Preface

Oracle Application Express API Reference describes the Application Programming Interfaces, referred to as APIs, available when programming in the Oracle Application Express environment.

Note:

In Oracle Application Express 4.2, the APEX_DEBUG_MESSAGE package was renamed to APEX_DEBUG. The APEX_DEBUG_MESSAGE package name is still supported to provide backward compatibility. As a best practice, however, use the new APEX_DEBUG package for new applications unless you plan to run them in an earlier version of Oracle Application Express.

Topics:

Topic Overview

This document contains the following chapters:

Title	Description
Changes in This Release	Describes changes in this document for Oracle Application Express Release 4.2
APEX_APPLICATION	Use the `APEX_APPLICATION` package to take advantage of many global variables.
APEX_APPLICATION_INSTALL	The `APEX_APPLICATION_INSTALL` package provides many methods to modify application attributes during the Application Express application installation process.
APEX_AUTHENTICATION	The `APEX_AUTHENTICATION` package provides a public API for authentication plugins.
APEX_COLLECTION	Use `APEX_COLLECTION` to temporarily capture one or more nonscalar values. You can use collections to store rows and columns currently in session state so they can be accessed, manipulated, or processed during a user's specific session.
APEX_CSS	The `APEX_CSS` package provides utility functions for adding CSS styles to HTTP output. This package is usually used for plug-in development.
APEX_CUSTOM_AUTH	Use the `APEX_CUSTOM_AUTH` package to perform various operations related to authentication and session management.
APEX_DEBUG	The `APEX_DEBUG` package provides utility functions for managing the debug message log.
APEX_ESCAPE	The `APEX_ESCAPE` package provides functions for escaping special characters in strings, to ensure that the data is suitable for further processing.
APEX_ERROR	The `APEX_ERROR` package provides the interface declarations and some utility functions for an error handling function and includes procedures and functions to raise errors in an Application Express application.
APEX_INSTANCE_ADMIN	The `APEX_INSTANCE_ADMIN` package provides utilities for managing an Oracle Application Express runtime environment. Use the `APEX_INSTANCE_ADMIN` package to get and set email settings, wallet settings, report printing settings and to manage scheme to workspace mappings.
APEX_IR	The `APEX_IR` package provides utilities you can use when programming in the Oracle Application Express environment related to interactive reports.
APEX_ITEM	Use the `APEX_ITEM` package to create form elements dynamically based on a SQL query instead of creating individual items page by page.
APEX_JAVASCRIPT	The `APEX_JAVASCRIPT` package provides utility functions for adding dynamic JavaScript code to HTTP output. This package is usually used for plug-in development.
APEX_LANG	Use `APEX_LANG` API to translate messages.
APEX_LDAP	Use `APEX_LDAP` to perform various operations related to Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) authentication.
APEX_MAIL	Use the `APEX_MAIL` package to send an email from an Oracle Application Express application.
APEX_PLSQL_JOB	Use `APEX_PLSQL_JOB` package to run PL/SQL code in the background of your application. This is an effective approach for managing long running operations that do not need to complete for a user to continue working with your application.
APEX_PLUGIN	The `APEX_PLUGIN` package provides the interface declarations and some utility functions to work with plug-ins.
APEX_PLUGIN_UTIL	The `APEX_PLUGIN_UTIL` package provides utility functions that solve common problems when writing a plug-in.
APEX_UI_DEFAULT_UPDATE	You can use the `APEX_UI_DEFAULT_UPDATE` package to set the user interface defaults associated with a table within a schema. The package must be called from within the schema that owns the table you are updating.
APEX_UTIL	Use the `APEX_UTIL` package to get and set session state, get files, check authorizations for users, reset different states for users, and also to get and set preferences for users.
APEX_WEB_SERVICE	The `APEX_WEB_SERVICE` API enables you to integrate other systems with Application Express by allowing you to interact with Web services anywhere you can use PL/SQL in your application. The API contains procedures and functions to call both SOAP and RESTful style Web services.
JavaScript APIs	Use these JavaScript functions and objects to provide client-side functionality, such as showing and hiding page elements, or making XML HTTP Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) requests.

Note:

In release 2.2, Oracle Application Express APIs were renamed using the prefix APEX_. Note that API's using the previous prefix HTMLDB_ are still supported to provide backward compatibility. As a best practice, however, use the new API names for new applications unless you plan to run them in an earlier version of Oracle Application Express.

Audience

Oracle Application Express API Reference is intended for application developers who are building database-centric web applications using Oracle Application Express. The guide describes the APIs available when programming in the Oracle Application Express environment.

To use this guide, you need to have a general understanding of relational database concepts and an understanding of the operating system environment under which you are running Oracle Application Express.

Documentation Accessibility

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Conventions

For a description of PL/SQL subprogram conventions, refer to the Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference. This document contains the following information:

Specifying subprogram parameter modes
Specifying default values for subprogram parameters
Overloading PL/SQL subprogram Names

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic	Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
`monospace`	Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.