Beginning Oracle Application Express 4 [Paperback]

Doug Gault (Author), Karen Cannell (Author), Patrick Cimolini (Author), Martin Giffy D'Souza (Author), Timothy St. Hilaire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1430231475 | ISBN-13: 978-1430231479 | Edition: 1

Beginning Oracle Application Express 4 introduces one of the most talked-about development platforms to come out of Oracle Corporation in years. Oracle Application Express, called APEX for short, enables rapid and easy development of web-based applications that make full use of Oracle Database. The release of APEX 4 brings a huge leap forward in terms of functionality and usability for both the developer and the end user. Power users and programmers alike can quickly put together robust and scalable applications for use by one person, by a department, by an entire company.  

Whether you’re new to Oracle or an old hand who’s yet to test the waters of APEX, Beginning Oracle Application Express 4 introduces the processes and best practices you’ll need to become proficient with APEX. The book shows off the programming environment, the utilities and tools available, and then continues by walking through the process of building a working system from the ground up. While the book assumes a foundational knowledge of SQL and PL/SQL, all code used is documented and explained so that those new to the languages will not be lost.

• Covers brand-new functionality in APEX 4 
• Provides fully documented and explained example code
• Guides you through creating a working and fully deployable application

What you’ll learn

• Design, code, and troubleshoot APEX applications
• Create forms and generate reports
• Apply best-practices to database and application design
• Create intuitive navigation that inspires confidence amongst users
• Secure your applications from outside attack
• Deploy applications for one, a dozen, or hundreds of users

Who this book is for

Beginning Oracle Application Express 4 is for programmers and power users wanting to create rich, data-centric applications that are web-based, and that rest on Oracle’s industry-leading database technology.

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to APEX 4.0

1. A Developer's Overview
2. Identifying the Problem & Designing the Solution
3. SQL Workshop
4. Application & Navigational Components
5. Forms & Reports—The Basics
6. Forms & Reports—Advanced
7. Programatic Elements
8. Security
9. Application Deployment
10. Understanding Websheets
11. A WebSheets Example
12. Extended Developer Tools 
13. Managing Workspaces
14. Team Development

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Doug Gault is the APEX Practice Director at Enkitec, an Oracle Platinum partner founded in 2004 which provides consulting, education, and products based around Oracle Technology. He has been working with Oracle since 1988, starting with version 5.1B, SQL*Forms 2.0, and RPT/RPF. He has focused his career on Oracle's development technologies, spending the majority of that time dedicated to web-based technologies including the OWA Web Toolkit, PL/SQL Server Pages, WebDB, Oracle Portal, and more recently HTML-DB and APEX.

Doug's many years of Oracle experience have taken him all over the world to participate in some truly ground-breaking projects. Doug has presented at and participated in roundtable discussions at a number of conferences including Oracle OpenWorld, UKOUG, and ODTUG's APEXposed & Kaleidoscope conferences. He holds an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science and an honorary Master's Degree from The School of Hard Knocks, believing there is no replacement for hard-earned experience.

Doug is an Oracle Ace and can be found on Twitter as @dgault_apex and on his blog douggault.blogspot.com. You can contact Doug at [e-mail].

Karen Cannell is president of TH Technology, a small consulting firm providing Oracle technology services, focusing on Application Express. A Mechanical Engineer by degree (one of them), she has analyzed, designed, developed, converted, upgraded, enhanced, and otherwise worked on legacy and commercial database applications for over 25 years, concentrating on Oracle technologies since 1994. She has worked with Application Express since its Web DB and HTMLDB beginnings, and continues to leverage the Oracle suite of tools to build quality web applications for clients in government, medical, and engineering industries. Karen can be contacted at [e-mail]

Patrick Cimolini is a principal with Patrick International APEX Consulting, a consultancy that specializes in project management and software development services for Oracle Application Express (APEX) projects. His formal training in engineering, business administration, and project management are complemented by 30 years of experience that has evolved through mainframe, client/server, and web platforms. Patrick has enjoyed attending the Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG) conferences where he has been a regular presenter. His Oracle experience dates back to the early 1990s.

Tim St. Hilaire has been working with Oracle as a developer, integrator, and architect for over ten years. His most recent focus is on the APEX tool set and integration opportunities available both internally and externally. Leading a team of developers, APEX has been integrated as a strategic tool within his current business. Sharing those experiences with others is both a hobby and a passion.

Martin Giffy D’Souza is Co-Founder and CTO at ClariFit, a consulting firm and custom solutions provider specializing in APEX and PL/SQL development. His experience in the technology industry has been focused on developing database-centric web applications using the Oracle APEX technology stack.

In addition to his day job, Martin is the author of the popular blog www.TalkApex.com. He is also a designated Oracle ACE Director, and has co-authored and authored various APEX books. He has also presented at numerous international conferences such as APEXposed, COUG, and ODTUG Kscope, for which he won the Presenter of the Year award in 2011.

Martin holds a Computer Engineering degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. You can contact Martin at [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (April 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430231475
• ISBN-13: 978-1430231479
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #792,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Doug Gault is a Director & Co-Founder at Sumneva™, a world-class Oracle® Application Express (APEX) consulting, training & solutions firm founded in 2010. He has been working with Oracle since 1988 starting with version 5.1B, SQL*Forms 2.0 and RPT/RPF. Since then he has focused his career on Oracle's development technologies, spending the last decade on web based technologies, and the last 5 years specifically on APEX.

Prior to co-founding Sumneva, Gault was Vice President of Sumner Technologies, which also focused on Oracle APEX consulting, training & solutions. Before that he served as the Product Development Director for Hotsos Enterprises, during which time he was the lead architect/developer and product manager for two commercial products written in exclusively in APEX. His 21 years of Oracle experience has taken him all over the world and involved him in some truly ground-breaking projects.

Gault has presented and participated in round table discussions at a number of conferences including Oracle OpenWorld, UKOUG and ODTUG's APEXposed. He holds an Associates Degree in Computer Science, and an honorary Master's Degree from The School of Hard Knocks, believing there is no replacement for hard earned experience.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst Development book ever written November 11, 2011

By hale

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are new to APEX and truly are a beginner, do NOT purchase this book. Errors exist in every chapter. When you are redirected back to a chapter, it is the wrong chapter, wrong page. When you are told to modify a page the wrong page is cited. The download files are incorrect for this version (APEX 4). The page layout forms to do not match the APEX layouts. ERATA is non helpful except to point out the errors that a good tech writer should have found. I have never written a book review before but felt this was necessary as this book is such a disappointment. Not only should the authors be ashammed but APPRES as well for publishing this book. Would not recommend!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time February 9, 2012

By E.Guerra

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In spite others said this book was bad, I bought.
I spent my time trying to follow the instructions on [...], but instructions was not clear and had not relation with my screen.
I had to return it next day!
Readers, not buy this book. It is not ready to publishing.
Authors, reviewing this book could become it in a great book. Please, do it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many errors May 31, 2011

By Alembic

Format:Paperback

This book is generally well conceived, but the sheer volume of errors is distracting at the least and sometimes maddeningly misleading. I have been keeping track of the errors and they are truly rampant. Often they are simple misspells and foolish naming errors, probably from an earlier version that were not changed, but sometimes they are outright wrong and misleading. I have made it to Chapter 7 and the instructions to create an interactive report on page 163 are garbled and I am unsure how to proceed. Watch out for item 4 missing the final period on the session state value translation syntax on page 135, too. My suspicion is that this version was rushed to publication and no one in the group of authors or the publisher took responsibility to make sure that it was properly edited.

Timeliness is of the essence in the fast-paced software field and I can understand the drive to be first to market, but if my code had this many errors, it would never run. I suggest you wait until a new, corrected version is released. I wish I could recommend this book more highly as I think it has a good core and sensible flow.