13.1.4 Editing Page Items

Edit item attributes to control how an item displays on a page.

For example, the Type attribute determines if the item displays as text field, text area, checkbox, date picker, switch, hidden item and so on. Depending upon the item Type, item attributes can determine where a label displays, how large an item is, and if the item displays next to or below the previous item. Item attributes also control item behavior such as the item’s default value, whether the item displays conditionally, or if the item is read-only.

• Editing Page Item Attributes in the Property Editor
  
• Positioning Page Items
  
• Defining Default Values for Page Items
  
• Configuring Page Item Security
  
• Changing an Existing Item to Use Quick Picks
  
• Displaying Conditional Page Items
  
• Displaying Read Only Page Items
  
• Applying a Format Mask to an Item
  
• Configuring Item Attributes to Warn Users of Unsaved Changes
  
• Controlling How Page Items Write Session State
  
• Viewing Item Utilities
  

13.1.4.1 Editing Page Item Attributes in the Property Editor

To edit item attributes in the Property Editor:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays the item attributes.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. Edit the appropriate attributes.
   Edited attributes display a green marker to the left of the attribute name until the page is saved.

   Tip:

   To learn more about an attribute, select the attribute in the Property Editor and click the Help tab in the center pane.

4. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

13.1.4.2 Positioning Page Items

Positioning a Page Item at the Page-level

You can position page items at a page or region level.

To position a page item at the page-level, select the page item in Page Designer. In the Property Editor leave the Layout, Region attribute empty. To place a page item at a specific location on the page, configure the Layout, Position attribute.

Positioning a Page Item at the Region-level

To position a page item at a region-level, select the page item in Page Designer. In the Property Editor, edit the Layout, Region attribute and select the region where the page item belongs. Then, configure the Layout, Position within the region to place a Page Item at a specific location inside the region.

13.1.4.3 Defining Default Values for Page Items

You define default values for an item using the Default attribute. The default value is used when the item's value is not derived from session state and when the source value is NULL.

To define a default value for an item:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays attributes for the item.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. In the Property Editor, find the Default group.
4. Default, Type - Select a default value type for this item. Options include:
   • Static - Set to the value entered in Static Value.
   • Item - Set to the value returned from the session state for the selected Item.
   • SQL Query - Set to the value returned from the entered SQL Query.
   • SQL Query returning Colon Delimited List - Set to the colon delimited list of values returned from the entered SQL Query . Colon delimited lists are required when the column is displayed as a checkbox, radio group, or shuttle.
   • PL/SQL Expression - Set to the value returned from the entered PL/SQL Expression.
   • PL/SQL Function Body - Set to the value returned from the PL/SQL Function Body entered.
   • Sequence - Set to the value returned from the Sequence entered.
5. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

13.1.4.4 Configuring Page Item Security

To configure page item security:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays the item attributes.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. Find Security. Configure the following Security attributes.

   Table 13-2 Property Editor - Page Item, Security

   Attribute	Description
   Authorization Scheme	Select an authorization scheme which must evaluate to TRUE in order for this component to be rendered or otherwise processed. See Also: Providing Security Through Authorization
   Session State Protection	Select a Session State Protection level. Options include: Unrestricted - The item can be set by passing the item in a URL or in a form. No checksum is required in the URL. Checksum Required - Application Level - The item can be set by passing the item in a URL that includes a checksum specific to the workspace and application. Checksum Required - User Level - The item can be set by passing the item in a URL that includes a checksum specific to the workspace, application and user. Checksum Required - Session Level - The item can be set by passing the item in a URL that includes a checksum specific to the session. Restricted - May not be set from browser - The item cannot be altered using the URL or POSTDATA. Select this option to restrict what can set the item value to internal processes, computations, and so on. This attribute only applies to items that are not used as data entry items and is always observed, even if Session State Protection is disabled. Use this attribute for page or application items that have the following Display As types Display Only (Save State=No) Text Field (Disabled, does not save state) See Also: Preventing URL Tampering
   Store value encrypted in session state	Specify whether to encrypt this item when stored in session state. If the contents of an item contain sensitive data, then you should encrypt the value when it is stored in the Oracle APEX session state management tables. Otherwise, anyone with rights to read the APEX metadata tables could potentially write a query to extract this sensitive data. Values up to 4000 bytes in length can be encrypted. Attempts to encrypt values longer than 4000 bytes produce an error message.
   Escape Special Characters	This attribute only displays with some item types. Select On to prevent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. Select Off if you want that HTML tags which are stored in the page item or in the entries of a list of value are actually rendered. See Also: Understanding Cross-Site Scripting Protection
   Restricted Characters	Select how to restrict the characters that can be saved in session state. APEX displays an error message if a user tries to save data that does not conform to the selected character restriction. Restricting the characters hardens application security and is a possible counter measure to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. Available options include: All characters can be saved - No restriction applies. Whitelist for a-Z, 0-9 and space - Only allow characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and space. Blacklist HTML command characters (<>") - Reserved HTML characters cannot be saved. Blacklist &<>"/;,*|=% and --: - The following characters cannot be saved: &, <, >, ", /, ;, ",", *, |, =, % and "--" (PL/SQL comment) Blacklist &<>"/;,*|=% or -- and new line - The following characters cannot be saved: &, <, >, ", /, ;, ",", *, |, =, %, "--", and new line characters See Also: Understanding Cross-Site Scripting Protection

13.1.4.5 Changing an Existing Item to Use Quick Picks

Quick picks enable users to select predefined values with just one click, rather than typing in text or selecting from a list of available options. If the item type supports quick pick selection, use the Quick Picks attributes to define up to ten selections that display under a give item. Clicking on a quick pick sets the value of item. The following example shows quick picks for 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%.

To create a quick pick:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays the item attributes.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. Under Quick Picks:
   1. Show Quick Picks - Select On .
   2. Link Attributes - Enter HTML attributes that are associated with the display of each Quick Pick link
   3. Label - Enter the label for the each Quick Pick. This label is the text the end user of the application sees.
   4. Value - Enter the value associated with each Quick Pick. This value replaces the existing item value when the user clicks the quick pick.
4. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

13.1.4.6 Displaying Conditional Page Items

To display a conditional item:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays attributes for the item.

   Note:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. Find Server-side Condition. Select a condition Type and enter appropriate information in the field provided.

   Tip:

   To learn more about an attribute, select the attribute in the Property Editor and click the Help tab in the central pane.
4. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

13.1.4.7 Displaying Read Only Page Items

To display a read-only item:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays attributes for the item.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. Under Read Only , select a Type, and enter appropriate information in the field provided.

   Tip:

   To learn more about an attribute, select the attribute in the Property Editor and click the Help tab in the central pane.
4. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

13.1.4.8 Applying a Format Mask to an Item

You can apply a format mask to an item by selecting the item in Page Designer and editing the Format Mask attribute. Developers commonly select a format mask to determine how numbers and dates display.

To apply a format mask to an item:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays the item attributes.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. Under Appearance, Format Mask - Select a format mask.

   Tip:

   Only apply number format masks to items that contain numbers and only apply date format masks to items that contain dates. Otherwise, is raised since the component contains a value that can not be converted using the specified format mask.
4. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

13.1.4.9 Configuring Item Attributes to Warn Users of Unsaved Changes

Developers can use the Warn on Unsaved Changes item attribute to specify if the page item should be included in the unsaved changes check. This check warns the user when they try to navigate away from a page and when the page contains unsaved changes. Items not based on a database column (for example, a search item) may not need to be checked. For those items, set Warn on Unsaved Changes to Do Not Check.

To configure the Warn on Unsaved Changes attribute:

1. View the page in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays the item attributes.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. For Advanced, Warn on Unsaved Changes - Select one of the following:

   • Page Default - Include item in the unsaved changes check if Warn on Unsaved Changes is enabled at the page-level.

   • Ignore - Changes to the item are ignored by the unsaved changes check. Select this option for items not based on a database column (for example, a search item).

4. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

Tip:

The Warn on Unsaved Changes attribute is implemented using the apex.page.warnOnUnsavedChanges API.

See Also:

• Configuring Pages to Warn Users of Unsaved Changes

• warnOnUnsavedChanges in Oracle APEX JavaScript API Reference

13.1.4.10 Controlling How Page Items Write Session State

You can control whether a page item writes its session state into persistent (disk) session state or just into memory by configuring the item attribute, Maintain Session State.

To configure how a page item writes session state:

1. View the page containing the item to be configured in Page Designer:
   1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
   2. Select an application.
   3. Select a page.
   Page Designer appears.
2. In either the Rendering tab or the Layout tab, select the item to edit.
   The Property Editor displays the item attributes.

   Tip:

   Attributes are organized in groups. To find a group or attribute, enter keywords in the Filter Properties field, or click Go to Group and select the group.
3. In the Property Editor, find the Source group.
4. Source, Maintain Session State - Select one of the following options:
   • Per Request (Memory Only) - Do not save state in the database. State is only available when processing the current request. When AJAX requests need to use an item, make sure to pass the item name using the Page Items To Submit attribute..
   • Per Session (Disk)- Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across
   • Per User (Disk) - Value is saved in a user attribute repository and it is also available for later APEX sessions.

   Note:

   When creating database items that work with a Form region (for example as part of a wizard), Per Request (Memory Only) is the default. Per User (Disk) is not available for these items.
5. To save your changes click Save. To save and run the page, click Save and Run Page.

See Also:

About Setting Session State

13.1.4.11 Viewing Item Utilities

The Utilities page includes Grid Edit pages and reports that enable you to edit items on multiple pages within a selected application.

To access the Utilities page:

1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
2. Select an application.
3. Click Utilities.
4. From Page Specific Utilities region, click Item Utilities.
5. Select one of the following reports:

   • Grid Edit of all Item Labels - Edit all item labels for all pages in your application.

   • Grid Edit of all Item Help Text - Edit item help text to ensure consistency accross your application.

   • Item Help Subscriptions - Edit item help subscriptions in your application.

   • All Page Items - Edit all page items in your application.

   • Password Items - Edit password items in your application. Oracle recommends password items not save session state. To learn more, see the Password Items region on the right side of the page.

   • Conditional Items - Edit conditional items in your application.