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Oracle Application Express

New Features in Release 4.0

  • 4.0 New Features Application

    You can run the 4.0 New Features application by clicking here . You can also download this application here and install it into your own workspace.

    When Application Express 4.0 is installed, the Application Builder includes a Learn More application which has extensive information on Application Express and a demonstration application.

    Also review the Application Express 4.1 New Features. 

  • Websheets

    Websheets is a quick and easy way to get content on the web. Whether that content is text, images, reports or charts, it all can be integrated into a websheet application. Most importantly, both the content and the structure are controlled by its users. If you have the data you need within your database, expose it in a report or include that data on a page. If you need to manage your own data, use a data grid (which can then be referenced in page reports). Learn more >

  • Dynamic Actions

    Users are demanding more user interactivity and client-side functionality whereby the application responds as soon as a value is changed or the user leaves a field. Such functionality can be readily built into applications today using JavaScript and AJAX, providing you know how to program in such languages. Dynamic actions are designed to make implementing such functionality declarative, allowing every Application Express developer to enhance the user experience without needing to master JavaScript and AJAX. Such an implementation also makes maintenance and debugging a much simpler task.

  • Plug-Ins

    Plug-Ins allow for the Application Express framework to be readily extended with custom item types, region types, application processes and Dynamic Actions. Once defined, plug-in based components are created and maintained very much like standard Application Express components. Plug-ins enable developers to create highly customized components to enhance the functionality, appearance and user friendliness of their applications. View and Download Plug-Ins >

  • Team Development

    Team Development is designed to manage software development. The tightly integrated features, to-dos, bugs, and milestones will assist the management of software releases. The feedback components allow end-users to provide comments back to the development team where they can be actioned as features, to-dos or bugs.

  • Improved Charting with Gantts and Maps

    The underlying charting engine has been upgraded to AnyChart 5.1 which is faster, provides better graphics, and decreases rendering time. Developers can take advantage of the many additional attributes to readily customize the appearance of their charts. Declarative support for project and resource Gantt charts together with flash Maps has also been incorporated.

  • RESTful Web Service Support

    RESTful Web Services are becoming more common, especially amongst public Web service providers, as an alternative to SOAP Web Services. Oracle Application Express has introduced REST Web Services as a standard declarative component. You can declaratively define the REST parameters and then integrate the results returned into reports and forms.

  • Enhanced Interactive Reports

    Available since Application Express 3.1, Interactive Reports take much of the burden off developers to produce all the different online reports end-users want by allowing end-users to manipulate the data provided for themselves. Developers simply provide an SQL statement "SELECT * FROM my_favorite_table" and then let end-users massage the report as needed. Oracle Application Express 4.0 extends the original capabilities with email subscription, icon / report / detail views, enhanced filtering, group by, and sharable saved reports.

  • Improved Application Builder

    The Application Builder has undergone a large overhaul designed to improve navigation and make it faster and easier for developers to create, maintain and enhance Oracle Application Express applications. This overhaul includes the addition of numerous dashboards, extensive use of Interactive Reports to allow developers to customize the details shown, integration of new utilities such as the Advisor, and a powerful Application Search.

  • Better Themes

    Application Express provides 20 themes. Each theme is comprised of component templates that define the look-and-feel of your application. Oracle Application Express 4.0 has modernized these themes to comply with XHTML and CSS standards. XHTML pages provide greater portability and decreased rendering time.

  • APEX Listener

    The APEX Listener is a new Java based listener that can run on a J2EE based Web Server, such as Oracle WebLogic Server or OC4J. Being Java based and extensible the listener allows much greater flexibility and improved performance. Learn more >

 

Additional New Features

  • Improved Tabular / Master Detail Forms (new item types and declarative validations)
  • Sub-regions
  • New item types (auto complete, resizable text area, JavaScript date picker, number field, new rich-text editor)
  • Declarative support for cascading LOVs
  • Improved UI Defaults with bi-directional synchronization and new attribute defaults, e.g. SAL = Salary 999G999G990
  • Integration of jQuery and jQuery UI
  • Declarative accessibility settings
  • Instrumentation and Debug framework
  • Support for 11gR2 Edition Based Redefinition for online patching
  • Optional automated purging of inactive workspaces (with email confirmation)
  • Optional tree view for page definition page, drag and drop item organization, right click context sensitive menus and more
  • Declarative Javascript based Trees (new region type)
  • Richer PL/SQL code editor available in SQL and Migration Workshops, including syntax highlighting
  • Region display selectors, instantly create APEX style
  • Automatic time zone support enables developers to easily create time zone aware applications
  • Greatly improved capabilities for handling all timestamp data types
  • SINCE date format mask supports future dates
  • "Learn more ..." application that describes what Oracle APEX is and how it works, includes demos
  • APEX Advisor which locates and reports poor coding practices
  • New Sample Applications for Database Applications, Websheet Applications, and Collection Showcase
  • Code Instrumentation framework, and improved application debug (with timing data to 1/10000 of a second)
  • Automatic activity log archiving and reporting capabilities
  • Declarative not null validation (property of an item, no need to create validation)
  • Logging of page content length (requires update to plsql webtool kit)
  • Improved instance administration, dashboards, workspace summaries, email support
  • Application development support for Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and IE 7 & 8, runtime for these plus IE 6 (in selected themes)
  • Improved Tab management, better understand when and why tabs show or do not show
  • Improved performance of collections (Oracle APEX's way to manage non scalar / tabular session state)
  • URL based (browser language independent) method of selecting application language
  • Integrated News on the Application Express home page, with automatic cycling of recent entries
  • Create multiple users in bulk from a spreadsheet using cut and paste