Hacking the APEX Builder – Part 1

15. February 2007

Oracle APEX, Oracle APEX Builder Plugin

Last week I blogged about a resizeable textarea which can be integrated into an APEX application. I thought it would be cool to have this resizeable textareas in the APEX Builder, too.

How could that be done?

I think there are 3 possible solutions

  1. Add the code into the htmldb_get.js with some check that it only executes when the current application is 4000
  2. Implement it as a bookmarklet, but there are maybe size restrictions or
  3. implement it as script for the Firefox Add-on Greasemonkey.

I thought I give Greasemonkey a try, because it’s non inversive and it will automatically execute the script as soon as the HTML page has been rendered. So sorry Internet Explorer users! But if you know a similar extension for IE, let me know and I will take a look.

The installation is quite simple, just follow these steps.

  1. Download and install the Greasemonkey add-on.
  2. After the installation you will see a little monkey face at the right bottom.
  3. Download my APEX Builder plugin script
  4. Install apex_builder_plugin.js (File/Open File)
  5. That’s all, you are done. Login into APEX and try it out!

I have created a video, demonstrating this new feature. Watch it!

11 Responses to “Hacking the APEX Builder – Part 1”

  1. Carl Backstrom Says:
    February 15th, 2007 at 16:44

    Very Nice!

    I love greasemonkey I have it doing so many different things.

    I’ll add this one to the list until we have time to upgrade the builder.

  2. Dimitri Gielis Says:
    February 16th, 2007 at 03:57

    Very cool video!

    I’ve some problems getting this to work in Firefox 2… In which version are you using this?

  3. paulovale Says:
    February 16th, 2007 at 04:35

    Uau.. Cool

    Tested in firefox 2.

    Dimitri, did you check the url prefix rules?

  4. Patrick Wolf Says:
    February 16th, 2007 at 04:44

    Hi Dimitri,

    I’m using FF 2.0.0.1

    Does FF/Firebug show any error?

    If not, open the context menu for Greasemonkey, it should show “APEX Builder Plugin 1.0″ at the top (but only if you are in the APEX Builder). If not check the settings in “Manage User Scripts”, maybe your URL is different. Does it also not work on apex.oracle.com?

    Patrick

  5. Patrick Wolf Says:
    February 16th, 2007 at 06:36

    Carl,

    Greasemonkey looks really promising. Have already read about it before, but yesterday it was time to really use it.

    Great that you use it! I having already some other ideas for my APEX Builder plugin… :-)

    Patrick

  6. Anonymous Says:
    February 18th, 2007 at 23:32

    Hiho,

    this is a great script, but only works with Oralce XE and the installed Apex version if you add

    */apex/f?p=4000:*

    to the list of allowed sites.

  7. Patrick Wolf Says:
    February 19th, 2007 at 01:24

    Does APEX on Oracle XE not have the /pls/ prefix? Because */pls/apex/f?p=4000:* is already included as pattern.

    Patrick

  8. Anonymous Says:
    February 19th, 2007 at 01:50

    No, Apex on XE does not have that prefix, its just /apex/f?p…

  9. Patrick Wolf Says:
    February 19th, 2007 at 01:58

    Thanks, I changed that in version 1.3 which I just have uploaded. Haven’t blogged about it yet, but you can watch the video demonstrating the new “Set” feature.

    Have fun
    Patrick

  10. Richard Says:
    April 5th, 2007 at 05:58

    Great work Patrick :D

    One point to note … the Greasemonkey URL prefix must include a trailing “/”.

    now … if I could just get the boss to let me actually use Firefox and ApexLib at work I’d be a happy man …

  11. Patrick Wolf Says:
    April 5th, 2007 at 06:04

    Hi Richard,

    thanks!

    What are the arguments of your boss not to allow you to use ApexLib and Firefox? Doesn’t he want you to be more productive?

    Patrick