| Oracle® Database Application Express User's Guide Release 3.0 Part Number B32258-01 |
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View PDF |
| Oracle® Database Application Express User's Guide Release 3.0 Part Number B32258-01 |
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|
View PDF |
This section describes new features available in Oracle Application Express Release 3.0 and points you to additional information.
New features in Oracle Application Express, release 3.0 include:
PDF Printing.
You can now include the ability to print a report by exporting a report region to PDF. When editing a report region, there is a new tab called Print Attributes. You can also define report queries and print attributes for report regions as Shared Components, making them accessible to all pages within an application. See "Printing ReportRegions".
Microsoft Access Migration.
Application Migration enables you to migrate a Microsoft Access application and generate an Oracle Application Express application. The migration process involves the following steps:
Use the Exporter tool to export metadata from Microsoft Access.
Use Oracle Migration Workbench to migrate a Microsoft Access database to Oracle.
Create an Oracle Application Express workspace and then a migration project.
Validate and update the retrieved objects.
Generate an Oracle Application Express application.
Flash Charts.
Oracle Application Express includes support for 18 different types of Flash charts. You can create Flash charts when creating a new page or by defining a Chart region. This release also includes a utility that enables you to convert existing Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) charts to Flash. See "Creating Charts".
Drag and Drop Item Layout.
The Items section of Page Definition includes a new Drag and Drop icon. You can use this icon to access a new Drag and Drop Layout page. The Drag and Drop Layout page enables you to interactively reorder items within a given region, change select item attributes, create new items, and delete existing items. See "Using the Drag and Drop Layout Page".
Improved Web Services.
Oracle Application Express now supports more loosely defined Web services types and document styles. Both of these enhancements enable support for Web services created with JDeveloper and Oracle BPEL synchronous processes. You can now interact with Web services over a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and work with Web services that require basic authentication. Finally, this release also enables you to manually create a Web service reference even if the Application Express engine cannot correctly parse a WSDL document. See "Implementing Web Services".
New Item Types.
Release 3.0 contains the following new item types:
Shuttle - A multiple select list that includes two boxes containing lists
New Text areas - HTML Editor Minimal and HTML Editor Standard
New Popup List of Values - Popup Color Picker
Date Picker (use item format mask)
See "About Item Types" and "Populating an Alternative Date Picker Format for a Specific Item".
Calendar Enhancement.
When you create a Calendar, you now get a Monthly, Weekly and Daily view. Application users can quickly toggle between these display modes with the click of a button. See "Creating Calendars".
Supporting Objects Enhancement.
The Supporting Objects feature, introduced in Oracle Application Express 2.2, now includes the ability to define upgrade scripts. You can use the Upgrade page to define scripts to upgrade database objects, images, and seed data when upgrading an existing application. See "Upgrading a Packaged Application".
Page and Region Caching.
You can improve your application's performance by taking advantage of page and region caching. In release 3.0, new Cache attributes have been added to the Page Attributes and Region Definition pages. Page caching works well for static pages and region caching is a good choice for regions such as lists that do not have any conditions or regions containing HTML text. See "Cache" and "Utilizing Region Caching".
Item Finder Enhancements.
In release 3.0, the Item Finder features two new tabs: CSS and Images. Use the CSS tab to identify cascading style sheets that are available to any Application Express application regardless of theme. Use the Images tab to view a gallery of available art. See"Using the CSS Finder" and "Using the Images Finder".
Additionally, the Find Table icon has been added to Object Browser and SQL Commands within SQL Workshop. You can use this icon to quickly view tables and columns within the current schema. See "Using the Find Tables Icon" and "About the SQL Commands Home Page".
Application and Schema Comparison.
New application and schema comparison capabilities enable you to identify differences between two selected applications, or between objects in two different schemas. To access the new Application Comparison utility, navigate to Application Reports and click Cross Application. See "Viewing Application Reports". To generate a schema comparison, navigate to Utilities and click Schema Comparison. See "Comparing Schemas".
Friendly URL Syntax to Facilitate Bookmarks.
By specifying zero as the session ID, you can now make it easier for application users to bookmark pages within an application. This features makes all public page links consistent, making them easier to bookmark. See "Facilitating Bookmarks by Using Zero as the Session ID".
New Password and Account Controls.
You can now specify rules for password expiration, mandate strong passwords (that is, specify the minimum number of and type of characters), require that users change their passwords on first use, and lock accounts.
You configure account login controls and password policies across a development instance in Oracle Application Express Administration Services. See "Configuring Security Settings". You specify controls for a specific account under Account Controls on the Edit User page. See "Managing Application Express Users".
Improved Workspace Management.
This release also includes a number of workspace management enhancements. For users requesting new workspaces or requesting additional storage, you can control what sizes display. See "Configuring Workspace Size Options for Requests".
You can also request an email of your workspace names. See "Finding Your Workspace Name". Finally, you can view a log of login attempts. See "Monitoring Activity Across a Development Instance".
