Fun Stuff in APEX (Oracle Application Express)

Oracle Application Express(APEX) is a super-fast web based application development tool. I say "Super Fast" because its really easy even for a novice to build a complete running application. It is packaged as an add-on with Oracle Database and if you are good at reading through technical documentation, one can easily install APEX by running few scripts from command prompt. For others, you can leverage on Oracle's public APEX offering at APEX Public Instance.

All that an user needs to do is request for a workspace(free!!), bingo, you have access to the world's best database and application development tool. APEX is quite a baby stuff, but its versatile and leverages the power of Oracle database, PL/SQL, Javascripts, AJAX, jQuery.

What's great about APEX?
As a technical consultant, I had worked on developer tools such as Oracle Reports, Oracle Forms etc. Though these tools are powerful, I much prefer using APEX to build any reports or forms since its much more easier to navigate. The application development, SQL development, and utilities are integrated, and as a developer that makes my life a lot easier. Further, APEX provides various choices to developers: Build application using Wizard, Build from Scratch, variety of templates, web service integration, mobile applications, BI Publisher integration and the list goes on.

What about the applications?
We can literally run any business application using APEX. Ofcourse, I would not suggest using APEX for a high frequency trading, but we can use APEX for most business functions such as procurement, Human Resources, Finance etc. There are many off-the-shelf applications from various vendors (Refer APEX Vendors). In my opinion, small businesses can use APEX solutions to meet most of their business needs. For medium to big business, they can use APEX as an extension to existing application/ERP infrastructure. For instance, we have built a pdf letter generation tool as an extension to existing HRMS solution. This small solution has helped to save a lot of money and man days.

Where can you learn more about APEX?
There are tonnes of material available over the net. However, the best method is to request for your own workspace and build a sample application. Here are some good links to APEX development.

Dene's Blog
Oracle APEX Documentations/Presentations
Patrick's Blog
Dimitri's Blog
Joel's Blog
Tobias's Blog

Hope you get a flavor of APEX.....Happy APEXing:)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Non-Sense Transformation

‘Context’ Many years ago, when we first started setting up shared services in a major technology firm, we embarked on a journey that had many unknowns. Whether it was scope of work, projects, technology, or processes – nothing was clearly outlined. We had few excel sheets to guide us through the process of setting up shared service organization. It was no more than a simple ‘lifting’ of processes from each entity into a regional centre. The initial days were tough – It was about power, control, and other hidden aspects in organization. The lower end resources who managed the day-to-day operations struggled to meet the expectations from the internal clients. We had ‘all fingers pointing at one direction: shared services’, and always for the wrong reasons. ‘No defined parameters’ Now, when I look back to the unwieldy phase – it appears that there were number of interventions that could have been employed to mitigate the organizational resistance. In my experienc...
Read more

Patrick Pichette and Art of Corporate Finance in IT Industry

I was reading through Patrick Pichette's interview with Mckinsey Quarterly last week, and it was perhaps one of the few interview reports that made me sit back, read, read, and read through again. Its quite an old interview, but worth looking given its relevance in today's fast changing IT landscape. The report certainly made me to think about many aspects of corporate finance and strategy. Patrick's  ideas are certainly commendable and thought provoking - From managing Short Term metrics to Start-Up culture. Here are some excerpts and my thoughts... 'Managing Short Term/Tactical metrics' Managing short term metrics is part of corporate life once an organization goes public. There is a general expectation from investing community to meet/beat analyst estimates and that puts a lot of pressure on C-Level executives. Nevertheless, it is required of C-Level executives to meet short-term goals as well as long-term vision. In the report, Patrick suggests that short...
Read more

The RASSP in IT Architecture

The QUALITY Attributes are those that defines how the system should perform over a business cycle/Time Period. Fundamental to good IT design is forecasting the business peaks and troughs and how the system should behave over the business cycle. When there are peak loads, systems should automatically be able to scale and perform with consistent service level agreements. However, there are several cases in the past where such quality attributes were ignored leading to loss of revenue. Quality Attributes can be either run-time or non run-time attributes. Clearly, from a business standpoint, the run-time consideration is of prime importance as no one would want to lose business because of a system downtime or a performance lag. The blog post focuses on the run-time considerations an architect should adhere when making architecture decisions. The following attributes are considered the most important run-time attributes when designing new systems. Reliability (R), Availability (A), Sca...
Read more