Oracle Application Express Past, Present and Future · PDF file–NOT able to build an...

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Oracle Application Express Past, Present and Future

Michael Hichwa, Oracle April 26th 2016


#APEXCONN16


Safe Harbor Statement

The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

2


• Past – WebDB

– Flows Vision

– Releases

• Present – Positioning

– Architecture

– Leveraging Database Innovation

– Cloud

• Future – What’s New in APEX 5.1

– Beyond APEX 5.1

3

Oracle APEX Past, Present and Future

Learn from the original developer and architect of Oracle APEX about the initial vision from over 10 years ago through today's release 5.x. Get Mike’s perspective on declarative development, database centric application development, and holistic agile development. See how the Oracle APEX engine delivers modern user experience by transparently leveraging advanced JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Review how the Oracle APEX platform uniquely allows applications written years ago to be infused with new technology without disruptive rewrites. And finally, Mike will explore what is next for Oracle APEX. #APEXCONN16


Oracle Application Express History

Oracle Confidential - Internal Use Only


Oracle WebDB 1997

5

Oracle’s first web product. Evolution of “browse” project. Provided basic data reporting, charting, and update.


Oracle WebDB Oracle’s first product with web user interface

6

• Good – Reports

– Charts

– Forms

– Menus

– Portal

• No so good – WebDB had no page flow control

– No session state management

– NOT able to build an “Application”

– NOT an Oracle forms alternative


Oracle WebDB Oracle’s first product with web user interface

7

• Good – Reports

– Charts

– Forms

– Menus

– Portal

• No so good – WebDB had no page flow control

– No session state management

– NOT able to build an “Application”

– NOT an Oracle forms alternative


Oracle APEX 1999 - New tool called “Flows”

8

• Started August 4th 1999 as a Ground up rewrite of WebDB

• Package was called “flows”

• Development machine was my desktop windows PC

• Development staff soon doubled with the addition of Joel Kallman

• Tom Kyte also played an indispensible role early on


Oracle APEX June 26, 2002

9

“Project Marvel allows developers to create web service applications on a browser with Oracle resources from a hosted service” -- computerworld


“Project Marvel allows developers to create web service applications on a browser with Oracle resources from a hosted service” -- computerworld

Oracle APEX June 26, 2002

10


Oracle Application Express Flows Vision



Oracle APEX Initial concept of “page flows” modeled after a simple ATM

12

Home Withdraw

Deposit Checking

Savings

Confirmation Checking

Savings

Login

Customers Accounts Transactions Banks Branches

Application

Database

Geldautomat


Oracle APEX Concept #1: Authentication and Authorization

13

• Did not want to use database “users”

• User authentication would be for both Application Development and Application End users

• Needed an open authentication and authorization model

• To optimize out of box experience needed a built in user and access control framework

Enter your pin *****


Oracle APEX Concept #2: “List Control” (application menus)

14

• Applications had home pages

• Needed to present users with menus

• Sourced from static lists

• Or dynamically sourced from queries

• Each list entry needed to have access control as some users may see greater or fewer menu options

Action

1. Deposit

2. Withdraw


Oracle APEX Concept #3: Branching (page flow control)

15

• Clicking deposit list entry would branch to one page, and clicking withdraw would branch to another page

• Branching would be declarative, allowing list entries, buttons, tabs, or navigation bar controls conditionally branch to any page

• A page could have any number of sequenced branch controls, optionally conditional, app would branch to the first branch condition met

Withdraw from:

1. Checking

2. Saving


Oracle APEX Concept #4: Input Items with automatic session state management

16

• Items: text, text area, select list, checkbox, radio group…

• Session state is automatic

• Default values (static and dynamic)

• Branching to a page can “clear the cache”

• Reference using SQL bind variable “:item_name” syntax

• Reference in non-SQL context using “&ITEM_NAME.” syntax

Withdraw Checking

Amount

$200.00


Oracle APEX Concept #5: Validations

17

• Validate page items on page submission

• Page processing is only performed once all validations are successfully passed

• Validations can use SQL and PL/SQL

• Redrawing the page, showing the inline error text is managed by the “flow” engine

Withdraw Checking

Amount

$200.00

Insufficient funds


Oracle APEX Concept #6: Processes

18

• Page processing performs SQL or PL/SQL

• Custom (SQL, PL/SQL) or “form-on-a-table”

• Any number of processes could be associated with a given page

• Conditional

• Message for successful and unsuccessful execution

Withdraw Checking

Amount

$100.00


Oracle APEX Concept #7: Regions

19

• A page can have any number of regions

• Region content injected into a page template position

• Regions can be standard reports, charts, or forms, or custom regions that are HTML or PL/SQL

• PL/SQL regions provide that flexibility to emit any HTML you wish via htp.p

Your $100.00 withdraw was successful your available balance is now $75.20


Oracle APEX Page Flow Model

20

Render Process

Branch


Oracle APEX Page Rendering (Method GET; Page Rendering)

21

Templates

Region

Items

Meta Data + State

f?p=100:1 Application

Page

Buttons

Authorization

APEX Application meta data and session state

Authentication Authority Database Schema

Oracle Database

APEX APIs

Authenticate Authentication

Navigation Controls

exit

Post

PL/SQL

Page Accept


Oracle APEX Page Processing (Method POST; Page Processing)

22

Computations

Validations

Authentication

Meta Data + State

<form …> Application page for form and items

Branching

Authorization


Database Schema

Oracle Database

APEX APIs

exit

Processes

Save Session State

Page Show

Page Show

PL/SQL


Oracle APEX Model

23

Meta Data + State

Branching


Database Schema

Oracle Database

APEX APIs

exit

Processes

Computations

Validations

Authentication

Authorization

Save Session State Templates

Region

Items

Buttons

Authorization

Authentication

Navigation Controls

Post

f?p=APP:PAGE

Meta Data + State

PL/SQL

exit

Login


Oracle Application Express Release History



Oracle APEX Components with release 1.5, 2004

25

Page Rendering Page Processing Shared Components

• Page

• Regions – Reports

– Forms

– Charts SVG

• Items

• Buttons

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates



26


• Page


– Forms

– Charts SVG

• Items

• Buttons

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Themes



27


• Page


– Forms

– Charts SVG

• Items

• Buttons

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Themes

SQL Workshop



28


• Page


– Forms

– Charts SVG

• Items

• Buttons

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Themes

• Supporting Objects

SQL Workshop



29


• Page

• Regions – Reports w/PDF

– Forms

– Charts SVG (Flash)

– Tabular Forms

• Items

• Buttons

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Themes


SQL Workshop



30


• Page

• Regions – Reports Classic Reports w/PDF

– Interactive Reports

– Forms

– Charts SVG Flash

– Tabular Forms

• Items

• Buttons

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Themes


SQL Workshop



31


• Page



– Forms

– Charts SVG flash

– Tabular Forms

• Items

• Buttons

• Dynamic Actions

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Themes


• Plugins

SQL Workshop Team Development Web Sheets



32


• Page – mobile



– Forms

– Charts SVG flash

– Tabular Forms

• Items

• Buttons

• Dynamic Actions

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Themes


• Plugins

SQL Workshop Team Development Packaged Apps Web Sheets



33


• Page – mobile

– model dialogs



– Forms


– Tabular Forms

• Items

• Buttons

• Dynamic Actions

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches

• Tabs Global Navigation

• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates

• Template Options


• Themes + Universal Theme

• Plugins

SQL Workshop Team Development Web Sheets Packaged Apps

Page Designer



34


• Page – mobile

– model dialogs



– Forms


– Tabular Forms

• Items

• Buttons

• Dynamic Actions

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches


• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates




• Plugins


Page Designer

Page Designer Model Dialogs

Universal Theme Template Options Global Navigation



35

Page Rendering Page Processing (JSON) Shared Components

• Page – Mobile

– Model Dialogs



– Forms

– Charts SVG Flash JET

– Tabular Forms Interactive Grid

• Items

• Buttons

• Dynamic Actions

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches


• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates




• Plugins


Page Designer



36

Page Rendering Page Processing (JSON) Shared Components

• Page – Mobile

– Model Dialogs



– Forms

– Charts SVG Flash Jet

– Tabular Forms Interactive Grid

• Items

• Buttons

• Dynamic Actions

• Computations

• Validations

• Processes

• Branches


• Lists of Values

• Breadcrumbs

• Lists

• Templates




• Plugins


Page Designer Interactive Grid JET Charting

Better Wizards Live Template Options

600+ Icon Library


Oracle Application Express (APEX)

HTML DB 1.5 First Release

HTML DB 1.6 Themes

2004 2007 2012-14

APEX 2.1 Oracle XE

APEX 2.2 Dictionary views, supporting

objects

APEX 3.1 Interactive Reports

HTML DB 2.0 SQL Workshop

APEX 3.0 Flash Charts

PDF Printing

Access Migration

Tabular Forms

APEX 3.2 Oracle Forms to APEX

Conversion

APEX 4.1 Data Upload

Error Handling

ROWID

2006 2009 2011 2008 2005

APEX 4.2.x Mobile

HTML5

Packaged Apps

APEX 4.0 Websheets

Dynamic Actions

Plug-Ins

Team Development

2010

APEX 5.0 Page Designer

Universal Theme

Modal Dialogs

2015 - 16

(āʹpěks) History

APEX 5.1 Interactive Data Grid

Modernized Charts

Simplified Wizards

Live Template Options


Oracle Application Express

Architecture



Oracle Application Express (APEX) Architecture

Browser Mid Tier Database Tier

Web Logic Server

WLS

ORDS APEX

Oracle Database

Schemas

PL/SQL

Load Balancer

Apache

OHS Identify Management

or Tomcat / Glassfish

JDBC


Oracle Application Express (APEX) Declarative Development

REST Data Services Mid tier

282K lines ORDS

58K lines, 24.8K for UT

CSS

486K lines

PL/SQL JS

42K lines excluding open source

471 Tables

Application Express (APEX) Database tier APEX 5.0

• Declarative development provided by significant custom and open source code

• Shields customers from maintaining and modernizing code

Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS), Universal Theme (UT), JavaScript (JS)


Oracle Application Express (APEX) Open Source Included

• 960-gs (grid system)

• bgiframe (IE Z-issues)

• ckeditor

• codemirror

• d3

• font-awesome

• hammer

• jquery

• jquery-autocomplete

• jquery-colorpicker

• jquery-flot

• jquery-fullcalendar

• jquery-jstree

• jquery-migrate

• jquery-mobile

• jquery-mobile-nestedlists

• jquery-qtip2

• jquery-quicksand

• jquery-ui

• jquery-validate

• justgage

• less.js

• modernizr

• oraclejet

• raphaeljs

• respond-js

• selectivizr

• twitter-bootstrap



Positioning



Oracle APEX Key Questions

43

1. Can you both design and run the app from a browser?



44

1. Can you both design and run the app from a browser? YES, and try quick edit



45

1. Can you both design and run the app from a browser? YES

2. Is it better to generate code or dynamically render from meta data?



46





47



3. Does the app render pages immediately?



48



3. Does the app render pages immediately? YES



49




4. Can it support thousands of concurrent users?



50




4. Can it support thousands of concurrent users? YES



51





5. In which language do you develop conditional logic?



52





5. In which language do you develop conditional logic? SQL + PL/SQL



53






6. Can you build complex applications?



54






6. Can you build complex applications? YES



55







7. How does it keep current with the times?



56







7. How does it keep current with the times? By upgrading the “engine”



57








8. Is development rapid and iterative?



58








8. Is development rapid and iterative? YES



59









9. Do customers love the apps?



60









9. Do customers love the apps? Generally YES



61










10. Can I deploy on premises and/or in the cloud?



62










10. Can I deploy on premises and/or in the cloud? Both from day 1


Application Development for Database Oracle supports all popular application development frameworks

63

Python

Ruby PERL

Oracle APEX

Oracle JET

Oracle ADF

Java

PHP

JavaScript

Node.js

Copyright © 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | Oracle Confidential – Internal 64

Application Development Oracle application development tools spectrum

Java Developer JavaScript Developer SQL & PL/SQL Developer Business User

Oracle ADF Oracle MAF

Oracle JET Oracle SQL Developer ORDS

Oracle APEX Oracle Forms

Oracle ABCS Oracle MAX

Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF), Oracle Mobile Application Framework (MAF) , Oracle JavaScript extension toolkit (JET), Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS), Oracle Application Express (APEX), Oracle Application Builder Cloud Service (ABCS), Oracle Mobile Application Accelerator (MAX).


Application Development Oracle Application Express vs Application Builder Cloud Service Positioning

Target Audience

ABCS

APEX

SaaS Integration Availability Logic Licensing

SQL & PL/SQL Developers

Business User / Non-professional

Developer

Out-of-the-box

Programmatic

Cloud Only

Cloud and On premise

Executed within the client (REST)

Primary Language

Javascript

Executed in database

Primary Language

PL/SQL

Stand-alone license not dependent on any other product

license

Part of the Database License

(XE, SE, EE)


Application Development Oracle Database Centric Developers

Database Developer

• Self identify as database developers

• Comfortable with Oracle Relational Database

• SQL and PL/SQL Savvy

• Frequently classified as “Enterprise Developers” and work in corporate / departmental IT organization

• Typically know the data models that underpin their corporate systems (Oracle EBS & FA, SAP, in-house …)

• Typical use cases are opportunistic applications that facilitate corporate initiatives and/or complement enterprise solutions


Oracle APEX Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS)

Develop Customize Deploy

Declarative : Responsive : Accessible : Rich UX : SQL Centric : Scalable : Diagnosable : Open Standards : Extensible

Provision

• Full portability; on-prem and cloud • Robust data visualization components • Highly extensible and customizable • Create and manage database objects

• RAD Browser-based App Dev tool • Highly active and passionate community • 300K+ developers, 100’s of partners • Supported productivity apps included



Declarative



Oracle Application Express (APEX) Why Declarative Development?

1. No need to repetitively code what can be handled by an “engine” = increased consistency

2. Procedural code can be hard to maintain, especially if you didn’t write it, only one way to click a checkbox = less variation

3. Modernization implemented by upgrading engine <> app rewrite

4. Inflexible frameworks cause developer frustration, flexible and extensible framework = Zen Development

5. Built-in fully integrated and tested components = RAD Development



Database Centric



Application Development for Database SQL Language and the Oracle Relational Database

• 30 years old and still evolving (SQL:2011)

• Simple and elegant interface to data

• High business value per line of code

• Performance adapts to changes in the underlying data without any code changes

• Declarative referential integrity, check constraints, triggers, and procedural languages provide data integrity and business logic in-database

• Widely used languages, #2 in the stack overflow dev survey 2013, 2014, 2015


Application Development for Database

• Use to create APIs, expose RESTful APIs / microservices

• Use PL/SQL API to enforce data correctness

• Invoking SQL through PL/SQL gives your applications the best performance possible.

• Pushing database logic into the database reduces application code and eases adoption of new UI technologies

• Support zero downtime patching with Edition Based Redefinition (EBR)

Database Features for Application Developers: PL/SQL


Application Development for Database Application Development Features new in Database 12c

73

• VARCHAR2 32K (12.1)

• Identity Data types (12.1)

• JSON (12.1)

• Simple Oracle Document Access (SODA) (12.1)

• Sharing (12.2)

• Longer Identifiers (12.2)

• Application Continuity Support (12.2)



• Analytics

• Compression

• Flashback

• In Memory

• JSON

• Partitioning

• Spatial

• Text

• XML

SQL features for Optimizing Data Storage and Access



• Data Redaction

• Data Masking and Subsetting

• Data Encryption (Transparent Data Encryption – TDE)

• Data Access Controls

• Virtual Private Database (VPD)

• Real Application Security (RAS)

Oracle Database Security Features for Application Developers

*7#$%!!@!%afb

##<>*$#@34

Data Encryption

Key Vault

Region, Year

Size-based

Data Subsetting



• High Density Consolidation – administrate many environments as one, with resource management controls

• Rapid Provisioning - unplug from a container, plug into another

• Simplified Deployment - no need to build database object install scripts, distribute as Pluggable Database (PDB)

• Cloning - stand up stable user acceptance testing environment when development environment is stable

• Clone – developers can create a private clone to test merge invasive upgrades to data structures and database logic

• Fast Refresh – refresh data and structures incrementally from logs

Database 12c Pluggable Database (Oracle Multitenant) for Application Developers



Cloud


Copyright © 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. | 78

Oracle Database Cloud Spectrum of database cloud offerings

Free* Schema DBaaS Managed* Exadata

Editions EE with lockdown* EE S5, S20, S50 EE, EE-HP, EE-EP EE, EE-HP, EE-EP EE-EP

Implementation 1 Schema* 1 Schema Dedicated DB & VM Dedicated DB & VM 1+ Dedicated DB

Database Releases 12.1 or 12.2 11.2 11.2, 12.1, 12.2* 11.2, 12.1, 12.2* 11.2, 12.1, 12.2*

Management Oracle Oracle Customer Oracle Customer

Subscription Free Unmetered, Metered* Metered, Unmetered Metered, Unmetered Metered, Unmetered

Availability (CY) TBD Q4 2012 Q4 2014 TBD Q3 2015

Access HTTPs HTTPs ~Full Access ~Full Access ~Full Access

Standard Edition (SE), Enterprise Edition (EE), EE High Performance (HP), EE Extreme Performance (EP), Virtual Machine (VM), Pluggable Database (PDB), Calendar Year (CY), * = Not yet available


Application Development for Database Oracle database cloud offerings

Free* Schema DBaaS Managed* Exadata

Editions EE with lockdown* EE S5, S20, S50 EE, EE-HP, EE-EP EE, EE-HP, EE-EP EE-EP

Implementation 1 Schema* 1 Schema / PDB* Dedicated DB & VM Dedicated DB & VM 1+ Dedicated DB

Database Releases 12.1 or 12.2 11.2 or 12.2* 11.2, 12.1, 12.2* 11.2, 12.1, 12.2* 11.2, 12.1, 12.2*

Management Oracle Oracle Customer Oracle Customer

Subscription Free Unmetered, Metered* Metered, Unmetered Metered, Unmetered Metered, Unmetered

Availability (CY) TBD Q4 2012 Q4 2014 TBD Q3 2015

Access HTTPs HTTPs, SQL*Net* ~Full Access ~Full Access ~Full Access

Standard Edition (SE), Enterprise Edition (EE), EE High Performance (HP), EE Extreme Performance (EP), Virtual Machine (VM), Pluggable Database (PDB), Calendar Year (CY), * = Not yet available


Application Development for Database Express Database Cloud Service

• Fully managed Oracle Database

• Schemas / PDBs*

• List price starts at $175 month

• Thousands of paying customers

• Available standalone

• Underpins many PaaS services



What’s New with APEX 5.1



Oracle APEX What’s New with APEX 5.1

82

• New

– Interactive Grid

– JET Charting

– Live Template Options

– 600+ Icon Library

• Improved

– Wizards

– Universal Theme

– Packaged

– Sample Apps

– Page Designer

• Wednesday

– 11:00 - David Peake (5.1 New Features)

– 14:00 – Shakeeb Rahman (UX patterns)

• Thursday

– 13:00 – Patrick Wolf (Interactive Grid)

– 15:15 - Shakeeb Rahman (Universal Theme and Live Template Options)



Beyond APEX 5.1



Oracle APEX Mike Hichwa ideas for NEW features beyond APEX 5.1

84

1. Allow SQL and PL/SQL app content to be remotely sourced over REST using ORDS

2. Render region components using JSON

3. Full developer change history capture and reporting including database changes

4. Template Apps; specify object prefixes, identify CRUD tables, choose features

5. Cloud Marketplace for sharing applications with ability to deploy using RESTful APIs

6. Documented APIs to dynamically generate and alter APEX application components

7. Allow an application to change labels and to add list, item and IR components

8. Support for multiple versions of Oracle APEX in the same database using EBR

9. Generate RESTful APIs sharing application logic and authorization

10. Enhanced self service cloud with documented RESTful APIs

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