1. App Builder User's Guide
  2. Extending Application Capabilities
  3. Implementing Plug-ins
  4. Understanding Plug-ins

19.2.1 Understanding Plug-ins

Learn about plug-ins and how to find examples.

Parent topic: Implementing Plug-ins

19.2.1.1 About Plug-ins

A plug-in is an extension to the built-in types available APEX.

Create plug-ins for declarative use of new item, region, process and dynamic action types in your application.

APEX supports a set group of authentication scheme, authorization scheme, item, region, dynamic action, and process types. Plug-ins offer a means of augmenting these built-in types by declaratively creating and using new types in your application. Because plug-ins are designed for reuse, developers can export and import them to other workspaces and also share them with the Oracle APEX Plug-in community by using the Plug-in Repository.

The process of implementing a plug-in involves the following steps:

  1. Create a plug-in or import a plug-in into your application workspace.
  2. Edit or create an authorization scheme, item, region, process, or dynamic action type to use the plug-in.
  3. Run your application to test the plug-in.

Parent topic: Understanding Plug-ins

19.2.1.2 About Template Component Type Plug-ins

Template Components are reusable UI components that work in Page Designer like any plug-in.

About Template Components

Template Components enable developers to create templates with placeholders, including action positions and action templates. APEX exposes the placeholders in the templates as custom plug-in attributes.

Use Template Components to add new region types to APEX which are not based on PL/SQL. Template Components support template directives, Actions and Menu buttons with row-level conditions, and both CSS and JS files.

About Creating Template Components

To create a Template Component, create a new plug-in and specify the Type as Template Component. Under Templates, enter markup for the template. You specify how the plug-in displays and where it can be used by configuring the Available as attribute:

  • Multiple (Report) - Use the Template Component for a region to show multiple rows with pagination options.

  • Single (Partial) - Use the Template Component for an interactive report column or for a region to show a single row.

Tip:

Template Component Type plug-in include support for template directives. To learn more, see Using Template Directives.

Custom Attributes

To reference the Static IDs, edit the plug-in and add Custom Attributes with a Scope of Component and use the #STATIC_ID# placeholder syntax. You can quickly synchronize all placeholders as Custom Attributes using clicking the Synchronize from Templates button on the plug-in Edit page. These Custom Attributes are used by Page Designer to assign values to placeholders.

Action Positions and Action Templates

Editing a plug-in and adding Actions enables end users to interact with the Template Component. The Action Template defines if the template is a simple Button or displays a Menu button. The Action Position defines the position of the button within the template. You specify in Page Designer which action to perform on a click of the button.

Nested Templates

Oracle APEX enables you to embed another Template Component within a current Template Component. Nesting Template Components is a way to break templates into smaller reusable components. To nest a Template Component use the use the {with/} and {apply/} syntax of template directives.

Viewing Template Component Examples

The Universal Theme includes several Template Component Type plug-ins:

  • Comments - Based on the classic report Comments template. Displays user comments and status updates declaratively using custom region attributes. Supports avatars.
  • Content Row - Based on the classic report Content Row template. Displays region content and layout as a content row using custom region attributes. Supports avatars and badges.
  • Media List - Based on the classic report Media List template. Displays region content and layout as a media list using custom region attributes. Supports avatars and badges.
  • Timeline - Based on the classic report Timeline template. Displays a series of events by declaratively setting custom region attributes.

To view Template Component Type plug-ins available in the go to Shared Components, Templates, and then sort by Type, Template Component.

See Also:

Parent topic: Understanding Plug-ins

19.2.1.3 Example Plug-ins

View plug-in examples on apex.world and the Oracle APEX GitHub repository.

You can view plug-in implementation examples in the following locations:

Parent topic: Understanding Plug-ins