1 Changes in Release 22.2 for Oracle APEX App Builder User’s Guide

All content in Oracle APEX App Builder User’s Guide has been updated to reflect release 22.2 functionality and user interface changes.

New Features and Updates

The following are features and updates in Oracle APEX:

• Application Search

  Add declarative searches to an application by creating a search configuration and then a search page that displays the search results. Features include:

  • Create multiple search configurations containing meta data about a searchable data source (such as tables or views, columns, search type and features, result list columns, and so on).

  • Create search configurations usign an existing Oracle TEXT index, enabling developers can use this functionality and provide linguistic and fuzzy search capabilities.

  • Create a new Search Page automatically using the Create Page Wizard or by adding search component manually. A Search page features a search field (or page item) which enables users to submit search terms and a Search Results region. The Search Results region contains Search Sources which map to search configurations.
  • When a user types a search term at runtime search search configuration executes and returns the relevant results.
  • Includes options for pagination, search-as-you-type, custom layout, page size limit, show results count, lazy loading, sorting, and custom messages for No Query Entered and No Results Found..

  See Adding Search to an Application.

• Invoke API Process Type

  Invoke API is a new page-level process type enables the execution of procedures and functions completely declaratively, without having to write PL/SQL code.

  See About Page Processes and Creating Page Processes.

• Dynamic Content Region

  Dynamic Content is new region type that very similar to the legacy PL/SQL Dynamic Content region type, with some key differences:

  • The region source must return the HTML value as a CLOB. The value is no longer output via the HTP package.
  • Dynamic Content regions are refreshable and support lazy loading.
  • The region supports PL/SQL and JavaScript (MLE).

  See Managing Regions and Supported Region Types.

• Approvals Component Enhancements

  The approvals component now includes a Request and Submit Information process for the task owner and task initiator to provide more information about a specific task during the approval process. Business administrators can now update due dates for tasks or renew expired tasks. When configuring the approvals component, developers can:

  • Copy an existing task definition
  • Customize the type of actions logged in the task history
  • Set due dates dynamically using a SQL Query, Expression, or Function Body
  • Set tasks to automatically renew or expire after the due date

  See Managing Approvals.

• Page Item Session State Data Type - CLOB

  The data type CLOB is now available for the following item types:

  • Display Only
  • Hidden
  • Markdown Editor
  • Rich Text Editor
  • TextArea

  In Page Designer, these items have a new attribute group Session State, the Data Type select list is now populated with VARCHAR2 (default) and CLOB.

  See Available Item Types.

• Date Picker

  New Date Picker web component (a-date-picker) replaces for the Oracle JET implementation, supporting the existing functionality of the JET implementation, plus a few improvements.

  • Today button of the desupported jQuery Date Picker is available again. You can toggle the button on or off via Component Settings or in the Item Attributes.
  • Use HTML attributes to change the behavior of the date picker on the client side without needing to use JavaScript calls. This change improves loading performance and operation speed.
  • Supports full keyboard operation, recommended by ARIA APG

  See Available Item Types.

• Support for Template Directives in Classic and Interactive Reports

  This release includes template directives in classic reports and interactive reports for columns that have an HTML expression..

  See Using Template Directives.

• Vector-Based Map Support

  APEX now supports Vector-Based Map Tiles in the map region. There are three layers available: OpenStreetMap Positron, OpenStreetMap Dark, and OpenStreetMap Bright. New applications use Vector Layers by default. Existing applications continue to use Raster Layers, but you can change them to use Vector Layers by editing Shared Components, Component Settings, Map.

  See Creating Maps and Configuring Vector Tile Layers for Maps.

• PWA and Mobile Enhancements:

  • You can now include screenshots when prompting users to install the Progressive Web App.
  • Shortcuts can be added to PWA for better navigation in an installed application only certain devices.

  See Creating a Progressive Web App (PWA).

• Naming Actions of Dynamic Actions Enhancements:

  New attributes available in Page Designer when creating or editing dynamic actions:

  • Identification, Name - You can now specify a dynamic actions Name for better self-documentation in Page Designer.
  • Execution, Type - Debounce an action with a delay to execute it once after a specified time delay from the last time an event fires. Throttle an action immediately to execute it immediately and then in timed intervals if the event continues to fire.

  You can now specify a dynamic actions Name for better self-documentation in Page Designer.

  See Creating a Dynamic Action.

• Drawer Modal Dialog Template

  There is a new Drawer template available for Modal Dialog pages. The Drawer template is an overlay window that slides out from the viewport.

  See Creating Dialog Pages.

Deprecated and Desupported Features

See Deprecated Features and Desupported Features in Oracle APEX Release Notes.