Oracle APEX

Official link to my certification on Oracle University – Oracle APEX Cloud Developer Certified Professional (OCI)

ORACLE APEX

(Some of this info is not found anywhere – I figured it out myself from using APEX, extensively, over the years)

I was certified in Oracle Forms & Reports (Developer 2000 / D2K) back in 1996 (deprecated now) that has these limitations. D2K –

• is a desktop tool

• is a file-based system

• uses a browser plugin to run the apps

A COMPLETE PLATFORM, 100% BROWSER-BASED!!

Oracle APEX is the MOST-USED, enterprise, Low-Code,  100% Browser-based , FREE, limitless (NO limits on the number of apps, developers or users), COMPLETE, 4GL, RAD Platform with powerful components, a built-in SQL Workshop to manage database objects , RESTful APIs, REST Synchronization, Automations, Globalization and more... APEX is a  modernized version  of Forms & Reports that eliminates the limitations of Forms & Reports with declarative programming, storing the application logic in APEX schema tables as metadata and needs nothing more than a  BROWSER  to develop, maintain and run apps (NO need to install any client software or browser plugins) – from anywhere, anytime – even on a tablet or smartphone. APEX Low-Code development platform enables us to build HIGH-QUALITY, mission-critical, scalable, secure, stunning, enterprise apps with world-class features – 20x faster  using 100x less code  – that can be deployed anywhere.

As per a study by Pique (a third-party), APEX is 38x faster in development using 20x less code compared to ReactJS.
44 minutes -vs- 3.5 days (working 8 hours a day) –

Source – blogs.oracle.com/cloud-infrastructure/post/radically-faster-and-simpler-application-development-using-the-new-apex-service

Study – oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/pique-solutions-apex-vs-reactjs-study.pdf

A typical APEX application source-code comprises of –

• SQL             = 79%

• PL/SQL       = 20%

• JavaScript  < 1%

Click on the images below for more info...

NO SERVER-SIDE LANGUAGE!!

APEX does  NOT have a server-side language overhead  such as Java, C#, Python, PHP, etc. and hence, NO files to compile or deploy – just COPY metadata from one environment into another to deploy the apps (app/metadata sizes are really, really TINY). Because there are NO files to compile or deploy, app can be run immediately to see the changes. This facilitates quick back-n-forth changes, iterative development and execution with instant gratification. We can develop and make changes to APEX apps with the user sitting right next to us and telling us their requirements, literally. Because of no server-side language, ALL the processing occurs in the database and pages are served blazing fast with just one Request and one Response – WITHOUT jumping through servers and hoops – with ZERO latency and BLAZING performance!

NO NEED TO LEARN ANYTHING NEW!!
POWERFUL COMPONENTS!

APEX uses just SQL and PL/SQL on the server side –  NO need to learn anything new  – we can  LEVERAGE  our existing PL/SQL knowledge to create full-blown, stunning apps using powerful, built-in components – data/streaming dashboards, charts, reports, data-entry forms, RESTful APIs and more and also consume RESTful APIs. Users can derive variations of reports from existing reports (after doing filter, sort, group, format, color-code values based on data, re-arrange columns, show/hide columns, pivot, chart, etc.) and re-Save them – at RUNTIME – as NEW Public or Private reports/charts that persist subsequent updates (it is just metadata) which are all a  HUGE savings  of time and money – in addition to the  HUGE savings  from Low-Code! In an upcoming release, users will be able to change the Column-Labels, Column-level granular Help and more at RUNTIME that would persist subsequent deployments. Creating a secure RESTful API to fetch data can be as simple as a SINGLE line of SQL statement! That's all – nothing more.

LASER-FOCUS ON BUSINESS LOGIC!!

As Developers, we want to  LASER-FOCUS  on business logic alone – including automatically connecting to the dB – without having to learn anything new, perform any repetitive, low-value or mundane tasks – and APEX provides ALL of that, precisely! APEX supports Server-side and Client-side Conditions to configure pages, menus, items, columns and more at granular level. APEX has 2,000+ Pages and 8,000+ Settings which it enforces on the instance, workspace, application, pages, menus, components, items, columns, logic, computations, validations, processes, branching, AJAX Callbacks, security, session, auth and more implicitly, which are humanly impossible to enforce in Code-based applications, precisely.

APEX is the SHORTCUT to doing Full-Stack Web Development – without learning Web development 😊

AUTOMATIC CODE GENERATION, HUGE SAVINGS!!

APEX  auto-generates  all the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, security, navigation menus, login dialog, administration... (a  SUBSTANTIAL   amount of work) and automagically manages granular security at the application/page/action/column/item/button-levels, session state, concurrency, data persistence, page/column-level help, validations, responsive design, navigation and more so we can  LASER-FOCUS  on business logic using just the age old SQL and PL/SQL which will NEVER get disrupted or replaced by other languages, libraries or frameworks – unlike Code-based platforms, very often (which could introduce middle-tier vulnerabilities like hackers, viruses and more). Due to responsive design, NO need to maintain separate Web and Mobile teams. APEX apps can be installed as Progressive Web Apps (PWA) on any device (computers, tablets and smartphones) with many advantages.

AUTOMATIC & CONTINUOUS MODERNIZATION!!

APEX generates MOST modern code for very  high-quality UI  and keeps the apps CONTEMPORARY, up-to-date and  FUTURE-PROOF  with continuous, automatic, effortless and seamless modernization with updates from the APEX Team so they  NEVER  become outdated – unlike Code-based platforms, inevitably because they are in a constant state of FLUX due to market disruptions (newer technologies, libraries and frameworks replacing the existing ones). In Code-based technologies, most clients cannot afford to update/modernize the outdated UI as it involves investing a considerable amount of time and money to hire new talent, update the app, re-test, support and more WITHOUT reaping any extra functionality gains from the UI Modernization Initiative and so, their apps remain OUTDATED for over 20 years. APEX does NOT have this pervasive issue of getting the UI outdated - EVER, as the UI gets modernized by the APEX Team and we get the updates continuously, seamlessly and FREELY – by just upgrading the framework. On other Low-Code and High Code-based platforms, we need a paid, dedicated UI/UX Designer to implement high-quality. On Oracle APEX, high-quality is implemented by the Oracle APEX Team for us for FREE!

It goes without saying that APEX web apps created in 2005 are still running now, we can import an old APEX app from 2005 into the latest version of APEX and it works fine (just as it did 20 years ago) whereas Code-based web apps don't survive past a few years without breaking and needing updates to the code resulting in unplanned costs (even a update to browser or server-side language could BREAK a Code-based web app). Oracle APEX Team is renowned for their competence in that they did not have to rewrite any of APEX's code ever since it was released over 2 decades ago.

FROM RETRO TO MODERN UI (CONTINUOUS & AUTOMATIC MODERNIZATION)

The above Login dialogues is my custom page with background slideshow, transparency, FX...

For more of my Login background slideshow animations – apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/r/apexpert/portfolio

I've coded 1200+ lines of custom CSS and JavaScript code on the following pages to make them look more beautiful and interactive... with additional buttons, toolbar, tooltips, info in the footer, themes and such.

Check out the demos on my Portfolio page.

I placed 3 iframes on this Homepage with some remote content. For a corporation, these iframes could display content like their intranet site, knowledgebase topics, news feed, etc.

LOW-CODE vs CODE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES

CODE-BASED: On large, multi-year modernization projects, the technologies/libraries/frameworks chosen will be loooong  DEAD  (for a "few" times) even before the project is finished as the chosen frameworks get replaced by frequent market disruptions. For reference, there are more than –

• 85+ frameworks for JavaScript

• 30 frameworks for Java

• 40 frameworks for PHP

and they keep coming, Coming and COMING... every few months, disrupting the existing ones. For instance, jQuery is the MOST popular and MOST-used JavaScript library in the world on millions of websites but now losing its popularity, Angular was popular in the past, React was popular until recently and now, Vue.js is trending – only to be replaced by some other disrupting framework down the road – resulting in constantly hiring new developers, learning, implementing, updating, testing and supporting newer technologies, endlessly, which is madness. Code-based Web technologies are an  OVERKILL , take much longer to develop/test/maintain and hence are very, very  EXPENSIVE !!

LOW-CODE: APEX is a Low-Code platform and a SMART Framework that does NOT have the issue of getting disrupted, replaced and outdated because it is developed and maintained by the APEX Team who chooses the RIGHT Technology Stack (libraries, frameworks, etc), evaluates and tests the chosen libraries/frameworks before giving us updates twice-a-year. For instance, APEX uses the most popular jQuery – but if/when jQuery becomes obsolete, the APEX Team will replace it with something better with seamless transition for developers and users who won't be affected and the apps won't be broken. The half-yearly updates released by APEX Team are also tested by millions of users, testers and developers from around the world. We get to  LEVERAGE  all of this FREE work from the APEX Team and others so our apps are up-to-date and never break.

2-TIER CLIENT/SERVER vs 3-TIER CLOUD ARCHITECTURE

Oracle APEX uses the SECURE 3-Tier CLOUD architecture.

• 2-Tier Client/Server architecture can  NEVER be 100% secure  because of the DIRECT connection to the dB – either the user knows the password to the database to login or the developers know the password (for ALL dB environments, including Production!), hardcoded inside the source-code and as part of their work. Because of the 2-Tier architecture and native/binary installed apps, users are  TIED  to their desktops without freedom.

• 3-Tier Cloud architecture  ELIMINATES  this security issue by having an intermediate virtual user that impersonates the current user as an Acting-User so nobody (users/developers) knows the password to the dB which is stored in the middle-tier logic on the server. This INDIRECT connection makes 3-Tier Cloud architecture  HIGHLY SECURE . Users are maintained in an APP-USER table (not: dB users) and after initial authentication against this table, the virtual user on the server makes an implicit connection to the database using dB credentials and this impersonating user account is used to perform all DML operations within the app. Cloud apps offer users the  COMPLETE FREEDOM  to access their apps SECURELY from anywhere in the world and anytime over the web using just a Browser – even on a Tablet or Smartphone – without having to go through VDI, VPN, Citrix or Remote Desktop or having to install anything (examples of cloud apps – Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, APEX... on the web) because the database resides in the cloud as well and NOBODY knows its location, the login creds to the dB or its connection strings. For instance, we can access Outlook on the web SECURELY from anywhere in the world (from any country - including black-listed countries) and anytime, using NOTHING more than a Browser, SECURELY – even on a smartphone. Similarly, we can access APEX from anywhere in the world (from any country - including black-listed countries) and anytime to  DEVELOP  and maintain apps using NOTHING more than a Browser, SECURELY – just as users can access APEX apps from anywhere, anytime SECURELY using NOTHING more than a Browser. Works great for WFH, remote-work/access and on-the-go situations without any expensive/additional infra. Because of the high security, mobility and cost-savings, Cloud architecture is the FUTURE.

INDUSTRY CERTIFICATIONS

• APEX on Oracle Cloud is a Certified Environment for SOC 1 and SOC 2

• APEX comply with diverse regulations and standards including PCI, ISO, HIPAA (healthcare), and FedRAMP (government clients).

AUTHENTICATION METHODS

APEX provides all the secure mainstream Authentication Methods and also Custom Authentication (for anything not covered out-of-the-box) – all of these are completely open and abstract definitions of how an app must authenticate/authorize and the auth definition can be switched anytime (e.g., dB, OAuth, LDAP, Azure AD, etc). OAuth and Single-Sign-On (SSO) for enhanced security are built-in. All auth mechanisms are built-in and need absolutely NO additional infrastructure from the clients. List of 10 built-in auth mechanisms in APEX –

• APEX Accounts

• Database Accounts

• LDAP Directory (Azure Entra ID – cloud apps only)

• HTTP Header Variable

• Open Door Credentials (just username)

• Social Sign-In (includes Azure AD – hybrid apps)

• Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On (SSO)

• No Authentication (public)

• Custom (spin our own auth mechanism using PL/SQL, etc.)

• SAML Sign-In

Built-in Workspace-level SSO: In addition, Oracle APEX has built-in support for workspace-level SSO using session sharing and the same cookie name. This makes sense as a workspace contains all apps for each environment. For instance, the production workspace would contain all Production apps and it would be safe to do SSO among these apps within the same workspace.

ORACLE'S FREE OFFERINGS

In addition to the completely FREE APEX, Oracle offers FREE and ready-to-use workspaces (along with FREE Cloud databases) on the following services that anyone can sign up and start using APEX right away to develop apps – from anywhere, anytime – using nothing more than a Browser:

• apex.oracle.com – meant for evaluating, learning, demos, testing, bug reporting, bug-fixing... Not meant for production apps. More storage may be requested from the IDE, when needed. No credit card needed.

• cloud.oracle.com (OCI) – Always Free Oracle Cloud account – meant for development / production apps. The Always-Free cloud instance can be used FREELY – forever – even for commercial purposes – within the allocated quotas (20 GB of free storage). If more storage is needed, we can subscribe to paid service. The APEX IDE experience on the OCI is the exact same as it is on apex.oracle.com and APEX installed on-premise. Credit card needed but won't be charged for Always Free account until we opt to upgrade to paid service. OCI is the native/natural environment for Oracle databases and is cheaper compared to AWS, Azure and GCP. Supports short/vanity URLs with our own custom domains.

APEX uses ORDS (Oracle REST Data Services) (also FREE) (formerly: APEX Listener) (installed on a Tomcat server) – a bridge for secure HTTPS Access to Oracle Database for RESTful Services. ORDS can be containerized inside Docker, if needed.

On the Always Free Oracle Cloud service, the database is stopped if not used for 7 days (we can restart it with a button click). For both the above services, an email notification is sent to us about purging of our workspace if it is dormant and not used for 90 days – we can prevent removal of our Workspace by simply following the instructions (clicking a button, logging into the workspace or upgrading to Paid service).

For APEX on the OCI (Always Free or Paid), use ATP (Autonomous Transaction Processing) type dB if you want to connect to the dB using a client app like SQL Developer (APEX does have a built-in SQL Workshop module to manage all-things-dB and RESTful APIs using just a Browser). SQL Developer also has a built-in module to develop/manage RESTful APIs.

Oracle Corporation is very  GENEROUS  – they offer the above services (and many more) 100% FREE. They also offer Oracle XE database for 100% FREE (with up to 12 GB of data storage) to use even in commercial apps – embed or redistribute. There are many commercial apps built using APEX on Always Free Oracle Cloud account on OCI and also using the free Oracle XE database with APEX front-end or some other UI technology. For instance, we can build (and sell) commercial web apps for FREE, using –

• Always Free Oracle dB and APEX on OCI

• Free Oracle XE and APEX installed into it

More info comparing the above two services and how to upgrade to Paid service on OCI –

dgielis.blogspot.com/2021/04/which-one-to-pick-free-apex-service-vs.html

THE PROMISING FUTURE OF APEX!!

APEX was started in 1999 and went through some name changes – Flows, Marvel, HTML DB and later renamed to Application Express or APEX.

APEX's  slick  Page Designer and IDE were  built using APEX itself  – just as many support sites on Oracle.com are, such as –

• • apex.oracle.com

  • cloud.oracle.com

  • forum.oracle.com

  • education.oracle.com

  • mylearn.oracle.com

  • store.oracle.com

  • Apex.press (Podcast)

  • Apex.world (plugins, etc)

  • LiveSQL.oracle.com

  • BuiltWithApex.com

  • Learning Library

  • Ask Tom

  • and many more...

which is a great testament to APEX's powerful features. As Larry Ellison fondly says, "We eat our own dog food!".

• Oracle uses APEX on 2,000+ of their own internal apps

• Every line of business at Oracle uses APEX to deliver solutions

• Oracle runs on APEX, literally! (watch the video below)

• There are more than 22 million apps built on APEX and growing 7x YoY for new APEX apps

• 3K APEX apps created every day

• Over 850K developers world-wide with 25% YoY growth

• Oracle is the LARGEST database company and 2nd largest, 50-year-old software company with an impressive track record

• APEX existed since 1999, it is the next incarnation of Oracle Forms & Reports.

• APEX is built using APEX itself!

In other words, Oracle does USE their product (APEX) in their real applications, learn from the experience, improvise it and evolve it – it's not a vendor who just dishes out random software and hope that clients/users will like it.

The Page Designer is also a powerful SPA (single page app) which allows us to do many things by staying on the same page and without losing context (other great examples of SPA are APEX Report-with-Form dialog, APEX Master-Detail side-by-side with 3 or more regions, Gmail, etc.). In earlier versions, we needed to click Save for every change in the Page Designer before clicking on another region, component, item or node but now, we can make as many changes as we want, click anywhere on any components and save ALL the changes with just one click when we are ready. That's how powerful APEX Page Designer is now!

APEX comes with many powerful components with feature to create Plugins using PL/SQL, JavaScript, HTML and CSS or install any of the hundreds of existing plugins from apex.world (another support site developed using APEX) for custom functionality. In addition –

• Oracle acquired FOEX, a company that developed more than 165 powerful plugins for APEX and many of these plugins are going to be incorporated as built-in components inside APEX and released in future updates!

• APEX is  UNMATCHED  by any other Web technology, is the next incarnation of the legacy Forms & Reports, has been around  since 1999 , went through some name changes – Flows, Marvel, HTML DB and later renamed to Application Express or APEX

• APEX was Cloud and PaaS way back in 2002

• APEX is used by Oracle and many clients world-wide, constantly maintained by Oracle with consistent releases as APEX is their excellent value proposition and no-cost, limitless, FREE offering to sell more Oracle dB licenses

• There are more than 2 million apps built on APEX and growing 7x year-over-year for new APEX apps, 3K APEX apps created every day

• Over 500K developers world-wide with 25% year-over-year growth

• Oracle is the LARGEST database company and 2nd largest, 46-year old software company with an impressive track record.

APEX is used by many State and Federal government agencies and private organizations world-wide, such as –

• State of Illinois

• Chicago Police Department (the first and foremost client of APEX from 20 years ago)

• State of California

• State of Oklahoma (my prior project – entirely on APEX)

• State of Kansas

• State of Georgia

• State of Virginia

• Washington, DC

• State of New York

• State of Connecticut

• State of Louisiana

• Defense organizations

• Highly-regulated Insurance & Healthcare clients…

• Who uses Oracle APEX?

• And many, many more…

 
And hence, APEX is  NOT  going anywhere! The completely FREE and limitless APEX alone is worth staying with Oracle dB.

Every other Low-Code platform costs $$$, with many limits by number of apps/developers/users! And we don't know how long they would sustain in the market.

APEX is the ultimate SMART choice to modernize legacy apps and build new apps quickly and cost-effectively. For clients that use Oracle, there is absolutely NO reason not to use the completely FREE and limitless APEX which is a  COMPLETE platform  with a full spectrum of Web-development features that does everything – right out of the box. Anything else would be just re-inventing the wheel that Oracle invented for us already, decades ago. APEX can be installed anywhere Oracle runs and with any Oracle edition – cloud, on-premise, XE and used for FREE or subscribed to Oracle dB on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) – comes FREE with Oracle dB, compute, storage... where we can host dynamic websites written in any language.

Oracle releases updates to APEX consistently, twice a year (versions YYYY.1 and YYYY.2). They update apex.oracle.com service first and after the changes are tested thoroughly by the APEX Team and users from around the world and all the reported issues are resolved, the version updates are pushed on to cloud.oracle.com, keeping the production apps on the OCI safe from breaking. We can defer and choose not auto-upgrade APEX for up to 90 days on OCI.

APEX RELEASE HISTORY (AN IMPRESSIVE TRACK-RECORD)

THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPMENT

• There is a COST associated with every single line of code (SQL, PL/SQL, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, etc.) – for writing it, testing it and maintaining it. The way to reduce COST and the HUGE amounts of time and money it takes to create, test and deploy code is to reduce CODE. This is the concept of Low-Code.

• Procedural code can be hard to maintain, especially if we didn't write it. In Low-Code, we set attributes for example, by clicking a checkbox, there is only one way to check a box consistently and it is error-proof.

• Low-Code platform handles repetitive tasks and mundane aspects such as security, session-state management, data-persistence, validations, responsive design, navigation, help... as part of its SMART-Engine, so we don't have to spend HUGE amounts of time and $$ on coding and maintaining them.

• Low-Code platform offers built-in and fully tested, powerful components as part of its SMART-Framework, facilitating RAD and saving on costs.

• APEX has NO server-side language and hence NO need to learn anything new – just use existing SQL and PL/SQL knowledge.

• APEX facilitates going No-Code (completely declarative) for moderate control, Low-Code (declarative & logic) for more control or High-Code (complete logic) for absolute control. Check out the video above for more on this.

• The costs saved on the above Low-Code features can be used on coding the business logic with  LASER-FOCUS .

• Seamless and continuous modernization by simply upgrading the underlying framework without writing/modifying any code.

• To communicate with non-Oracle databases, APEX can consume RESTful APIs, gracefully.

• If we keep most of the code in the backend Oracle database with minimal code in APEX apps, it would be CHEAPER to find PL/SQL developers to maintain the backend logic.

• Many developers find it challenging and dislike to work with another creator’s hand-coded application. Thus if changes come about in the future, they take longer than they would with a low-code, property-based structure like APEX. There is not much to code in APEX other than setting properties the same way any other developer would do.

• Unlike other low code platforms, APEX does not generate any code in the backend which means while editing or upgrading/updating/patching, APEX will not go through a cumbersome process of regenerating the code.

• The entire stack is managed by Oracle and we don’t need to add any libraries or do any cumbersome integrations – just code!

• We can go from Zero to Mission-Critical and Prototype to Production in no time. APEX apps can be developed by accommodating frequent changes in requirements, EASILY.

• The UI of APEX apps is highly optimized, streamlined and rock-solid with powerful features due to code contributions and testing from many, many developers/users from around the world and hence the forms and reports look with consistent UI.

• Other frameworks my not exist and apps built on those frameworks will likely STOP working after some time from browser updates but APEX apps will CONTINUE to work as the APEX team will take care of its underlying SMART framework!!

• Due to tight coupling with data layer (ORDS, APIs, apps residing inside dB), one request and response with zero latency architecture.

• Offline PWA apps feature in works so in future, we can use the downloaded PWA apps without internet connection.

• Low-Code helps Citizen Developers (employees who are not professional developers), develop simple apps.

• Cloud-based development and app access from anywhere, anytime is SECURE and cost-effective without any additional infra.

• Low-Code and AI are going to be the FUTURE.

• APEX is rated with  4.8 Stars  on Gartner.com and 95% people recommending it. You can have a ton of insights into APEX on Gartner.

• Gartner predicts that by 2024, Low-Code development will account for more than 65% of application development activities.

• Low-Code APEX is more powerful, futuristic, COMPLETE, UNMATCHED, 4GL, rapid and cost-effective platform than other RAD tools. There is absolutely NO tool in the market that can measure up to the 100% free, limitless and 100% Browser-based APEX with NO server-side language overhead!

• Tools come and go, but (meta)  DATA  – is here to stay! APEX uses the age-old, native  SQL & PL/SQL  that change very, very rarely and are “Learn-once-and-keep-forever” without having to learn anything new – EVER. SQL & PL/SQL have no libraries/frameworks – and so, NO disruptions or distractions!

(I have a lot more info to share about APEX, some of it not found anywhere, but this page would become lengthy)

NON-ORACLE CLIENTS

For clients that don't use Oracle, the best platform is JavaScript which is just a SINGLE language on both the server-side (Node.js) and front-end (some JavaScript library/framework such as React, Vue, etc.) – no need to learn multiple languages BUT it still results in a server-side language OVERHEAD and a LOT of continuous learning/adopting of disrupting libraries/frameworks (that may get replaced a "few" times before a multi-year new/modernization project is over) and would not result in continuous/automatic UI modernization – like APEX does out of the box without any effort from our side as UI is taken care of by the APEX Team and without any server-side language OVERHEAD to learn or maintain (using just SQL and PL/SQL).

Oracle APEX Masterclass with Joel Kallman (RIP)
videohub.oracle.com/media/Oracle+APEX+Masterclass+with+Joel+Kallman/1_61frw5yc

Oracle APEX Masterclass - From Idea to App at the Speed of Light
videohub.oracle.com/media/Oracle+APEX+Masterclass+-+From+Idea+to+App+at+the+Speed+of+Light/1_z7hdmvax/168040062

Oracle APEX Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/mu/podcast/the-oracle-apex-talkshow/id979577290

Cheers!

--
Shekar Reddy
PowerObject!
APEXpert!