Oracle APEX has been used as the go-to low-code development platform by companies for a long time now. The platform not only allows you to build scalable, secure enterprise apps but also enables world-class features that can be deployed on any platform you wish. Developers are able to develop and deploy complex solutions to solve practical problems easily with the integration of Oracle APEX. You only need to focus on the problem at hand and leave everything else for the platform to accomplish.
Recently APEX’s developers released a new patch i.e. 21.2 of the Oracle APEX. This patch is being considered the most revolutionary as of now. It includes features that every developer was suggesting it should have. If you are someone researching what’s new in this latest patch of Oracle APEX, then you are at the right place. We’ll be talking about all the new features while explaining why they will be useful. Here’s why Oracle APEX 21.2 is the peak of low-code development.
Progressive web apps
There are 2 types of applications that most users use: Web applications and platform-specific applications. Web applications are applications that can be accessed by anyone and with any device with a compatible browser. Platform-specific, also known as native, apps are applications that you might find on your device’s app store. These apps are able to leverage the hardware of the device much more fluently and give a much better experience.
Progressive web apps are a mixture of the two that we mentioned above. With Oracle APEX, you can easily turn applications into progressive web apps. Once you toggle the option for progressive web apps, your users will be able to see a new menu allowing them to install the application on their device. The application will then work the same as any other app installed from your app store.
User interface and universal theme enhancements
The user interface of an application decides whether the user experience will be good or not. There have been many features requested by developers, so that they can make the user interface of their application more useful.
Oracle APEX 21.2 has given the page designer of the platform a new look and new exciting features. This upgrade will allow developers to use new options and create a more interactive UI. The changes were made specifically to tackle the problem with the item, region, and button positioning. You are now able to do things like adding a search field in your navigation bar or after your logo, you can also add an item among different available regions, etc.
Smart filters
Faceted search, which has been out for some time now, is a technique used by companies to help users filter sets of products based on filters like size, color, price, and brand. Oracle APEX 21.2 uses the same code base and allows you to display filters, facets, or chips in a compact way. These are also known as smart filters.
Smart filters make users’ life easy by giving them information using filter suggestions. These filter suggestions that are based on your data are also known as chips. They provide context to your search and only show the most relevant products regarding your search. If you integrate this with your application, your users are sure to enjoy a smooth searching experience.
Upgraded alert and confirm dialog boxes
Alert and confirm dialog boxes are used in various places in an application. Any feature that requires confirmation like a delete operation requires you to prompt a user for the confirmation of the action. Although they might not be something that needs to be good-looking, it will surely be a good deal if you can have it that way.
Oracle APEX 21.2 has updated the look and feel of titles, icons, and even button labels on your prompt boxes. If you compare the new confirmation dialogs with the old ones, you will be able to see the differences easily. You can now install confirmation boxes with any button that you want. You just need to toggle the required confirmation setting in the button settings.
Environment banners
There are mainly 4 types of environment in between designing and deployment of an application: development, testing, acceptance, and production. You can replicate these environments in your Oracle APEX platform. However, before, users were not able to distinguish these environments from each other which led to many risks. These risks included committing to a change in the production environment when you think you are just making changes in development.
However, with the advent of Oracle APEX 21.2, you will now be able to configure these environments with the new features called environment banners. Environment banners are basically visual reminders to let you know which environment you’re in. Once you choose a color for an environment, it will depict itself in the developer toolbar of the application.
Data packager
Many times developers need to migrate data between different applications. This has always proven to be a challenge as there is not a straight way or application that helps. Dealing with migrating data between environments has always been a headache for developers. If you also add bringing along lookup data to the mix, it becomes a nightmare.
You won’t have to worry about anything like that as the new data packager feature of Oracle APEX 21.2 has come to save the day. Data packager in your application’s supporting objects will aid developers in bridging the gap between applications in a simple way. You will be able to select the data that you want to migrate.
Conclusion
The 2.12 update for the Oracle APEX might be the most relevant update yet. It comes with a lot of awesome features improving the quality of life of the platform. Apart from the features that we mentioned there are a lot of other additions to the platform like new PL/SQL APIS, new JavaScript APIs, new event triggers, etc. Make sure to read the patch notes if you want to know each and every detail.
Oracle Fusion Middleware introduced us to one of its components known as Oracle Forms, which has been a superstar in data application building. However, modernization of Oracle Forms-based apps has started, and developers are looking to transition to more flexible web apps. For this transition, Oracle APEX should be your first choice because there are striking similarities between APEX and Forms.
Both these platforms are database-centric and use Oracle Database features. However, APEX runs through a web browser, which makes it easier for clients because they won’t require any plugins or applications, thereby, saving a lot of metadata repository. In this article, we will talk about modernizing Oracle Forms applications using Oracle APEX.
Motivations
Let’s look at some of the reasons to modernize Oracle Forms applications to make them similar to web apps:
Usability: Applications developed on Oracle Forms are difficult to use and end-users have to be trained. On the contrary, applications developed on Oracle APEX are like any other web app, and the end-users can use it proficiently without training.
Responsive: Form-factor is a major requirement today. Apps developed on Oracle APEX run seamlessly on any device irrespective of the OS and screen size.
External Facing Apps: Oracle Forms applications have been deemed unsuitable for customer-facing apps.
Extended Deployment: Organizational activities have changed drastically over the years. Applications developed on Oracle Forms had a restricted audience. However, today, the same functionalities may be required by the entire organization. For example, to take a leave, employees had to e-mail their HR back in the day. Today, they have to punch in the details in the application.
New Initiatives: If you are in the need of a new modern-day application, you may have to look into some modern tools such as Oracle APEX, especially when your organization’s development platform has been Oracle Forms.
Development Resources: Oracle Forms has become obsolete now. Therefore, it is difficult to find developers who are efficient with this platform.
APEX Advantages
Let’s take a look at some of the advantages you will get with Oracle APEX:
Cost: You don’t require an additional licensing cost to access Oracle APEX. If you have access to Oracle Database, you have access to Oracle APEX.
Skills required: Transition from Oracle Forms to Oracle Apex will be seamless because these frameworks are database-centric and use SQL. Additionally, declarative development is common in both frameworks. It has been observed that developers using Forms can be trained in APEX in weeks. Therefore, you won’t have to worry about employee replacement.
Reuse: Reusability makes Oracle APEX the best framework for transitioning. For example, all the packages and procedures can be called directly from Oracle APEX. There is no need to rewrite the business logic used for the same database programs in Oracle Forms.
Coexistence: Forms and APEX can run simultaneously in the same database. Moreover, they may also use the same database objects. However, the business requirements must be different. Therefore, you can allow your users to work on Forms while they are getting accustomed to APEX.
Flexibility: You can use Apex to develop from anywhere you want, which is crucial for businesses that have adopted the WFH model. APEX can be used on desktops, on-premises, and laptops.
Proven Path: A lot of Forms applications have already successfully migrated to APEX, so what are you waiting for!
Better user experience: APEX applications can be fine-tuned to run smoothly on mobile devices.
Partner Community: The exclusive partner community that has successfully transitioned from Forms to APEX can be of great help. They can save you time and money by guiding your development team.
Getting Started
Getting started with a new framework is the tough part. However, it can be easy if you follow some structured approaches. Here are three approaches that may work perfectly for your organization:
Develop a proof-of-concept where a functional area of an Oracle Forms application is migrated to Oracle APEX. This will help you train your development team and lay out a blueprint for the future. Additionally, your team can use this opportunity to understand the efforts and risks required in the migration. Moreover, you can use the first-hand transition to take note of the end-user experience.
Another efficient approach could be to work with users can get a hold of their habits. This will help you create a more intuitive user experience. For example, for an e-commerce business, you can allow the user to click on the customer, which will then lead to the customer’s interaction history with the business. This will help create more sales and a better customer experience.
Instead of transitioning all the Forms applications, you can decide to develop new applications based on Oracle APEX.
What’s Next
Modernizing Forms applications is a herculean task and shouldn’t be taken casually. Therefore, here are a few things you should keep in mind:
Identify Scope: Before getting started on transition, you will have to determine whether you want new apps, replace just a functional area, or replace an application suite completely.
Define the look and feel: Get together with the key stakeholders in the applications and explain to them the new interface and manner in which the app will be designed. It is crucial that you keep the user experience plain and simple. You must remember to refrain from replicating the Oracle Forms UI or UX.
Improve Process Flows: Applications designed using Oracle Forms has a restricted process flow because they were developed many years ago in tandem with the existing technology. Therefore, you should work with the businesses to understand how multi-processes can be streamlined.
Business Rules Review: Before starting on the migration, you will have to identify the existing Forms database programs that can be reused by APEX. You must also ensure that existing rules are not scrapped and can be used in the new applications.
Training the developers: Transition can only begin once your developers are trained in the key differences between Forms and APEX. Explain to your developers the importance of improving the usability of the applications. You may also hire an APEX specialist for your organization to carry out the training process for your developers.
Win over the end-users: The most anticipated hurdle with the transition will be that the power users will resist the change because they have become highly productive with the existing system. Therefore, you should coach them so they could see the advantages of the new system.
Building an application forces you to overcome a plethora of hurdles. Every environmental stage requires careful planning and execution, from development to production. If you are not being careful, you will face significant problems in the future. It is not possible to make no mistakes while developing an application. We’re all humans, after all. However, you can always try to reduce the number of problems you will face. You need to keep yourself updated and learn all the new ways to improve your development strategies.
Developing an application is difficult. There’s no doubt about it. Many developers sense this problem and even created apps to help with such problems. Today, we will also be helping you with some tips that will improve your workflow if you include them in your next project. If you are searching for tips to improve your next Oracle Apex project, this might be the article for you. Here’s what a perfect Oracle Apex project will include.
Project methodology
The project methodology is a set of guidelines for developers to plan, manage, and execute projects. They essentially help in completing a project on time and also on budget. In addition, a good project methodology allows for improved communication between the developers. It does that by ensuring each member is aware of their responsibilities and roles in the project.
There are four main project methodologies that you can consider: agile, scaled agile, waterfall, and kanban. These methodologies will provide a project planning, execution, and control structure. If your development platform is Oracle Apex, you might want to use the agile methodology as it works best with the low-code development platform. It allows you to make changes quickly and more easily. Requirements can be quickly gathered and then integrated into the application. Rapid feedback and adaptation are also a big feature of agile methodology.
Technical documentation
Technical documentation refers to a brief description of the code you’re writing for the application. Most developers consider documentation a hassle and skip over this part only to spend hours of their time trying to figure out what the hell is happening. Code documentation is taught to developers as one of the most basic techniques. As a result, as we start coding, we don’t feel the need to document the code. However, this habit builds up when we write actual application code and can prove fatal.
You should document the code while you’re writing it, as you will be able to give a proper description right then only. You should not only document the code you’re writing, but logging changes is also very effective. Your documentation should be brief. You don’t need to explain each and every line of code. You can take the documentation one step further and compile all the necessary project assets like code repos, JIRA boards, etc.
Leveraging DevOps and CI/CD
DevOps is a combination of tools that helps you, an organization, deliver applications at high velocity. You can’t use traditional software development and infrastructure management processes to stay competitive. DevOps, along with CI/CD, which stands for continuous integration and continuous development, tools can help with application development a lot. Continuous integration means developers should build and deploy codes as often as possible. At the same time, ongoing development allows you to automate the infrastructure provisioning and application release process.
DevOps and CI/CD help create automated general and specific automated tasks, making them highly efficient. If DevOps is done right, then the speed and stability of deployments go up by a lot. This new development field has been very successful in the past few years, and many experts say that it will be the future of application deployment.
Source control
Almost every developer has once in their lifetime used a database as their code repository instead of a real repository like GitHub. Using a database as the code repository may be acceptable for storage purposes, but it doesn’t include many essential features that a professional code repository should include. What you need to do is, learn how to use a code repository and also ask your fellow developer to follow the same procedure.
There are many code repositories out there, and most good ones include features that developers need regularly. It would be best if you were looking for a repository that allows you to go back in time and see how your code has changed. You can also track the changes in your code along with identifying the developer who made the change. In the end, you can also merge the code of your development team into a single project.
Following development standards
Although most companies follow some development standards, adhering to and following these standards is more complex than you think. Initially, you need to decide on coding standards if you don’t have one. The standards should be viable, like all pages having authorization schemes, all items having help text, and ensuring special characters are escaped.
Oracle Aex development standards and best practices are a great option if you can’t decide on a standard. It allows you to create scalable, secure, and visually appealing applications. After selecting the standards, you need to ensure that all your developers are following the development standards, not just writing code that will pose problems in the future. Development standards are there to keep everything organized, and in a way everyone can understand. No one wants to bug others to explain every little line of code and its structure.
Conclusion
Apart from the tips that we mentioned, there are a lot more things that you can do to make your project nearly perfect. SQL and PL/SQL standards, SQL and PL/SQL testing, error management/code instrumentation, auditing, and security scanning are just some examples. You can take the help of apps and other utilities to keep everything in check. If you are able to include these strategies in your development planning, your project is sure to go smoothly and efficiently.
