Oracle APEX Builder Plugin version 1.7 is now available!
Not heard about this plugin yet? It’s a Firefox/Internet Explorer extension to enhance the usability/productivity of the Oracle APEX Builder IDE. It adds
It looks like that the Statement of Direction for Oracle Application Express (APEX) has been updated.
Based on the update, Oracle APEX 3.1 will contain now much more features than in the original Statement of Direction, which was posted a few weeks ago. One of the exiting new features will be the “Interactive reporting region types” which Carl Backstrom already demonstrated in his Oracle Application Express (APEX) 4.0 – Preview Video. There where some rumors that it would already be part of 3.1, but only as PL/SQL API’s. As it looks now, it’s fully integrated into the Oracle APEX Builder environment. That should make the handling much easier. I think the enhancement of the Oracle APEX mail API’s to handle attachments, will also help a lot of people. Too bad that the custom item types and the error handling improvement didn’t make it into 3.1. But read on to find out what’s coming up.
Just noticed that Blogger/Blogspot has finally added a comment follow-up notification!
Man I was waiting for that feature! It’s really hard to keep track of all my comments on the other Blogspot blogs. This new feature will make it a breeze!
Maybe they will finally also add a “Teaser” feature to the blogging software, so that I don’t have to use the silly workaround anymore I’m currently using…
A few days ago I spoke with another developer about SQL embedded into PL/SQL code and how function calls are handled in the WHERE clause of SQL statements. There is sometimes confusion who (PL/SQL engine or SQL engine) is executing it, I thought it’s a good idea to write a posting about it.
Last year I have already blogged about it in Caution when using PL/SQL functions in a SQL statement, but that was in the context of writing a stand alone SQL statement for a report, … but what actually happens if you have a SQL embedded into PL/SQL like the following example procedure code in a package
PROCEDURE processEmps
( pDepartmentId IN NUMBER
)
IS
BEGIN
FOR rEMP IN
( SELECT EMPLOYEE_ID
FROM EMPLOYEES
WHERE SALARY > getAvgDeptSalary(pDepartmentId)
)
LOOP
NULL;
END LOOP;
END processEmps;
(Note: getAvgDeptSalary isn’t a very good example, because you could also do that with SQL only, but it’s just an example)
Very simple. A function in the WHERE clause which uses the procedure parameter pDepartmentId. What would you expect how the code/SQL is executed?
Yesterday the new issue of Oracle Magazine has been published which contains the Oracle Magazine Editors Choice awards for 2007. It’s official now, I’ve been named Oracle Application Express Developer of the year 2007! 
I was really honored to have been nominated for this award and it was quite hard to keep quiet for the past months, because I was already told during the ODTUG Kaleidoscope conference in June. So it had the same “problem” as John Scott, the last years winner. But I managed to keep quit
It was a really interesting experience! I had to give an interview and they sent Ton Hendriks, a professional photograph from the Netherlands to take some pictures. Like John wrote, it was a little bit surreal. We took some pictures at my workplace and then we went to the Naturhistorisches Museum of Vienna to take some outdoor pictures. So I was posing in this public spot, sweating because it was a really sunny day and a photographer was lying on the ground and taking pictures of me. So you can imaging how the tourists looked when they walked by. Too bad that there is no PDF version available of the Oracle Magazine, because the HTML version doesn’t show the picture. I have seen the picture and I think Ton did a really good job!
Thanks again to the Oracle APEX development team for nominating me. I really appreciate that! A big thank you goes also to Sphinx IT Consulting for supporting me in my open source and community efforts.
You don’t know what Oracle Application Express (APEX) is? Check out apex.oracle.com!
Update as of 23-Nov-2003: Added the picture from the Oracle Magazine.
Oracle Application Express (APEX) has a “hidden” gem (ok, there are a lot of others too) which in my opinion isn’t widely used by the developers.
Be honest, how often do you use the little “View” select list on page definition?
You should, because it has several useful entries which can make your life easier! But let’s have a quick look at the different options.
That’s a really useful feature for Oracle APEX beginners, because it shows you for the current page the flow of events when a page is processed or rendered. If you check the “View All” radio option it Continue reading