the page will show the two customers
in the state.
Figure 7-16
7.8 Product Order Tree – Page 19

3. Click Tree
4. Fill the next screen as shown in Figure 7-17 and click Next
Figure 7-17
5. Select Use an existing tab set and reuse an existing tab within that tab set., select TS1,
and click Next
7. Enter Product Order Tree in Tree Name and click Next
8. In Tree Template click on Default
9. Accept ASA as the Table/View Owner and click Next
10. Select DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO for Table and click Next
11. Click Next twice to accept the default values in respective forms
12. In the final form put checks on Collapse All and Expand All to include these buttons. Set
Tooltip to Static Assignment (value equals Tooltip Source attribute) and enter View in
Tooltip Source, click Next
13. Click Finish
14. Click Edit Page
15. Click the Tree link under Regions
16. Replace the existing statement in Tree Query with the following and apply changes:
with data as (
select 'M' as link_type,
null as parent,
'All Categories' as id,
'All Categories' as name,
null as sub_id
union
select distinct('C') as link_type,
'All Categories' as parent,
category as id,
category as name,
null as sub_id
union
select 'P' as link_type,
category parent,
to_char(product_id) id,
product_name as name,
product_id as sub_id
union
select 'O' as link_type,
to_char(product_id) as parent,
null as id,
(select c.cust_first_name || ' ' || c.cust_last_name
from demo_customers c, demo_orders o
where c.customer_id = o.customer_id
and o.order_id = oi.order_id ) || ', ordered '||to_char(oi.quantity) as name,
order_id as sub_id
from demo_order_items oi
)
select case when connect_by_isleaf = 1 then 0
when level = 1 then 1
else -1
end as status,
level,
name as title,
null as icon,
id as value,
'View' as tooltip,
case when link_type = 'M'
then 'f?p='||:APP_ID||':3:'||:APP_SESSION||'::NO:RIR'
when link_type = 'C'
then 'f?p='||:APP_ID||':3:'||:APP_SESSION||'::NO:CIR:IR_CATEGORY:'
||name
when link_type = 'P'
then 'f?p='||:APP_ID||':6:'||:APP_SESSION||'::NO::P6_PRODUCT_ID:'
||sub_id
when link_type = 'O'
then 'f?p='||:APP_ID||':29:'||:APP_SESSION||'::NO::P29_ORDER_ID:'
|| sub_id
else null
end as link
from data
start with parent is null
connect by prior id = parent
order siblings by name
17. Click Run to test the page.
Click the small arrow in All Categories to expand the tree. Expand other branches as shown in Figure
7-18. The tree view has three levels as indicated in the figure. Clicking the branch links will drill
down to browse the details. Click the All Categories link to open the Products main page. Move back
using the browser’s back button. Click on Men’s branch. All men products will be displayed. Click
on Trousers, product details page opens to show its details. Under the Trouser branch, click Albert
Lambert’s link, Order Details page appears displaying the trousers ordered by him.
7.9 Summary
Reports are the most significant components of any application that allows to dig information from the
data mine to make decisions. This chapter not only demonstrated the power of Oracle Application
Express to graphically present the information but also exhibited how to drill down to a deeper level
to obtain detailed information. We learned:
- Page zero creation and utilization

- Use of different types of charts
- Drill down to browse details
- Usage of map and tree views
Chapter 8 - Advanced Reporting

8.1 About Advanced Reporting
We have seen the use of interactive reporting feature in APEX to create professional looking on-
screen reports. But, if we download the PDF version of these reports to have a hard copy, what we
get is a generic report in simple row-column format. For example, if you download the Monthly
Review report, we created in chapter 6 section 6.3.4; the output is presented without any control
breaks and conditional formatting. For serious printing, you have to define an external reporting
server to present data in the desired format.
You can use OC4J with Apache FOP, another XSL-FO processing engine, or Oracle BI Publisher as
your print server. In this exercise, we will use Oracle BI Publisher to enjoy high level formatting.
Oracle Application Express provides the following two printing options:
Apache FOP or another XSL-FO processing engine is supported under the
standard configuration. Oracle Application Express already includes support
Standard: for Apache FOP, that allows declarative formatting of report region and
queries with basic control over page attributes such as column heading format,
orientation, page size, header and footer.
This option required Oracle BI Publisher to be configured as your print server.

Besides standard configuration, Oracle BI Publisher has Word Template Plug-
in to create RTF based report layouts, that provide greater control over every
aspect of your report and allows you to add complex control breaks, logos,
charts, and pagination control. The following list contains few reports that can
be created using the advanced option:
- Tax and Government Forms
- Invoices
- Ledgers
Advanced:
- Financial Statements
- Bill of Lading, using tables and barcode fonts.
- Operational Reports with re-grouping, conditional highlighting, summary
calculations, and running totals
- Management Reports having Chart with summary functions and table with
detail records
- Check Print, using conditional formatting and MICR fonts
- Dunning Letters
To print these professional reports, you have to pay for a valid Oracle BI Publisher license that is
worth the price considering the following advantages:
- Multiple Output Formats: In addition to PDF, the other supported

output formats include Word, Excel and HTML.
- Included in Export/Import: Being part of the application, RTF
based layout are exported and imported along with the application.
- Robust Report Layout: Add complex breaks, pagination control,
logos, header-footer, charts, and print data on pre-printed forms.
- Report Scheduling: This unique feature enables you to setup a
schedule and deliver the report to the desired destinations including
email, fax etc.
The following section will guide you to download and install the limited license version to use the
program only for the development purpose.
Oracle BI Publisher required Windows Server Operating System 2000 or later. I completed the
exercises in this chapter with the following hardware and software combination.
- Windows Server 2000 having IP 10.10.1.5

- Downloaded and installed Oracle BI Publisher 10.1.3.4.2 using
Server:
bipublisher_windows_x86_101342.zip file. See the following section to
download and install BI Publisher
- Windows XP Service Pack 3 having IP 10.1.1.12

- Oracle XE database and APEX Sample Application
Client: - Microsoft Word 2007
- Oracle BI Publisher Desktop
- Dot Net Framework 2 and JRE 1.6 or above may be required during BI
Publisher Desktop installation.
Steps to Produce Advance Reports

- Install BI Publisher
- Configure APEX to use BI Publisher as a Print Server
- Enabling Network Services in Oracle Database 11g
- Testing the Print Server
- Install BI Publisher Desktop
- Create report query in APEX
- Create report layout in MS Word
- Upload report layout to APEX
- Add button to a page and run the report
8.2 Install BI Publisher

1. Download BI Publisher fromhttp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-
publisher/downloads/index.html
2. Click the link BI Publisher 10.1.3.4.2 for Windows x86
3. Extract the file bipublisher_windows_x86_101342.zip
4. Run Setup on a Windows Server machine
5. Click Next in the Welcome Screen
6. In Specify File Location screenaccept the default Source and Destination and click
Next
7. For Installation Type select Basic and click Next
8. Enter and confirm a strong password in OC4J Administrator Password screen. I set it to
Shafi_2009, click Next
9. Click the Install button to start the installation
10. After successful installation the following informative text will be displayed. Write down
Username, Password, and URL address to access the BI Publisher interface.
The installation of Oracle BI Publisher 10.1.3.4.2 was successful.
These instructions are located in:
E:\OraHome_1\BI_Publisher_readme.txt
At the end of this installation BI Publisher will be started.
You may access it at the following URL:
http://localhost:9704/xmlpserver
as
Username: Administrator
Password: Administrator
For security, follow the Preferences link and reset the Administrator password under the
Account tab in the Preferences page.
Refer to the install.htm or install.pdf on your installation media for additional instructions
on completing the configuration of BI Publisher such as Installing and Configuring the
Scheduler.
If you selected Advanced Install, please see your Oracle Application Server documentation
on how to start and stop applications.
BI Publisher shows as xmlpserver in Oracle Containers for Java.
If you selected Basic Install, the following commands will start and stop BI Publisher.
Start:
E:\OraHome_1\oc4j_bi\bin\oc4j.cmd -start
Stop:
E:\OraHome_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar E:\OraHome_1\oc4j_bi\j2ee\home\admin.jar
ormi://localhost:23791 oc4jadmin Shafi_2009 -shutdown force
Installation Details:
Installation Directory: E:\OraHome_1
Installation Type: Oracle BI Publisher Basic
Installed Components: Oracle BI Publisher
Administrator Username: oc4jadmin
Documentation for Oracle BI Publisher is available at:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/xml-publisher/xmlpdocs.html
Documentation for Oracle Application Server and OC4J is available at:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/appserver1013.html
For more information on BI Publisher:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/xml-publisher/index.html
In order to keep your system up-to-date we encourage you to regularly check for the latest
certification and software updates via Oracle Metalink.
Oracle Metalink (http://metalink.oracle.com) will help you get the most out of your Oracle
products by providing access to technical information and assistance from Oracle Support
Services, including information about: product availability, certification, product alerts,
bug information, patches, technical solutions, logging service requests, and more.
11. Click the Exit button and confirm
12. In Windows, click Start > All Programs > Oracle BIPHome > Start BI Publisher
13. Open your browser and enter http://localhost:9704/xmlpserver
14. Enter Administrator and Administrator in Username and Password as indicated in the
above text
15. You will be logged in to Oracle BI Publisher
8.3 Configure APEX to use BI Publisher as a Print Server

1. On your client (Windows XP machine), open a browser and enter
http://localhost:8080/apex/apex_admin
2. Enter Admin and Shafi_2009 in Username and Password respectively
3. Click the Manage Instance icon
4. Click the Instance Settings link
5. Scroll down to the Report Printing section
6. Select the option Advanced for the Print Server
7. Enter name or IP of your BI Publisher server in the Print Server Host Address. In our
example it is 10.10.1.5.
8. Enter 9704 in Print Server Port or another port as indicated in the above installation text
9. Enter /xmlpserver/convert in Print Server Script
8.4 Enable Network Services in Oracle Database

By default, the ability to interact with network services is disabled in Oracle Database 11g release 1
(11.1). Therefore, if you are running Oracle Application Express with Oracle Database 11g release 1
(11.1), you must use the new DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN package to grant connect privilege
to any host for the APEX_040000 database user. Failing to grant these privileges results in issues
with:
- Sending outbound mail in Oracle Application Express.
- Users can call methods from the APEX_MAIL package, but issues arise when sending
outbound email.
- Using Web services in Oracle Application Express.
- PDF/report printing.
- Searching for content in online Help (that is, using the Find link).
Granting Connect Privileges

The following example is a less privileged demonstration of how to access resources on a local PC
and a host. This example would enable indexing of Oracle Application Express Online Help and
could possibly enable email and PDF printing. Perform the following steps on your Oracle XE
database machine, in our scenario it is Windows XP client.
1. Create the following two script files APEXprintPDFLocal.SQL and
APEXprintPDFHost.SQL in Notepad and save the files on your C drive:
-- APEXprintPDFLocal.SQL - Granting Connect Privileges to a Local Host
DECLARE
ACL_PATH VARCHAR2(4000);
ACL_ID RAW(16);
BEGIN
-- Look for the ACL currently assigned to 'localhost' and give APEX_040000
-- the "connect" privilege if APEX_040000 does not have the privilege yet.
SELECT ACL INTO ACL_PATH FROM DBA_NETWORK_ACLS
WHERE HOST = 'localhost' AND LOWER_PORT IS NULL AND UPPER_PORT
NULL;
-- Before checking the privilege, make sure that the ACL is valid
-- (for example, does not contain stale references to dropped users).
-- If it does, the following exception will be raised:
--
-- ORA-44416: Invalid ACL: Unresolved principal 'APEX_040000'
-- ORA-06512: at "XDB.DBMS_XDBZ", line ...
--
SELECT SYS_OP_R2O(extractValue(P.RES, '/Resource/XMLRef')) INTO ACL_ID

FROM XDB.XDB$ACL A, PATH_VIEW P
WHERE extractValue(P.RES, '/Resource/XMLRef') = REF(A) AND
EQUALS_PATH(P.RES, ACL_PATH) = 1;
DBMS_XDBZ.ValidateACL(ACL_ID);
IF DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CHECK_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PAT
'APEX_040000',
'connect') IS NULL THEN
DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ADD_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PATH,
'APEX_040000', TRUE, 'connect');
END IF;
EXCEPTION
-- When no ACL has been assigned to 'localhost'.
WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CREATE_ACL('local-access-users.xml',
'ACL that lets power users to connect to everywhere',
DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ASSIGN_ACL('local-access-users.xml','localhost');
END;
/
COMMIT;
-- APEXprintPDFHost.SQL - Granting Connect Privileges to a Host

DECLARE
ACL_PATH VARCHAR2(4000);
ACL_ID RAW(16);
BEGIN
-- Look for the ACL currently assigned to '*' and give APEX_040000
-- the "connect" privilege if APEX_040000 does not have the privilege yet.
SELECT ACL INTO ACL_PATH FROM DBA_NETWORK_ACLS

WHERE HOST = '*' AND LOWER_PORT IS NULL AND UPPER_PORT IS NULL;
-- Before checking the privilege, make sure that the ACL is valid
-- (for example, does not contain stale references to dropped users).
-- If it does, the following exception will be raised:
--
-- ORA-44416: Invalid ACL: Unresolved principal 'APEX_040000'
-- ORA-06512: at "XDB.DBMS_XDBZ", line ...
--
SELECT SYS_OP_R2O(extractValue(P.RES, '/Resource/XMLRef')) INTO ACL_ID
FROM XDB.XDB$ACL A, PATH_VIEW P
WHERE extractValue(P.RES, '/Resource/XMLRef') = REF(A) AND
EQUALS_PATH(P.RES, ACL_PATH) = 1;
DBMS_XDBZ.ValidateACL(ACL_ID);
IF DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CHECK_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PAT
'APEX_040000',
'connect') IS NULL THEN
DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ADD_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PATH,
END IF;
EXCEPTION
-- When no ACL has been assigned to '*'.
WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CREATE_ACL('power_users.xml',
'ACL that lets power users to connect to everywhere',
DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ASSIGN_ACL('power_users.xml','*');
END;
/
COMMIT;
2. Click Run SQL Command Line

3. On the SQL prompt enter, connect sys as sysdba and enter the sys user password. I set it
to manager.
4. Type @c:\apexprintpdflocal.sql and press Enter
5. Type @c:\apexprintpdfhost.sql and press Enter
6. PL/SQL procedure successfully completed message should appear for both scripts
8.5 Test the Print Server

1. Open a browser on your client machine and type http://localhost:8080/apex and connect
to your workspace
2. Open APEX Sample Application and Run it
3. Click the Customers tab
4. Click the button Edit Page 2 in the Developers Toolbar
5. Click the Interactive Report Link under Regions section
6. Scroll down to the Download section and put a check on PDF and apply changes
7. Run the page
8. Click the Actions button and select the Download option
9. Click the PDF option
10. Click the Open button to view the report in Adobe Reader. The report will be displayed.
Alternatively, you can save it to your hard disk using the Save File option
8.6 Install BI Publisher Desktop

To avoid version conflicts, we will download BI Publisher Desktop from our BI Publisher Sever.
Perform the following steps after installing MS Word 2000 or later on your client machine.
1. On Windows XP client type http://10.10.1.5:9704/xmlpserver in a new browser session

2. Enter Administrator and Administrator for the username and password, click Sign In
Figure 8-1
3. Click the MY Folders link

4. Click the Template Builder download link under Developer Tools section
5. Click the Save File button to save BIPublisherDesktop.exe
6. Switch to the download location and launch the .exe file
7. Select your language and accept the default installation path
8. Once the installation completes, Invoke MS Word
9. Click the Add-Ins menu. If you are using Word 2007, the BI Publisher plug-in should look
like Figure 8-2
8.7 Create Monthly Order Review Report

In Chapter 6 section 6.3.4, we created an on-screen alternative report named Monthly Review to see
details of monthly orders. In this exercise we will create a PDF version of that report. We assume
that Oracle BI Publisher is up and running on your host (in our example it is 10.10.1.5). Log in to
APEX workspace ASA and open the APEX Sample Application.
8.7.1 Create the Report Query

1. Click the Shared Components icon
2. Click Report Queries link under the Reports Section
3. Click Create
4. Type Monthly_Review in Report Query Name, set Output Format to PDF, View File As to
Attachment, and click Next
5. Enter the following statement in SQL Query and click Next:
select
o.order_id,
to_char(o.order_timestamp,'Month yyyy') order_month,
o.order_timestamp order_date,
c.cust_last_name || ', ' || c.cust_first_name customer_name, c.cust_state,
u.user_name sales_rep,
(select count(*) from demo_order_items oi where oi.order_id = o.order_id)
order_items,
o.order_total
from
demo_orders o,
demo_customers c,
demo_users u
where
o.customer_id = c.customer_id
and o.user_id = u.user_id
6. Select XML Data for Data Source for Report Layout, click the Download button, select
Save File, and click OK. A file named Monthly_Review.xml will be saved to your disk.
7. Click the Create Report Query button
8. Click Test Report. If the BI Publisher server is down, you will see the error ORA-29273:
HTTP request failed ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_HTTP", line 1324 ORA-12570: TNS:pack
reader failure. Start the server and try again. In the popup dialog box, select Open with Adobe
Acrobat and click OK. A generic PDF output similar to Figure 8-3 appears. Click Finish.
Figure 8-3
8.7.2 Create Report Template in MS Word
1. Start Microsoft Word

2. Click Add-Ins on the menu bar
3. Click Data beside Oracle BI Publisher and then Load XML Data
4. Open Monthly_Review.xml file that we created in the previous section. Data Loaded
Successfully message is displayed.
5. Click Insert and then Table Wizard
6. Select Table in Report Format and click Next
7. Click Next to accept ROWSET/ROW for Data Set
Select all the fields by moving them to the right pane using the double arrow button and click
Next
9. Select Order Month in the first drop down list under Group By and click Next
10. Select Order ID for sorting data, click Next
11. Change Cust State label to State
12. Click Finish. An output similar to Figure 8-4 will be displayed.
Figure 8-4
13. Save the template, enter Monthly_Review in the File name, select Rich Text Format as
the Save as type and click Save
14. Click Preview and select PDF. The output as show in Figure 8-5 is displayed.
Figure 8-5
15. Close the PDF and switch back to MS Word
8.7.3 Format Report

1. Place the cursor in front of ORDER_MONTH and type Order Month: to act as a label.
Use MS Word standard tools to change font, color and size. Drag the column width to the
desired size.
2. Click the ORDER_TOTAL field and right-align it. Double click it to call its properties.
Select Number for Type and #,##0.00 for Format and click OK
3. Insert a blank line above group ROW by Order_Month to add report title. Type ABC
CORPORATION and Monthly Orders Review Report on the subsequent line. You can also
add logo and page number using the Header and Footer options in MS Word.
8.7.4 Conditional Formatting

In these steps we are going to change font and background color of orders for which the amount is
less than or equal to 900 as we did in the on-screen report in chapter 6.
1. Click the Order Total field to select it
2. Click the Add-Ins menu
3. Click Insert and then select Conditional Format
4. Select field ORDER_TOTAL for Data field, select Number in the adjacent list, put a
check on Apply to Entire Table Row, select Less than or equal to in the Data field, enter 900
in the box next to the Data field, click the Format button, check the Background Color, click
the Select button to choose different Font and Background colors and click OK
5. Preview your work and see the application of conditional formatting to all the rows having
Order Total less than or equal to 900.
Use the same procedure and change font and background color for orders greater than 2000. Select
Greater than for the condition and enter 2000 in the value. After completion, preview the report to
check your work.
8.7.5 Summary Calculation

In this section we will add a summary to reveal average orders for the month.
1. Place your cursor on the line above end ROW by ORDER_MONTH text
2. Click the Insert menu under Add-Ins and select Field
3. In the Field dialog box, select the Order Total field, select average for Calculation, put a
check mark on On Grouping and click the Insert button. A summary field, average
ORDER_TOTAL will be added
4. Add label Monthly Average: and align it to the right under the Order Total field
8.7.6 Add a Summary Chart
1. Insert a blank row above group ROW by ORDER_MONTH

2. Click Insert and select Chart under the Add-Ins menu
3. From the Data tree, drag field ORDER_TOTAL to the Values box, set Aggregation to
Sum, drag ORDER_MONTH to Labels, put a check on Group Data, select Bar Graph -
Horizontal for Type, April for Style and click OK. The completed screen should look like
Figure 8-6.
4. Right click the chart in MS Word and select Insert Caption. Type Monthly Orders Chart
in Caption.
8.7.7 Add a Pivot Table

1. In MS Word click the line just after end ROW by ORDER_MONTH
2. Click Insert and select Pivot Table under the Add-Ins menu
3. Drag fields CUST_STATE, CUSTOMER_NAME, ORDER_MONTH, an
ORDER_TOTAL to the layout section as shown in Figure 8-7, click Preview and then the OK
button to save the table.
Preview your work after formatting the table so that it matches the output shown in Figure 8-8
Figure 8-8
4. Close the preview. Save the template and close MS Word.
That's it. You have created a professional looking report template in MS Word. It’s easy, isn't it? In
the next section, we are going to integrate the template by uploading this layout to our APEX
application.
8.8 Upload Report Template to APEX

1. Click the Shared Components icon
2. Click Report Layouts under Reports
3. Click Create
4. Select the option Named Columns (RTF) and click Next
5. In Layout Name enter Monthly_Review, click the Browse button and select the MS Word
template file Monthly_Review.rtf that we created in the previous section.
6. Click the Create Layout button
7. Click the Shared Components breadcrumb
8. Click the Report Queries link
9. Click the Monthly Review icon
10. In Report Query Attributes, change Report Layout from Use Generic Report Layout to
Monthly_Review, the layout we created in steps 2 through 6 above.
We created the Report Layout in APEX by uploading the MS Word Template and linked it to our
Report Query. In the next section we will create a button on our Orders page to run the Monthly
Orders Review report.
8.9 Run the Report

In this section we will add a button, named Print, and a branch to the Orders page to run the report.
1. Click Application 101 breadcrumb
2. Open the Orders page (Page 4)
3. Click Create under Buttons
4. Select the option Orders (1) 5 in region selection, click Next
5. Select the option Create a button in a region position, click Next
6. Enter PRINT in Button Name and Monthly Review Report in Label, click Next
7. Select Right of Interactive Report Search Bar for Position and click Next
9. Create a new Branch
10. Accept the default option in the initial screen and click Next
11. S e l e c t Page in this Application for Branch Target, enter 0 in Page, enter
PRINT_REPORT=Monthly_Review in Request, click Next
12. Enter 5 in Sequence and select PRINT (Monthly Review Report) for When Button
Pressed
14. Click Application 101 breadcrumb and run the application
15. Click the Orders Tab. You will see the button Monthly Review Report next to Enter New
Order
16. Click the button and open the report with Adobe Acrobat which should look something like
Figure 8-9 and Figure 8-10. I formatted the layout using the standard MS Word tools, including
header-footer, tables, page number, font etc.
Figure 8-9
Figure 8-10
Congratulations! You have successfully created a professional looking report that not only matches
the on-screen report of chapter 6 but also adds more value to it by incorporating a pivot table to
display the same data from a different angle. Add a new order through the application and see the
automatic reflection in the report.
8.10 Create a Commercial Invoice

In this exercise, you will generate commercial invoice for the placed Orders. We are going to use the
same techniques as we did in the previous section. This time we will utilize session state to pass
master data from the Order form to the Invoice report.
8.10.1 Create Query for the Invoice
1. Click Shared Components

2. Click the Report Queries link
3. Click Create
4. Enter Invoice in the Report Query Name box, select PDF for Output Format, select
Attachment for View File As and check the Session State. Click the List of Values button,
select P29_CUSTOMER_ID and click the Add button to add this field to the Items selection
list. Using the same procedure, add fields from Page 29 as shown in the following figure and
proceed to the next page.
Figure 8-11
5. In SQL Query enter the following statement and click Next:
select oi.ORDER_ITEM_ID, pi.PRODUCT_NAME, oi.UNIT_PRICE, oi.QUANTIT
oi.Unit_Price * oi.Quantity as Amount, c.cust_first_name || ' ' || c.cust_last_name as
customer, c.cust_street_address1, c.cust_street_address2, c.cust_city, c.cust_state,
c.cust_postal_code, u.user_name
from DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS oi, DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO
DEMO_CUSTOMERS c, DEMO_USERS u
where pi.PRODUCT_ID=oi.PRODUCT_ID and ORDER_id = :P29_ORDER_ID a
customer_id = :P29_CUSTOMER_ID and user_id = :P29_USER_ID
6. Select XML Data for Report Layout Data Source, click the Download button and save the
file Invoice.xml to your hard drive.
7. Click Create Report Query
8. Test the output and click Finish
8.10.2 Create Invoice Template in MS Word
You have the option to create the template yourself or use one from the templates provided in MS
Word.
1. Open MS Word
2. Click New on the main menu
3. From the Templates pane select Invoices, selected Sales Invoices from the middle pane,
select an invoice template and click the Download button. The invoice template will appear in
MS Word.
4. Click the Add-Ins menu and load XML data by selecting Invoice.xml file
5. Click Insert, select Field, drag P29_Order_Id and drop it in the box labeled INVOICE #.
Drop Order_Timestamp, User Name, Customer ID, Customer, Address1, Address2, City,
State and Postal Code fields to their respective boxes.
6. Click Insert, Table Wizard, Table and click Next
7. For Data Set select Document/Region/RowSet/Row option and click Next
8. Select fields Product Name, Quantity, Unit Price, and Amount and move them to the
right pane and click Finish
9. Drop the field Order Total in the summary section next to Total Amount
10. Format the template and its fields and save it as Invoice.rtf
8.10.3 Upload the Template to APEX
2. Click Report Layout
3. Click Create
4. Select Named Columns (RTF)
5. Type Invoice in Layout Name
6. Click the Browse button and select Invoice.rft file
7. Click the Shared Components breadcrumb
8. Click Report Queries
9. Click the Invoice query
10. Select Invoice for Report Layout
8.10.4 Call the Report from a Page
In this section we will add a button, named Print Invoice, and a branch to the Order Detail page to run
the invoice.
1. Click Application 101 breadcrumb

2. Open the Order Details page (Page 29)
3. Click Create under Buttons
4. Select the option Order #&P29_ORDER_ID. (1)10 in region selection, click Next
5. Select the option Create a button in a region position, click Next
6. Enter PRINT in Button Name and Print Invoice in Label, click Next
7. Select Region Template Position #CREATE# for Position and click Next
9. Create a new Branch
10. Accept the default option in the initial screen and click Next
11. S e l e c t Page in this Application for Branch Target, enter 0 in Page, enter
PRINT_REPORT=Invoice in Request, click Next
12. Enter 5 in Sequence and select PRINT (Print Invoice) for When Button Pressed, click
Next
13. In Condition Type select Value of Item in Expression 1 is NOT NULL and enter
P29_ORDER_ID in Expression 1
8.10.5 Test Your Work

1. Click Application 101 and run it
2. Click the Orders Tab
3. Click an order to call its detail page
4. The Print Invoice button should appear on the right hand side. Click it and Open the report
with Adobe Acrobat. I created my own invoice template which looked like Figure 8-12
Figure 8-12
8.11 Summary
Complex printing is the essence of modern applications that lacked in initial APEX versions. The
introduction of print server has bridged this gap to create any kind of report to monitor your business
activities in real time. This chapter provided you the following essential information to fulfill your
reporting needs:
- Download, install and use Oracle BI Publisher as your print server

- Configure APEX to use BI Publisher as a print server
- How to enable networking services
- Install BI Publisher Desktop and create report templates in MS Word
- Created PDF version of an interactive report
- Used Pivot Table
- Created a Commercial Invoice
Chapter 9 - User Management
9.1 About Users Management

In this chapter we are going to implement custom authentication scheme and will create two pages
under the Administration tab to manage users. These two pages will be displayed only to the users
with admin privileges and will allow to:
- Add a new user
- Remove selected users
- Change password
The custom authentication scheme uses CUSTOM_AUTH and CUSTOM_HASH database function
to store obfuscated passwords in a table. The Manage Users page – Page 8, enables you to create
additional users and remove selected users while Page 9 allows users to change their passwords.
9.1.1 CUSTOM_AUTH Function
create or replace function custom_auth (p_username in VARCHAR2, p_password in VARCHAR2)

return BOOLEAN
is
l_password varchar2(4000);
l_stored_password varchar2(4000);
l_expires_on date;
l_count number;
begin
-- First, check to see if the user is in the user table
select count(*) into l_count from demo_users where user_name = p_username;
if l_count > 0 then
-- First, we fetch the stored hashed password & expire date
select password, expires_on into l_stored_password, l_expires_on
from demo_users where user_name = p_username;
-- Next, we check to see if the user's account is expired

-- If it is, return FALSE
if l_expires_on > sysdate or l_expires_on is null then
-- If the account is not expired, we have to apply the custom hash
-- function to the password
l_password := custom_hash(p_username, p_password);
-- Finally, we compare them to see if they are the same and return
-- either TRUE or FALSE
if l_password = l_stored_password then
return true;
else
return false;
end if;
else
return false;
end if;
else
-- The username provided is not in the DEMO_USERS table
return false;
end if;
end;
9.1.2 CUSTOM_HASH Function
create or replace function custom_hash (p_username in varchar2, p_password in varchar2)

return varchar2
is
l_password varchar2(4000);
l_salt varchar2(4000) := '477CS6K6QC64KCDIDEYT7I0S4OOIIY';
begin
-- This function should be wrapped, as the hash algorhythm is exposed here.

-- You can change the value of l_salt or the method of which to call the
-- DBMS_OBFUSCATOIN toolkit, but you much reset all of your passwords
-- if you choose to do this.
l_password := utl_raw.cast_to_raw(dbms_obfuscation_toolkit.md5
(input_string => p_password || substr(l_salt,10,13) || p_username ||
substr(l_salt, 4,10)));
return l_password;
end;

9.2 The Manage Users Page – Page 8

2. Click Form icon
3. Click Tabular Form
5. Click to call List of Value, click DEMO_USERS table, click Next
6. In Select Column list select the following columns except Password using Ctrl+Click:
USER_ID, USER_NAME, CREATED_ON, QUOTA, PRODUCTS, EXPIRES_O
ADMIN_USER
7. Select USER_ID for Primary Key Column 1, click Next
8. Click Existing Sequence icon, select DEMO_USERS_SEQ for Sequence, click Next
9. In Updatable Columns select all columns, click Next
10. Enter 8 in Page, Manager Users in Page Name and Region Title, set Breadcrumb to Main
Menu, click the Home link to select it as Parent Entry and click Next
11. Click on Use an existing tab set and reuse an existing tab within that tab set, select Tab
Set TS1, click Next
12. Select T_ADMINISTRATION for Use Tab, click Next
13. Change labels to Cancel, Remove Selected Users, Save Changes, and Add Userfor
cancel, submit, delete, and add row buttons, click Next
14. Accept the default pages for Identify Branching and click Next
15. Click Finish
16. Click Edit Page

1. Click Edit under Page section, scroll down to Security Seciton
2. Set Authorization Scheme to Admin Users

2. Set Display Point to Page Template Body (2. Items below region content)
3. Enter the following SQL statement in Region Source to replace the existing one:
select
"USER_ID",
"USER_NAME",
"CREATED_ON",
"QUOTA", decode(password, null, 'Set Password', 'Reset Password') rp,
products,
expires_on,
admin_user
from "#OWNER#"."DEMO_USERS"
where user_name != 'ADMIN'

5. Click Report beside Manage Users in the Region Section
6. Edit the CREATED_ON column using icon
7. Set Display As to Display as Text (escape special characters, does not save state)
8. Enter DD-MON-YYYY in Date Format
9. Enter 16 in Element Width and apply changes
10. Edit the RP column using icon
11. Set Display As to Standard Report Column
12. Go to Column Link section, set the following attributes and apply changes:
13. Edit QUOTA column

14. Set Format Mask to $5,234.10, apply changes
15. Edit PRODUCTS column
16. In Column Attributes, set Display As to Radio Group (named LOV), remove values from
Element Width to clear it, and enter 2 in Number of Columns (Radio Group)
17. In List of Values section, set Named LOV to Y OR N, Display Extra Values to No
18. In Tabular Form Attributes section, enter Y in Default, and set Reference Table Owner to
no reference selected, apply changes
19. Edit ADMIN_USER column
20. In Column Attributes, set Display As to Select List (named LOV), remove values from
Element Width to clear it, and enter 2 in Number of Columns (Radio Group)
21. In List of Values section, set Named LOV to Y OR N, Display Extra Values to No
22. In Tabular Form Attributes section, enter N in Default, and set Reference Table Owner to
no reference selected, apply changes
23. Set column headings, alignments and other attributes as show in Figure 9-1 and apply
changes:
Figure 9-1

1. Click under Buttons section, set the following attributes and Apply Changes:
2. Scroll down to Action When Button Clicked section, set Action to Submit Page and
Execute Validation to Yes and apply changes
9.2.4 Create Validation – User Name Not Null

3. Click SQL
4. Click Next to accept the default Exists attribute
5. Enter 10 in Sequence and USER NAME NOT NULL in Validation Name, click Next
6. In Validation enter USER_NAME, and type #COLUMN_HEADER# must have a value
in Error Message
7. Click Create
8. Click to edit the newly created validation
9. In the Validation section, set Type to Column specified is NOT NULL
9.2.5 Create Validation – Products Not Null

3. Click SQL
4. Click Next to accept the default Exists attribute
5. Enter 30 in Sequence and PRODUCTS not null in Validation Name, click Next
6. In Validation enter PRODUCTS, and type #COLUMN_HEADER# must have a valuein
Error Message
7. Click Create
8. Click to edit the newly created validation
9. In the Validation section, set Type to Column specified is NOT NULL
9.2.6 Create Process – ApplyMRU

3. Select Multi Row Update and click Next
4. Enter ApplyMRU in Name, 30 in Sequence and click Next
5. Select ASA for Table/View Owner, enter DEMO_USERS in Table/View Name,
USER_ID in Primary Key Column Name, and click Next
6. In Success Message type #MRU_COUNT# row(s) updated, #MRI_COUNT# row(s
inserted. and Unable to process update in Failure Message, click Next
7. Select ADD (Add User) for When Button Pressed
9.2.7 Create Process – Add Row

3. Select Add rows to tabular form and click Next
4. Enter AddRows in Name, 40 in Sequence and click Next
5. Enter 1 in Number of Rows
6. In Failure Message type Unable to add row in Failure Message, click Next
7. Select ADD (Add User) for When Button Pressed
9.3 The Reset Password Page – Page 9

2. Click Form icon
3. Click Form on a Table or View
5. Click to call List of Value, click DEMO_USERS table, click Next
6. Enter 9 in Page, Reset Password in Page Name and Region Title, set Breadcrumb to Main
Menu, click the Manage Users link to select it as Parent Entry and click Next
Tab Set TS1, click Next
8. Select T_ADMINISTRATION for Use Tab, click Next
9. Select USER_ID for Primary Key Column 1, click Next
10. Click Existing Sequence icon, select DEMO_USERS_SEQ for Sequence, click Next
11. In the next screen select USER_NAME and PASSWORD columns and click Next
12. Select No for Show Create Button and Show Delete Button, setYes for Show Save Button
and enter Reset Password in the corresponding label, click Next
13. Enter 8 both in After Page Submit and Processing Branch to Pageand When Cancel
Button Pressed Branch to this Page, click Next
14. Click Finish
15. Click Edit Page

1. Click Edit under Page section, scroll down to Security Seciton
2. Set Authorization Scheme to Admin Users

2. Enter Reset Password for &P9_USER_NAME.in Title (put a period after the word
NAME)
3. Set Template to Reports Region
4. Set Display Point to Page Template Body (2. Items below region content)
5. Set Template to Reports Region
6. Set Condition Type to Value of Item in Expression 1 Is NOT NULL and enter
P9_USER_NAME in Expression 1
9.3.3 Create Region – Error!

1. Click Create in Regions
2. Click HTML
3. Click HTML
4. Enter Error! in Title, set Region Template to Form Region, Display Point to Page
Template Body (2. Items below region content) and click Next
5. In HTML Text Region Source enter You cannot reset the password before you Apply
changes to a new user. Click Next
6. In Condition Type select Value of Item in Expression 1 Is Null and enter
P9_USER_NAME in Expression 1

1. Click the Cancel button in the Buttons region
2. Set Button Position to Region Template Position #CHANGE#
3. In Action When Button Clicked section, set Action to Submit Page and Execute Validation
to Yes and apply changes
4. Edit the Reset Password button
5. Enter RESET_PW in Button Name
6. Set Button Template to Button, Alternative 1 – Hot Button
7. Set Action to Submit Page
8. Set Database Action to No Database Action
9. Set Button NOT Conditional for Condition Type

1. Edit item P9_USER_ID
2. Set Begin On New Line to No
3. Set Value Protected to No
4. Set Source Used to Only when current value in session state is null
5. Set Source Type to Static Assignment (value equals source attribute)
6. Delete USER_ID from Source value or expression to make it null
8. Edit item P9_USER_NAME
9. Set Display As to Display Only
10. Set Begin On New Line to No
11. Remove label to make it blank
12. Set Show Line Breaks to No
15. Delete USER_NAME from Source value or expression to make it null
16. Set Condition Type to Never
17. Set Escape Special Characters to No
19. Edit item P9_PASSWORD
20. Set Display As to Password
21. Enter 30 in Width and 2000 in Maximum Width
22. Type Enter New Password in label
23. Using the LOV select nowrap="nowrap" for HTML Table Cell Attributes
24. Set Submit when Enter pressed to No
25. Set Does not save state to No
28. Delete PASSWORD from Source value or expression to make it null
9.3.6 Create Item

1. Click Create in Items
2. Click on Password
3. Enter P9_NEW_PW_2 in Item Name and set Region to Reset Password for
&P9_USER_NAME. (1) 10, click Next
4. Type Re-Enter New Password in Label, set Field Alignment to Left, Label Template to
Required with help, and click Next
5. Set Submit when Enter pressed to No
6. Set Does not save state to No
7. Click Next
Note the Delete any Processes under Page Rendering Section
9.3.7 Create Validation – Passwords Must Match

1. Click Create in Validations
3. Click PL/SQL
4. Select Function Returning Boolean and click Next
5. Enter Passwords must match in Validation Name, set Error Display Location to Inline in
Notification , and click Next
6. In Validation enter the following PL/SQL expression:
begin
if :P9_NEW_PW = :P9_NEW_PW_2 then
return true;
else
return false;
end if;
end;
7. In Error Message type Your passwords must be the same. Please re-enter.
8. Click Next
9. Click Create
10. Edit the newly created validation
11. Scroll down to Error Message section and set Associate Item to P9_NEW_PW and apply
changes
9.3.8 Delete Processes

1. Click Process Row of DEMO_USERS in Processes under Page Processing
2. Click the Delete button and confirm deletion
3. Click reset page process and delete it as well
9.3.9 Create Processes – Update Password

1. Click Create in Processes
2. Click PL/SQL
3. Enter Update Password in Name and click Next
4. In Enter PL/SQL Page Process type the following statement:
update demo_users set password = custom_hash(:P9_USER_NAME, :P9_NEW_PW)
where user_name = upper(:P9_USER_NAME);
5. Click Next
6. In Success Message type Password for &P9_USER_NAME. Updated.
9.3.10 Modify Branch

1. Click under Branches
2. Set On Submit: Before computation (Before Computation, Validation, and Processing)
for Branch Point
4. Select CANCEL (Cancel) for When Button pressed
5. Apply Changes
9.3.11 Create Branch

2. Accept the default attributes and click Next
3. Enter 8 in Page and put a check on include process success message, click Next
4. Enter 10 in Sequence and select RESET_PW (Reset Password) for When Button Pressed
9.4 Test your Work
1. Click Run button.
2. Click the Home tab and then the Administration Tab. The screen should look like Figure 9-2. If
not, log in as admin.
Figure 9-2
3. Click the Reset Password link for the user DEMO. The password reset page should be
displayed as shown in Figure 9-3.
Figure 9-3
4. Enter demo in Enter New Password and Re-Enter New Password, and click theReset
Password button. Password for DEMO updated, message appears. Please note that the
passwords are case sensitive.
5. Click the Add User button. A blank row will appear.
6. Enter the following values and click the Save Changes button:
7. The Reset Password column value for the newly created user, TEST, is set to SET PASSWORD
indicating a new user. Click SET PASSWORD link to set password for the user TEST.
8. Enter test in Enter New Password and Re-Enter New Password, and click theReset Password
button. Once again the update password message appears.
9. Click the logout link in the navigation bar.
10. Enter TEST and test in username and password to login.
11. Click the Administration Tab.
12. You will get Access denied by Page security check. You need to be an Admin User in order
to view this page message. Click the OK button to move back.
13. Click the Products tab. Note that the Create Products button is not visible because we set NO
for Edit Product for the user TEST to prevent him from manipulating products data.
9.5 Hide the Administration Tab

As you saw in the previous exercise, a non-admin user received Access Denied message when he
clicked on the administration tab. In this exercise we will hide this tab altogether from unauthorized
users.
1. Click Application 101 in the Developers Toolbar

2. Click the big Shared Components icon
3. In the Navigation section, click Tabs
4. Click Manage Tabs
5. Click the Administration link , click to edit its attribute
6. Click the Authorization tab, set Authorization Scheme to Admin Users and click Apply
Changes
7. Click Application 101 tab
8. Click Run Application. If you are logged in as either DEMO or TEST, the Administration tab
will not be displayed.
9. Click Logout link in the Navigation bar
10. Enter admin and asa in username and password respectively.
11. The Administration tab is visible now. Click on it and check other functionalities.
9.6 Application Feedback

We created the feedback link in chapter 2 section 2.5.4 (b) to collect feedback from application
users. Once created, the feedback is then available within Team Development. In this exercise we’re
going to create Page 102 to collect information from end users.
2. Click Feedback Page icon
3. Enter 102 in Page Number and select No for Create Navigation Bar Entry. We already
have the feedback entry in it.
4. Click Create
6. Click Run Application icon
7. Click the Feedback link
8. Type Everything is working fine in feedback
9. Click Submit Feedback button
11. Click Team Development tab
12. Click Feedback Icon
13. Click the Feedback tab. The screen should look like Figure 9-4
Figure 9-4
You can enter follow up for the received feedback, log it as a bug, as a To-do, and as a feature. Click
on the calendar tab to see number of feedbacks along with application ID. Check the other tabs that
graphically present feedback statistics.
9.7 Summary
You were taught the following skills in this chapter:
- Implement custom authentication scheme

- Add and Remove users and change their Passwords
- Apply Products authorization scheme through database
- Usage of Tabular Form
- Hiding tab from unauthorized users
- Add feedback page to the application
This chapter concludes our effort to build a professional looking web application in Oracle
Application Express. It’s the time to give it a complete run prior to deploying it to a test or production
machine. In the final part of this book, you will learn how to move this application from your
computer to another environment and how to access the application.
Chapter 10 - Deploy and Access APEX Application
10.1 About Application Deployment
APEX application deployment consists of two steps. Export the desired components to a script file,
and import the script file into your production environment. Till now, you were running the
application on your computer. Having completed the development phase, you will definitely run the
application in a production environment. For this, you have to decide where and how the application
will run. The following section provides you some deployment options to choose from.
10.1.1 No Deployment: The development environment becomes the production environment and
nothing is moved to another computer. In this option users are provided just the URL to access
application.
10.1.2 Application: You will use this option if the target computer is already running a production
Oracle database with all underlying objects. You only need to export the application and import it
into the target database.
10.1.3 Application and Table Structures: In this deployment option you have to create two scripts,
one for your application and another for the database table structures using Generate DDL utility in
SQL Workshop.
10.1.4 Application, Database Objects with Data: We are going to use this option to deploy our
application along with all database objects and will utilize oracle's data pump utility to export data
from the development machine to the production environment.
10.1.5 Individual Components: With the development phase going on, you can supplement your
deployment plan with the export of selective components. We will see how this option can be used
when we will export our application logo.
For simplicity, we will deploy the application on the same development computer using another
schema and workspace to understand the deployment concept. The same technique is applicable to the
production environment.
In this exercise the following tasks will be performed:
- Export application from the existing workspace, ASA
- Export data from the existing schema, ASA, using Oracle’s data pump utility
- Export application logo to demonstrate selective component export
- Create a new Workspace, ASACLONE, to hold the application
- Create a new Oracle user, ASACLONE, to hold the backed up database objects
- Access the application in LAN and through the internet
10.2 Export Application

The first step is to export the application to be imported into a new workspace.
1. Login to the application and click the Application Builder icon
2. Click APEX Sample Application icon
3. Click Import/Export icon as show in Figure 10-1
Figure 10-1
4. Click the Export icon

5. Set Application to APEX Sample Application, File Format to DOS, Export Supporting Object
Definitions to No, and click Export Application button
6. Select the Save File option and click the OK button. A file named f101.sql will be saved into
the Download folder under My Documents.
10.3 Export Data

During the application development phase, we entered some seed data to test our work. Here we are
going to export that data and other database objects to utilize them in our test/production
environment.
We will be using Oracle’s export and import data pump utilities to achieve the task.
1. Create a folder named datapump under the database folder like this C:\OracleXE\datapump.
2. Run the SQL Command Line utility using Start > All Program > Oracle Database 11g Express
Edition
3. On the SQL prompt type connect system/manager and press Enter. The connected message
appears.
4. On the SQL prompt type create directory datapump as ‘c:\oraclexe\datapump’; and press
Enter. Directory Created message appears.
5. Open a command prompt using Start > Run > type cmd in the Open box and click OK
6. T y p e cd c:\oraclexe\datapump and press Enter. The prompt should look like
C:\OracleXE\datapump>.
7. Ty p e ExpDP system/manager schemas=ASA directory=datapump dumpfile=ASA.dmp
logfile=ASAexport.log and press Enter. Successfully completed message should appear.
10.4 Export Selective Component
In the following steps we will export our application’s logo to demonstrate how individual
components can be exported in APEX.
1. Click the Application Builder tab

2. Click the Export button
3. Click on the Images link
4. In Choose Application, select APEX Sample Application set File Format to DOS
5. Click the Export Images button
6. Select the Save File option and click the OK button. A file named f101_img.sql will be saved
into the Download folder under My Documents.
10.5 Lock and Unlock Application

After finishing the development task, and applying patches received through users’ feedback, it’s a
good practice to lock down your application to prevent users from accessing the development
environment. In this exercise we are going to make the application unavailable for further
modifications on the development computer.

3. Click Shared Components icon
4. Click Edit Definition link on the sidebar
5. Click on Availability tab
6. Change Build Status to Run Application Only
If required in future, the following steps will be performed to unlock the locked application.
1. Enter http://localhost:8080/apex/apex_admin in the browser

2. Provide Admin username and password. We are required to change the existing manager
password that we will do in the next section.
3. Click Manage Workspace icon as indicated in Figure 10-2
Figure 10-2
4. In Manager Applications section click Build Status

5. Edit the application you want to unlock and set Build Status to Run and Build Application
7. Logout
8. Enter http://localhost:8080/apex/ in your browser
9. Login to the workspace
10. Click Application Builder. The application icon changed. Now you can modify the application.
10.6 Create a new Workspace

We need a new workspace to import the application.
1. Enter http://localhost:8080/apex/apex_admin in your browser to access the administration

page
2. Enter Admin in username and manager in password. This is the same password you provided
during the database setup.
3. You will be asked to change this password. Enter manager in Enter Current Password and
Shafi_2009 in Enter New Password and confirm it in the next box. You can provide your own
complex password using at least one numeric character, one punctuation character, and one
upper-case alphabetic character.
4. Click the Manage Workspaces icon
5. Click the link Create Workspace under Workspace Actions section

6. Enter ASACLONE in Workspace Name and click Next
7. Select No for Re-use existing schema, enter ASACLONE in Schema Name, enter asaclone in
Schema Password, and click Next
8. In Administrator Username type ADMIN, enter 123 in Administrator Password, abc@abc.com
in email and click Next
9. Click Create Workspace button
10. The next screen indicates successful provision of the workspace. Click Done.
11. Click the link
10.7 Import Application
We have successfully created the workspace. Now it’s time to import the application into the newly
created workspace.
1. Enter http://localhost:8080/apex in your browser

2. Enter ASACLONE, Admin, 123 in Workspace, Username and Password respectively and click
the Login button
3. Change Password form appears. Enter 123 in Enter Current Password and asaclone both in New
Password and Confirmation boxes, click Apply Changes
4. Click the Return button to move back to the main login page to enter the workspace using the
current password
5. Enter ASACLONE, Admin, asaclone in Workspace, Username and Password respectively and
click the Login button. You will be successfully logged in.
6. Click the Application Builder icon
7. Click the Import button
8. Click the Browse button and select f101.sql file, leave File Type to the default Database
Application, Page or Component Export and click Next
9. A message, The export file has been imported successfully appears, click Next
10. Select ASACLONE for Parsing Schema, select Auto Assign New Application ID for Install As
Application
11. Click the Install button
12. In the next screen click on Run Application icon
13. Enter DEMO in Username, asaclone in Password, and click login
At first glance you will notice:

- No Logo
- Existence of Developer Toolbar, which should not appear in a deployed application
- Data that we entered in the source application does not exist
In the next sections we will rectify the above problems.
10.8 Import the Application Logo

We have successfully imported the application but without the logo. Remember that we exported the
logo to a separate file f101_img.sql. Here we will import that file to display the logo.

2. Click the Import button
3. Using the Browse button, select the file f101_img.sql
4. Select the option Image Export and click Next
5. Click Next
6. In Install Image select APEX Sample Application
7. Click Install Image button
10. Click Run Application. The logo appear.
10.9 Remove Developers Toolbar

We used the Developers Toolbar throughout this book to access the application source. In this
exercise we are going to prevent users from modify the application by suppressing the toolbar.
1. Click the Application101 button in the Developers Toolbar

2. Click on Shared Components
3. Click Globalization Attributes link
4. Click the Definition tab
5. Scroll down to Availability section, set Build Status to Run Application Only
7. The application icon changes as shown in Figure 10-3. You cannot run the application using this
icon. If you do so, you will get This application is installed but not editable message.
Figure 10-3
8. Open another session of your browser and type http://localhost:8080/apex/f?p=117 (replace

117 with your application ID). The Developer Toolbar is disappeared and users cannot access
the application source.
9. Close all browser windows
10.10 Import Data

While creating the workspace ASACLONE we created a database schema with the same name to
hold database objects. APEX not only created the schema but also created the default tables. Right
now, the deployed application is using the default data. In section 10.3 of this chapter we exported
data from the development environment. Our last task is to retrieve that data to complete our
deployment task.
1. Open the SQL Command Line utility and type connect system/manager, press Enter
2. Type drop user ASACLONE cascade; and press Enter
3. Type create user ASACLONE identified by clone default tablespace users; and press
Enter. User Created message appear
4. Type grant connect, resource to ASACLONE;and press Enter. Grant Succeeded message is
displayed.
5. Open a Windows command prompt
6. Type cd c:\oraclexe\datapump and press Enter. While importing data on a production server,
the datapump directory must be created as described in section 10.3 and must have the .dmp file.
7. T y p e ImpDP system/manager remap_schema=ASA:ASAclone
remap_tablespace=ASA:Users directory=datapump dumpfile=ASA.dmp
logfile=ASAimport.log and press Enter. All the objects are imported.
8. Open a new browser session and type http://localhost:8080/apex/f?p=117
9. In Username type demo and asaclone in the password. The Invalid Login Credentials message
appears, indicating that the default tables have been replaced by those in the development
environment. Type demo in the password. You’re logged in. Click the Customers tab and see
the data you entered in your development computer.
That’s it. We have successfully deployed our application on the same computer but in a different
workspace and schema. You can apply the same procedure to deploy the application in another
environment. In the next section we will try to connect this application in a LAN environment as well
as from the internet. It is assumed that you have deployed the application on a computer having two
network interface cards with static IP. One connected to the local area network and the other
connected to a DSL modem.
10.11 Accessing the Application

The following figure depicts a scenario to access the application in an office LAN and through the
internet.
Figure 10-4 Local and remote clients connected to Oracle APEX server
1. Office LAN
2. Database Server
3. LAN Clients
4. NIC-1 with static local IP 10.1.1.12
5. NIC-2 with static external IP 255.266.204.231
6. Remote Client
This scenario assumes that you have a computer, to act as the application server, with the following
components:
- Windows XP or higher OS
- Oracle Express Edition (XE) 11g
- APEX Sample Application deployed and running locally
- Two network interface cards, with static IP, connected to local area network and the internet
Perform the following steps to get the IP addresses of the server computer. In this scenario we will be
using 10.1.1.12 for the LAN and 255.266.204.231 for the internet.
1. Right-click the LAN connection in the task bar and click Open Network Connections
2. Right-click the Local Area Network connection and click Properties

3. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in the list and click the Properties button
4. Note down the IP address
5. Repeat the same process and write down the external IP address for the internet
10.11.1 Connect the application in Local Area Network

From a client computer in your LAN:
1. Open a browser session and type http://10.1.1.12:8080/apex/f?p=117 (replace 117 with your
application ID)
2. Type demo, demo for the Username and Password respectively
You may get an error message at this stage as show in Figure 10-5, indicating your computer or
network is protected by a firewall. If so, you need to create an exception in the Windows
Firewall to accept incoming connection on the APEX port that is 8080 in our scenario.
Figure 10-5
1. In Windows, click Start, click on Control Panel, and double click Windows Firewall icon
2. Click on the Exceptions tab
3. Click the Add Port button
4. Type APEX Port in Name, 8080 in Number, select TCP and click OK
5. Click OK to close the Windows Firewall dialog box
APEX Port exception is added to the Program and Services section which will now allow you to
access the application.
While working under Oracle XE 10g, I had to issue the commandEXEC

DBMS_XDB.SETLISTENERLOCALACCESS(FALSE); to remotely access the application. Here in 11g I
didn’t do that.
10.11.2 Connect the application through the internet

Perform the following steps on a computer NOT connected to your LAN:
1. Open a browser session and type http:// 255.266.204.231:8080/apex/f?p=117 (replace 117
with your application ID)
2. Type demo, demo for the Username and Password respectively
10.11.3 Dealing with Firewalls

If your application server is behind a firewall such as ISA, you will have to create a protocol for
APEX port 8080 and an allow rule to grant remote access to the APEX application. Follow the
instructions to create the rule:
1. Open ISA Server Management

2. On the right side, click Toolbox > Protocols and then User-Defined
3. With User-Defined selected, click New > Protocol
4. In Protocol definition name type APEX PROTOCOL and click Next
5. Select TCP for Protocol type, Outbound for Direction and enter 8080 in From and To boxes
6. Click OK
7. Click Next
8. Accept the default value No for Do you want to use secondary connections?
9. Click Next and then the Finish button
10. On the left side, right-click Firewall Policy and select New > Access Rule
11. In Access rule name type APEX ALLOW RULE and click Next
12. Select Allow and click Next
13. Set This rule applies to: to Selected protocols, click the Add button, expand the User-Defined
node and select APEX PROTOCOL, click Next
14. Click the Add button in Access Rule Sources, open the Networks node, select External and
click Next
15. Click the Add button in Access Rule Destinations, open the Networks node, select Local Host
and click Next
16. Click Next to accept All Users
17. Click Finish
If you followed the instructions correctly, you will definitely access the application internally as well
as remotely. This chapter taught you the implementation process of your application. You saw how
easy it was to take the application from your development PC to the production environment. Besides
application access scenario, we also resolved the firewall issues that might prevent you from
accessing the application.
10.12 Conclusion
I hope this book has provided you a solid foundation of Oracle Application Express and set a firm
ground to develop robust application systems to fulfill the information requirements of your
organization. The sky is the limit, you are limited by your imagination. Be creative, and put the power
of APEX to your work. Good luck.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Riaz Ahmed is an IT professional with over twenty years of hard-earned

experience. He started his career as a programmer in early 90's and is
currently working as the head of IT with a reputed group of companies.
He has been working in Oracle technologies since 1996. Besides Oracle
database, his areas of interest are Oracle's web-based development
technologies including APEX, JDeveloper, Business Intelligence, and
JHeadstart. He is also the author of Implement Oracle Business
Intelligence (Volume I) - a unique practical book on OBIEE. You can
reach him at realtech@cyber.net.pk
Table of Contents
1. Oracle Application Express - Introduction
2. The Building Blocks
3. The Home Page
4. Manage Customers
5. Setup Products
6. Place Orders
7. Generate Graphical Reports
9. Users Management

Create Rapid Web Applications Using Oracle Application Express

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Create Rapid Web Applications Using Oracle Application Express

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Create Rapid Web Applications Using Oracle Application Express

A practical guide to rapidly develop professional web applications

Create Rapid Web Applications Using Oracle Application Express

2. The Building Blocks

3. The Home Page

7. Generate Graphical Reports

Chapter 1 - Oracle Application Express - Introduction

1. Application Builder – to create dynamic database driven web applications

1.2 Migrating to APEX

1. Installation of client software, such as Excel, on every machine

1. Central management of data and applications

1.3 APEX and Excel

1.4 APEX and Access

1.5 About Oracle Application Express Architecture

1.6 Convert Legacy Applications

1.7 APEX Development Environment

1.8 What you need to develop the sample web application?

1.9 Download and Install Oracle XE Database

Chapter 2 - The Building Blocks

2.1 What are we going to create?

2.2 Understanding the Application

The following sections briefly describe specific functionality of each page:

2.2.1 The Home Page

2.2.2 Manage Customers

2.2.3 Setup Products

2.2.4 Place Orders

2.2.5 Generate Graphical Reports

2.2.6 Advanced Reporting

2.3 Start Building

Note: For subsequent login enter http://localhost:8080/apex or http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex

7. Click the Application Builder icon. Figure 2-11

8. Click the Create button (Figure 2-12) to create a new application.

9. Click the Database icon

13. Click the Create button

2.4 The Underlying Database Objects

2.4.1 Viewing Database Objects in Object Browser

For example, to modify a column in the DEMO_CUSTOMERS table:

1. From the Tables list, select DEMO_CUSTOMERS.

A report appears that displays the data in the DEMO_CUSTOMERS table.

2.5 The Shared Components

1. Click Application Builder

1. In the Shared Components under Navigation Section click Tabs

1. Go to Shared Components page

1. Go to Shared Components, Navigation Section – Lists, Click Create button

5. Click the newly created Reports Tab icon

2.5.2 (c) Order Wizard List

1. Go to Shared Components, Navigation Section – Lists, Click the Create button

1. Go to Shared Components, click Breadcrumbs under Navigation section

2.5.4 Navigation Bar Entries

2.5.4 (a) Print Navigation Entry

1. Go to Shared Components, Navigation Section – Navigation Bar Entries and clickCreate

11. Click Feedback icon in the Navigation Bar Entries list

2.5.5 Authentication Scheme

2.5.6 Authorization Scheme

2.5.6 (b) Edit Products Scheme

2.5.6 (c) Verify Order Ownership Scheme

1. In Authorization Scheme Click Create button

6. In Identify error message type:

7. Select once per page view under Evaluation Point

2.5.7 Security Attributes

1. In Shared Components click Security Attributes under Security section

2.5.8 List of Values (LOV)

2.5.8 (a) Categories LOV