1. App Builder User's Guide
  2. About Item Types

A About Item Types

Review descriptions of the item types available in App Builder and important attributes in Page Designer that control item behavior.

An item can be part of an HTML form or used in an interactive grid column. An item can be a text field, text area, password, select list, checkbox, and so on. Developers can control how a page item works by editing the item attributes in Page Designer. To learn more about specific item attributes, select the attribute in Page Designer and select the Help tab.

Tip:

Your application may also include plug-in items. Plug-ins display as <My Plug-in> [Plug-in]. See Implementing Plug-ins.

  • Checkbox
    Displays a single checkbox, enabling the user to check or uncheck it.
  • Checkbox Group
    Displays multiple values as checkboxes, enabling the end user to select multiple values.
  • Color Picker
    Displays a control for choosing or entering a color depending on the Display As setting. End users can enter a color value or select one from an inline or popup color spectrum.
  • Combobox
    Displays a text item with a list of values icon.
  • Date Picker
    Displays a text field with a calendar icon. End users can either enter the date directly into the text item, or click on the calendar icon to select a date, and optionally a time, from the calendar popup.
  • Date Picker (jQuery) (Desupported)
    Displays a text field with a calendar icon. End users can either enter the date directly into the text item, or click on the calendar icon to select a date, and optionally a time, from the calendar popup.
  • Display Image
    Displays an image stored in a database BLOB columns, or based on an image URL.
  • Display Map
    Displays a map based on coordinates in GeoJSON point format.
  • Display Only
    Displays a non-enterable text item.
  • File Upload
    Displays a text field with a Browse button. The Browse button enables the user to locate and upload a file from a local file system.
  • Geocoded Address
    Provides geocoding functionality that turns a postal address to a coordinate.
  • Image Upload
    Displays an Image Upload item which enables users to upload one or multiple images from a local file system or device. Images can be optionally cropped or resized.
  • Hidden
    Hidden items are included within the page source but are not rendered.
  • Markdown Editor
    Displays a simple text editor that enables you to use Markdown shorthand syntax to add formatting to text.
  • List Manager
    Displays a text item with a popup list of values icon, Add and Remove buttons, and a list of selected values.
  • Number Field
    Displays as a number field and supports automatic formatting.
  • Password
    Displays an HTML password form element. As the end user enters text a black dot is displayed for that character, instead of the actual character entered.
  • Percent Graph
    Displays the value as a percentage graph. The value retrieved must be between 0 and 100.
  • Popup LOV
    Displays a text item with a popup list of values icon. When the end user clicks the icon, a popup window appears with a search field, and a list of supported values.
  • QR Code
    Encodes the selected source value into a QR code and displays it.
  • Radio Group
    Displays multiple values as radio group options, enabling the end user to select a single value.
  • Rich Text Editor
    Displays a text area with comprehensive text formatting options.
  • Select List
    Displays an item with a built-in list of values selector. When the end user clicks the item, the list of supported values displays directly inline with the current item.
  • Shuttle
    Displays as a multiple select list that includes two boxes containing lists. The left list displays the source list of values that have not been selected and the right list shows the currently selected values.
  • Textarea
    Displays a multiple-row text area.
  • Star Rating
    Displays a star rating (maximum of 10) that end users can click to set a numeric value.
  • Switch
    Displays as a flip toggle switch.
  • Star Rating
    Displays a star rating (maximum of 10) that end users can click to set a numeric value.
  • Text Field
    Displays the item as a text field.
  • Text Field with Autocomplete
    Displays a text field that displays a list of possible values based on the text already entered by the end user, inline with the text item. The list is further refined as the end user types in more text.
  • Textarea
    Displays a multiple-row text area.

See Also:

Managing Page Items

A.1 Checkbox

Displays a single checkbox, enabling the user to check or uncheck it.

A checkbox item always has one of two values, the checked value or unchecked value.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Use Defaults - If set to On, the checkbox uses the application-level component settings defined in Shared Components, Component Settings, checkbox.

    See Also: Configuring Checkbox

    If Use Defaults is set to Off, the following custom settings appear:

    • Checked Value - Enter the value stored in the page item if the end user checks the checkbox. The value can be up to 255 characters long.

      On a Faceted Search page, if the facet filters a query column based on a List Of Values, this value must match both LOV display and return value. If display and return values differ, then you cannot use this facet type for this column - use the Checkbox Group facet instead.

    • Unchecked Value - Enter the value stored in the page item if the user unchecks the checkbox. This attribute can also be left blank if you want to store NULL when checked. The value can be up to 255 characters long.

      Note: This value is used if the page item is populated with a value which does not match either the Checked Value or Unchecked Value.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.2 Checkbox Group

Displays multiple values as checkboxes, enabling the end user to select multiple values.

Note:

For Yes/No checkboxes (that is, a checkbox with only one value), Oracle recommends using a checkbox or a Switch item type.

A list of values is required for items displayed as checkboxes. The values corresponding to the checked boxes are stored in a single colon-delimited string.

The following example displays employee names (ename), but returns employee numbers (empno): 

SELECT ename, empno FROM emp;

See Also:

APEX_UTIL in Oracle APEX API Reference for information about breaking up returned values

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Number Columns - Enter the number of layout columns used to display the checkboxes. For example, a value of 2 would display two columns of checkboxes. By default, all values display in one column.
  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

See Also:

Creating a Cascading List of Values

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.3 Color Picker

Displays a control for choosing or entering a color depending on the Display As setting. End users can enter a color value or select one from an inline or popup color spectrum.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Use Defaults - If set to On, the Color Picker uses the application-level component settings defined in Shared Components, Component Settings, Color Picker.

    See Also:

    Configuring Color Picker Display

    If Use Defaults is set to Off, the following settings appear:

    • Display As - Select how the color picker displays. Options include:

      • Popup - Displays as a text field with icon to open the color spectrum picker.

      • Inline - Displays as an inline color spectrum.

      • Color-only Popup - Displays as a button which opens the color spectrum popup.

      • Native Color Picker - Displays as a native browser color input (the UI is dependent on the browser).

    • Mode - Select the amount of information shown in the color picker. Options include Simple or Full.

    • Color Preset - Determines if the color picker should display a set of predefined colors and whether they are from the theme or custom. Options include None, Theme Style Colors, or Custom Colors.

    • Contrast With - Compare the color of this item with a color from another item or a static value and display the contrast ratio between them in the color picker UI. Enabling this option can help the user choose colors with enough contrast to be accessible to everyone. Options include: None, Page Item, or Static Color.

    • Return Value As - Specify the format of the color value returned by this item. Even if the color is entered in a different valid format it will be presented, returned, and sent to the server in this format. Options include: Hex, rgb, rgb/rgba, hsl, hsl/hsla, or Any CSS Value. See Help for more details.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.4 Combobox

Displays a text item with a list of values icon.

Oracle recommends using a combobox item for small lists where end users can add their own text. When the end user clicks the icon, a popup window appears with a suggestion dropdown of values. A combobox item supports filtering and free text input. If the Multiple Values attribute is enabled, the combobox displays selected options as chips.

Tip:

For selections without free text input, consider using a Select List. For large result sets, consider a Popup LOV. See Select List and Popup LOV.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Multiple Values - Controls if the component supports selecting more than one value. If enabled, the selected options render as chips.
  • Settings, Multi Selection - Only displays if Multiple Values is enabled. This attribute controls if the suggestion dropdown remains open after selection. If enabled, this option adds a checkbox next to each option to indicate the selected status.
  • Settings, Separator - Defines the separator value when the Multiple Values attribute is enabled. Defaults to a colon if nothing is defined.

  • Settings, Match Type - Select how the search is performed against the entered value. Options include:

    • Contains
    • Start With

    Selecting Contains prevents the use of column indexes.

    Tip:

    This setting can impact query performance if Fetch On Search is enabled.
  • Settings, Match Type - Select how to perform the search against the entered value. If enabling Fetch On Search, this attribute can have an impact on query performance.

  • Settings, Case Sensitive - Controls if the search is case sensitive. This attribute affects consolidation logic.

    Tip: Both the Fetch on Search and Case Sensitive attributes affect consolidation logic. See the examples under Settings, Fetch on Search.

  • Settings, Maximum Values in List - Enter the maximum number of items to display in the select box. This value can help improve performance by avoiding returning too many rows and can also prevent a very large return set when the user only enters a few letters.
  • Settings, Minimum Characters - Specify the minimum number of characters that must be entered before a search executes.

  • Settings, Fetch on Search - Specify whether matching values are retrieved from the database as the user types in the combobox item. Enabling Fetch on Search retrieves matching records from the database each time the user types a character. Otherwise, all of the list values are loaded on page load.

    Oracle recommends enabling Fetch on Search when you have a large select list. Loading a large number of records that may impact the time to initially load the page.

    If Fetch on Search is disabled, consolidation logic is applied to avoid duplicated values. If Fetch on Search is enabled, no consolidation logic is applied and the LOV source cannot have a display column configured. .

    Both the Fetch on Search and Case Sensitive attributes affect consolidation logic.

    Data consolidation examples:

    • Example 1: LOV has only one column and the Case Sensitive attribute is disabled.

      If the user types blue and Blue exists in the dataset, the value is set to Blue and not blue. If the value does not exist in the dataset, the value would be set to what the user typed.

    • Example 2: The LOV has return and display column configured and the Case Sensitive attribute is disabled.

      If the user types blue, the value is set to the return value of the option. For example, if the option on the LOV is Display: Blue, Return: 15 and the user types blue, the value would be 15 and the display value would be set to Blue. If the value does not exist in the dataset, then the Manual Entries Item will be set to blue.

  • Settings, Manual Entries Item - The specified item holds manual entered entries that are not found in the LOV dataset. Use this attribute if you are planning to further process the Combobox value and you need to know whether or not a value exists in the dataset.

    List of values must have display and return columns configured. This would typically be a hidden item. The Value Protected attribute must disabled so the value can be processed on the server. If Multiple Values is enabled, the Manual Entries Item will have its value separated in the same format as the item itself, using the attribute separator. The item value is updated unidirectionally from the Combobox item to Manual Entries Item and not the other way around.

  • Settings, HTML Expression - Define how the choices are rendered. This attribute supports HTML and template directives. See Using Template Directives.

    For example:

    <div class="your-container">
    <span class="your-item">Name: &NAME.</span>
    {if ?CAPITAL/}<span class="your-item">Capital: &CAPITAL.</span>{endif/}
    {if ?NATIONALITY/}<span class="your-item">Nationality: &NATIONALITY.</span>{endif/}
    {if ?POPULATION/}<span class="your-item">Population: &POPULATION.</span>{endif/}
</div>

  • Session State, Storage - Select how session state is maintained. Options include:

    • 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 Page Items To Submit.

      When creating a manual entries item, Oracle recommends selecting Per Request (Memory Only).

    • Per Session (Persistent) - Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across requests.

    • Per User (Persistent) - Maintain for a user by storing the value in the database, to access it across sessions.

Tip:

To create this item type, you must define a list of values. See Creating Lists of Values at the Application-Level, Working with Multiple Select List Item, and Creating a Cascading List of Values.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.5 Date Picker

Displays a text field with a calendar icon. End users can either enter the date directly into the text item, or click on the calendar icon to select a date, and optionally a time, from the calendar popup.

Time is only displayed in the calendar popup if the Format Mask for this item includes time components.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Show Time - Enable this option to include time information.

  • Settings, Display As - Select the display mode for the date picker. Options include:

    • Popup - Displays in a popup when the item receives focus, or the calendar icon is clicked.

    • Inline - The calendar always displays inline on the page. No text field is displayed and the current date selection is shown highlighted in the calendar.

    • Native HTML - Renders using the native HTML input date types, if supported by the browser. When 'Show Time' is off, this renders a 'date' type, when 'Show Time' is on, this renders a 'datetime-local' type. Note: The exact display of these date types is dependent on the browser. Native HTML may be the preferred option when the app is being used on a mobile device.

      Note regarding using Native HTML. Because the native date types are very specific about the date format they require, the item's Format Mask will be automatically set by APEX, and you will not be able to change it. However this will not be the format displayed to the end user. The end user will see the date in the format appropriate to their current locale.

  • Settings, Minimum Date - Specify if this item has a minimum date. Options include:

    • None - No minimum date defined.

    • Item - Minimum date is derived dynamically from another item's value.

    • Static - Minimum date is a static value, defined as either an absolute value, or relative value to today's date.

    Additional attributes display conditionally based on the selected value.

  • Settings, Maximum Date - Enter the maximum date that can be input or selected. Additional attributes display conditionally based on the selected value.

  • Settings, Multiple Months - Determines if the calendar displays multiple months and how many. Select No to disable this option, or select the number of month.

  • Settings, Use Defaults - If set to On, the Date Picker uses the application-level component settings defined in Shared Components, Component Settings, Date Picker. See Configuring Date Picker

    If Use Defaults is set to Off, the following attributes appear:

    • Appearance & Behavior - Control the appearance of the calendar used to select dates. This attribute only applies when Display As is either Popup or Inline. Options include:

      • Show Week - Determines whether the week of the year displays.
      • Month Picker - Controls whether the month renders as a button which enables users to make another selection, or just as text.
      • Year Picker- Controls whether the year renders as a button which enables users to make another selection, or just as text.
      • Paginate by Multiple Months - Determines whether pagination size when displaying several months is only one month or the number of months.
      • Show Today Button - Determines whether a today button displays to select the current date.
      • Show Clear Button - Controls whether a clear button displays to clear the value of the date picker. This attribute only applies if Display As is set to Inline.
    • Days Outside Month - Dictates the behavior of days outside the current viewing month. This attribute only applies if Display As is set to either Popup or Inline. Options include:
      • Hidden - Days outside the current viewing month are hidden.
      • Selectable - Days outside the current viewing month are visible and selectable.
      • Visible - Days outside the current viewing month are visible.

    • Time Increment - Time increment in minutes used by the time selection control. This attribute is used for selecting the time of increments that can still be manually entered and saved.

      This attribute is only used when Display As is set to either Popup or Inline and Show Time is enabled.

    • Show On - Controls when the calendar popup displays. This option is only used when Display As is set to either Popup or Inline. Options include:

      • Item Focus - When the item receives focus or when the calendar icon is clicked.
      • Icon Click - Only when the calendar icon is clicked.

  • Appearance, Format Mask - Enter a date format mask to apply to this component.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.6 Date Picker (jQuery) (Desupported)

Displays a text field with a calendar icon. End users can either enter the date directly into the text item, or click on the calendar icon to select a date, and optionally a time, from the calendar popup.

Note:

The Date Picker (jQuery) item type is desupported and should no longer be used. Existing apps do not automatically switch to using the new date picker to preserve possible customizations. You can switch all the date pickers in your app to use the new date pickers by using Upgrade Application in the Utilities section of your application in App Builder. See Running Application Upgrade

Time is only displayed in the calendar popup if the Format Mask for this item includes time components.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Show Time - Enable this option to include time information.

  • Settings, Display As - Select the display mode for the date picker. Options include:

    • Popup Calendar - Displays in a popup when the item receives focus, or the calendar icon is clicked.

    • Inline - The calendar always displays inline on the page. No text field is displayed and the current date selection is shown highlighted in the calendar.

    • Native HTML - Renders using the native HTML input date types, if supported by the browser. When 'Show Time' is off, this renders a 'date' type, when 'Show Time' is on, this renders a 'datetime-local' type. Note: The exact display of these date types is dependent on the browser. Native HTML may be the preferred option when the app is being used on a mobile device.

      Note when using Native HTML. Because the native date types are very specific about the date format they require, the item's Format Mask will be automatically set by APEX, and you will not be able to change it. However this will not be the format displayed to the end user. The end user will see the date in the format appropriate to their current locale.

  • Settings, Minimum Date - Specify if this item has a minimum date. Options include:

    • None - No minimum date defined.

    • Item - Minimum date is derived dynamically from another item's value.

    • Static - Minimum date is a static value, defined as either an absolute value, or relative value to today's date.

    Additional attributes display conditionally based on the selected value.

  • Settings, Maximum Date - Enter the maximum date that can be input or selected. Additional attributes display conditionally based on the selected value.

  • Settings, Multiple Months - Determines if the calendar displays multiple months. If set to On, the Number of Months attribute appears. Enter the number of months to show at once.

  • Settings, Use Defaults - If set to On, the Date Picker uses the application-level component settings defined in Shared Components, Component Settings, Date Picker.

    See Also: Configuring Date Picker

    If Use Defaults is set to Off, the following attributes appear:

    • Appearance - Control the appearance of the calendar used to select dates. Options include:

      • Show Week
      • Month Picker
      • Year Picker

      This attribute is only used if Display As is set to either Popup or Inline.

    • Days Outside Month - Dictates the behavior of days outside the current viewing month. Options include:
      • Hidden - Days outside the current viewing month will be hidden.
      • Selectable - Days outside the current viewing month will be visible and selectable.
      • Visible - Days outside the current viewing month will be visible.

      This attribute is only used if Display As is set to either Popup or Inline.

    • Time Increment - Time increment in minutes used by the time selection control. This attribute is used for selecting the time of increments that can still be manually entered and saved.

      This attribute is only used when Display As is set to either Popup or Inline and Show Time is enabled.

    • Show On - Controls when the calendar popup is displayed. Options include:

      • Item Focus - When the item receives focus or when the calendar icon is clicked.
      • Icon Click - Only when the calendar icon is clicked.

      This option is only used when Display As is set to either Popup or Inline.

  • Appearance, Format Mask - Enter a date format mask to apply to this component.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.7 Display Image

Displays an image stored in a database BLOB columns, or based on an image URL.

Note:

This item type is not supported for interactive grid columns.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Based On - Determines where the item is retrieved from. To learn more about an attribute, see field-level Help.

  • Settings, Alternative Text Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name which holds the alternative text for this image. This text is read by screen readers when an end user navigates to this item.

  • Settings, Filename Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name that holds the filename column value associated with the BLOB column.

  • Settings, MIME Type Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name used to store the mime type of the uploaded file. The mime type is used by the browser to identify which application is used to display the content of the BLOB when the file is downloaded.

  • Settings, BLOB Last Updated Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name that holds the date column value when the associated BLOB was last updated. This value is used for browser caching and to identify if the image has been changed since the last request from the browser. If the image is not updated then the image is retrieved from the browser cache, if available.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.8 Display Map

Displays a map based on coordinates in GeoJSON point format.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Background - Select an out-of-the-box map background or choose a custom map background defined in Shared Components.

    Note:

    To learn more about contributors and licensing for out-of-the-box map backgrounds or to view them on Gitbub, see Page Designer Help.

    Options include:

    • Default - Use the default map background. (either OpenStreetMap Bright or OpenStreetMap Dark for dark themes).
    • OpenStreetMap Bright - General purpose basemap based on OpenStreetMap data. This basemap style provides detailed location context for your data.
    • OpenStreetMap Dark - Non-obtrusive dark basemap based on OpenStreetMap data. This basemap style accentuates visualizations of your data.
    • OpenStreetMap Positron - Non-obtrusive light basemap based on OpenStreetMap data. This basemap style accentuates visualizations of your data.
    • Oracle World Map - General purpose basemap based on HERE Map data. This base map style provides location context for your data and accentuates visualization of your data.
    • Shared Component - Use custom map backgrounds defined in Shared Components.
  • Settings, Custom Background - Only displays if Background is set to Shared Component. Select a background map to use.
  • Settings, Zoom Level - Specify the zoom level for this layer to become visible. Minimum value is 1. Maximum value is 18.
  • Settings, Show Marker - Specify whether a marker should be displayed..
  • Settings, Marker Color - Specify the marker fill color. See Help for more details.
  • Settings, Tooltip - Specify the tooltip text for a displayed marker. The tooltip attribute supports HTML and APEX template directives.
  • Settings, Show Map Controls - Specify whether map controls should be displayed. This adds zoom and rotation controls to the map.
  • Settings, Interactive Map - Specify whether the map should be interactive. If disabled, it creates a static map with no interactivity.
  • Settings, Height - Specify the height (in pixels) of the displayed map. Map's default height is calculated based on it's width with an 3:2 aspect ratio.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.9 Display Only

Displays a non-enterable text item.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Format - Options include Plain Text, HTML, or Markdown.
  • Settings, Based On - Specifies what gets displayed in the field. Options include:
    • Page Item Value - The current value of the page item displays.
    • Display Value of List of Values - The current value of the page item maps to a different display value using a list of values.
  • Settings, Show Line Breaks - Select On to convert line breaks in the display value to an HTML line break and display them in HTML output.
  • Settings, Send On Page Submit - Specify whether the current item value should be sent when the page is submitted.
  • Session State, Data Type - Select the data type of the page item (VARCHAR2 or CLOB).
  • Session State, Storage - Select how session state is maintained. Options include:
    • 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 Page Items To Submit.
    • Per Session (Persistent) - Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across requests.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.10 File Upload

Displays a text field with a Browse button. The Browse button enables the user to locate and upload a file from a local file system.

Note:

Not supported for interactive grid columns.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Display, Display As - Select a display style for how the file browse item should display. Options include:
    • Inline File Browse - Display the file browse input field similar to other text fields and items on the page.
    • Inline Dropzone - Display the file browse input field as an inline dropzone can features a title and description.
    • Block Dropzone - Display the file browse input field as a wizard-style dropzone can features a title and description, and a button to select files.
    • Native File Browse - Use the browser's native formatting to display the file browse item.

    The Display As style you select determines what other attributes appear.

  • Display, Dropzone Title - Only appears if Display As is set to Inline File Browse, Inline Dropzone, or Block Dropzone.

    Specify the title for the Dropzone. If this field is left blank, the Text Messages APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_FILE or APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_FILES will be used by default.

  • Display, Dropzone Description - Only appears if Display As is set to Block Dropzone or Inline Dropzone.

    Enter a description for the Dropzone. If this field is left blank, the following Text Messages will be used by default, depending on the selected Display As attribute.

    • If Display As is set to Block Dropzone:

      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_CHOOSE_FILE
      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_CHOOSE_FILES

    • If Display As is set to Inline Dropzone:

      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_SELECT_FILE
      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_SELECT_FILES

  • Display, Capture Using - Sets the camera default. Use this attribute to enable the item to open the device's camera when the app is used from a mobile device.

    Note: If you configure the Capture Using attribute, users on mobile devices will not be able to select files. However, they will be able to take a photo, switch cameras, or use photos already existing on their device.

    On a desktop, the item will always function the same regardless of the value chosen.

  • Storage, Type - Select the database table where the uploaded file is stored. Options include:

    • BLOB column specified in Item Source attribute - Stores the uploaded file in the table used by the Automatic Row Processing (DML) process and the column specified in the item source attribute. The column has to be of data type BLOB. If the file gets downloaded, the table name of the Automatic Row Fetch process is used.

    • Table APEX_APPLICATION_TEMP_FILES - Stores the uploaded file(s) in a temporary location that you can access with the view APEX_APPLICATION_TEMP_FILES. Oracle APEX will automatically delete the file(s) at the end of the session or at the end of the upload request, depending on what you choose for Purge File At.

    If Storage Type is Table APEX_APPLICATION_TEMP_FILES:

    • Purge File at - Define when Oracle APEX should remove the temporary file.

    • Allow Multiple Files - Enable or disable this attribute to specify whether multiple files can be uploaded at once. Multiple file names will be stored as a colon delimited list in the page item.

      To access a file if Allow Multiple Files is disabled: 

      select *
  from apex_application_temp_files
 where name = :page item name;

      To access a file if Allow Multiple Files is enabled: 

      declare
    l_file_names apex_t_varchar2;
    l_file       apex_application_temp_files%rowtype;
begin
    l_file_names := apex_string.split (
                        p_str => :page item name,
                        p_sep => ':' );
    for i in 1 .. l_file_names.count loop
        select *
          into l_file
          from apex_application_temp_files
         where name = l_file_names(i);
        -- add code here to store the uploaded file in your own table
    end loop;
end;

    If Storage Type is BLOB column specified in Item Source:

    • MIME Type Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name used to store the mime type of the uploaded file. The mime type is used by the browser to identify which application is used to display the content of the BLOB when the file is downloaded.

    • Filename Column - Enter the page or application item used to store the filename of the uploaded file. .

    • Character Set Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name used to store the character set of the uploaded file. The character set of the BLOB is not automatically set on upload. End users should set the character set for the document they are uploading.

    • BLOB Last Updated Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name used to store the current timestamp when a file is uploaded. This date value is used for browser caching.

  • Storage, File Types - Specify a comma delimited list of file types which might be used by the browser to restrict which files can be uploaded. See Help for examples.

  • Storage, Maximum File Size - Enter the maximum file size (in KB) that should be accepted for files uploaded via this item.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.11 Geocoded Address

Provides geocoding functionality that turns a postal address to a coordinate.

Geocoding is performed by the browser using a REST request to the Oracle Elocation Geocoding Service (https://elocation.oracle.com/elocation/home.html). In order for geocoding to work, the user's browser must be connected to the internet.

Geocoding input data comes from other page items which are mapped to parts of an address such as Street, House Number, Postal Code, or City. The Geocoder displays a popup window with a list of possible matches. After choosing a match, the item's session state value will be the address coordinate in GeoJSON format.

The Structured Address attribute determines whether the address parts are provided to the geocoding service in a structured or unstructured manner. Structured means that explicit page items are mapped to address parts such as Street, Postal Code, City or Region. A structured address has more accurate geocoding results, and also allows for address correction to be sent back to the page item. Unstructured means that only one item is used for the whole address and the address parts are separated by comma. Unstructured mode does not support address corrections.

A Geocoded Address item needs at least one other input item to work and for an exact address requires a maximum of eight input items.

If Structured Address is Off, the item maps to only one text field or text area where end users enter address parts, separated by comma. The following item attributes display under Settings in the Property Editor:

  • Settings, Country Type - Select whether to use a static country for geocoding, or whether to derive the country from an item. Options include: Static or Item.

  • Settings, Country - Select the country to use for geocoding.

  • Settings, Structured Address - Select Off. Determines whether address parts are provided to the geocoding service in a structured or unstructured manner.

  • Settings, Address Item - Select the item containing unstructured address parts, separated by a comma.

  • Settings, Match Vector Item - Select a page item for the Geocoder to return the Match Vector. The match vector is a 17-digit string with detailed information about how each address attribute has been matched against the data used for geocoding. See item Help for more details.

  • Settings, Trigger Geocoding - Determines when to trigger geocoding. This includes the browser performing the REST request to the geocoding service and showing the popup window with possible matches. Options include: Automatic, Dynamic Action, and jQuery Selector. See item Help for more details.

If Structured Address is On, the following item attributes display under Settings in the Property Editor:

  • Settings, Country Type - Select whether to use a static country for geocoding, or whether to derive the country from an item. Options include: Static or Item.

  • Settings, Country - Select the country to use for geocoding.

  • Settings, Structured Address - Select On. Determines whether address parts are provided to the geocoding service in a structured or unstructured manner.

  • Settings, Sanitize Address - Enable this switch to feed address data from the geocoding service back to the mapped items.

  • Settings, Street Item - Select the item containing the Street part of the address.

  • Settings, House Number Item - Select the item containing the House Number part of the address.

  • Settings, Postal Code Item - Select the item containing the Postal Code part of the address.

  • Settings, City Item - Select the item containing the City part of the address.

  • Settings, City Sub Area Item - Select the item containing the City Sub Area part of the address.

  • Match Vector Item - Select a page item for the Geocoder to return the Match Vector into. The match vector is a 17-digit string with detailed information about how each address attribute has been matched against the data used for geocoding. See item Help for more information.

  • Trigger Geocoding - Determines when to trigger geocoding. This includes the browser performing the REST request to the geocoding service and showing the popup window with possible matches. Options include: Automatic, Dynamic Action, and jQuery Selector. See item Help for more information.

Note:

The Geocoded Address and Display Map items both work with the Oracle Elocation Map Cloud service (https://maps.oracle.com/elocation/ajax/index.jsp). This service is accessed by the browser, not by the APEX database on the server. Be aware this may result in data protection consequences for users. The geocoding items as and display map items store a coordinate in GeoJSON format (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoJSON) Note that only the "geometry" portion is used. Currently only "Point" geometries are supported, for example: 

{
  "type": "Point",
  "coordinates": [
    13.74081,
    51.05363
  ]
}

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.12 Image Upload

Displays an Image Upload item which enables users to upload one or multiple images from a local file system or device. Images can be optionally cropped or resized.

The Image Upload item type includes attributes specific to previewing, uploading, resizing, and cropping an image.

From the user's perspective, this item type displays an upload input or dropzone which enables users to select the image (or images). If cropping is enabled, a dialog appears that enables the user to zoom in or out, or move the image around before cropping. Once cropping is complete or immediately after uploading, if cropping is not enabled, an image preview appears. Image resizing is handled on the client side but in the background.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Display, Display As - Select a display style for the Image Upload item. Options include:

    • Inline File Browse - Displays an image upload input field similar to other text fields and items on the page.
    • Icon Dropzone - Displays an icon-only dropzone which is replaced with a preview of the image or a multi-image icon when there is a value.
    • Inline Dropzone - Displays an image upload input field as an inline dropzone and features a title and description. When the inline dropzone has a value, the icon is replaced with a preview of the selected image or an icon for multiple images.
    • Block Dropzone - Displays an image upload input field as a wizard-style dropzone that features a title and description, and a button to select files. When the dropzone has a value, the icon is replaced with a preview of the selected image or an icon for multiple images.
    • Native File Browse - Use the browser's native formatting to display the file browse item.

    The Display As style you select determines what other attributes appear.

  • Display, Dropzone Title - Only appears if Display As is set to Inline File Browse, Inline Dropzone, or Block Dropzone.

    Specify the title for the Dropzone. If this field is left blank, the Text Messages APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_FILE or APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_FILES will be used by default.

  • Display, Dropzone Description - Only appears if Display As is set to Inline Dropzone or Block Dropzone.

    Enter a description for the dropzone. If this field is left blank, the following Text Messages will be used by default, depending on the selected Display As attribute.

    • If Display As is set to Inline Dropzone:

      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_SELECT_FILE
      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_SELECT_FILES

    • If Display As is set to Block Dropzone:

      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_CHOOSE_FILE
      • APEX.ITEM.FILE.DROP_OR_CHOOSE_FILES
  • Display, Preview Size - Set the size of the displayed preview. Options include:
    • Auto - Default selection. Uses the image's size.
    • Extra Small
    • Small
    • Medium
    • Large
    • Extra Large

    Define additional sizes in the theme using the class apex-item-image--{size}.

  • Display, Capture Using - Sets the camera default. Use this attribute to enable the item to open the device's camera when the app is used from a mobile device.

    Note: If you configure the Capture Using attribute, users on mobile devices will not be able to select files. However, they will be able to take a photo, switch cameras, or use photos already existing on their device.

    On a desktop, the item will always function the same regardless of the value chosen.

  • Storage, Type - Select the database table where the uploaded file is stored. Options include:

    • BLOB column specified in Item Source attribute - Stores the uploaded file in the table used by the Automatic Row Processing (DML) process and the column specified in the item source attribute. The column has to be of data type BLOB. If the file gets downloaded, the table name of the Automatic Row Fetch process is used.

    • Table APEX_APPLICATION_TEMP_FILES - Stores the uploaded file(s) in a temporary location that you can access with the view APEX_APPLICATION_TEMP_FILES. Oracle APEX will automatically delete the file(s) at the end of the session or at the end of the upload request, depending on what you choose for Purge File At.

    If Storage Type is Table APEX_APPLICATION_TEMP_FILES:

    • Purge File at - Define when Oracle APEX should remove the temporary file. Options include:

      • End of Session - Delete the file at the end of the current Oracle APEX session.
      • End of Request - Delete the file at the end of the current HTTP request.

    • Allow Multiple Files - Enable or disable this attribute to specify whether multiple files can be uploaded at once. Multiple file names are stored as a colon delimited list in the page item.

      To access a file if Allow Multiple Files is disabled: 

      select *
  from apex_application_temp_files
 where name = :page item name;

      To access a file if Allow Multiple Files is enabled: 

      declare
    l_file_names apex_t_varchar2;
    l_file       apex_application_temp_files%rowtype;
begin
    l_file_names := apex_string.split (
                        p_str => :page item name,
                        p_sep => ':' );
    for i in 1 .. l_file_names.count loop
        select *
          into l_file
          from apex_application_temp_files
         where name = l_file_names(i);
        -- add code here to store the uploaded file in your own table
    end loop;
end;

    If Storage Type is BLOB column specified in Item Source:

    • MIME Type Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name used to store the mime type of the uploaded file. The mime type is used by the browser to identify which application is used to display the content of the BLOB when the file is downloaded.

    • Filename Column - Enter the page or application item used to store the filename of the uploaded file. .

    • BLOB Last Updated Column - Enter the uppercase page or application item name used to store the current timestamp when a file is uploaded. This date value is used for browser caching.

  • Cropping, Allow Cropping - Enable or disable to determine if users can crop uploaded images. By default, the aspect ratio will match the file being uploaded unless another option is defined.

    Note: Cropping is not currently supported when Allow Multiple Files is enabled.

  • Cropping, Aspect Ratio - Only displays in Allow Cropping is enabled. Specify the aspect ratio for the cropper to use.

    Options include:

    • Original - Uses the aspect ration of the uploaded image.
    • 1:1 (square)
    • 16:9 (widescreen)
    • 4:3 (standard)
    • 2:1 (univisium)
    • Custom - Displays the Custom Aspect Ratio attribute.

  • Cropping, Custom Aspect Ratio - Only displays if Cropping, Aspect Ratio is set to Custom.

    Set a custom aspect ratio for the crop window to use. An aspect ratio is a proportional relationship between an image's width and height. Enter a ratio either as a fraction, decimal, or using a : representation (for example, 3:2).

  • Resize To, Maximum File Size - Maximum file size for images set in KB. If a value is entered, the image will be scaled down to fit.

  • Resize To, Maximum File Width - Maximum width for images set in pixels. If a value is entered the image will be scaled down to fit.

  • Resize To, Maximum Height - Maximum height for images set in pixels. If a value is entered the image will be scaled down to fit..

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.13 Hidden

Hidden items are included within the page source but are not rendered.

Hidden item values are saved in session state. They are generally used to store values required by page processing or other page items, but should not be displayed to the end user.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Value Protected - Specify whether the item is protected, preventing the value from being manipulated when the page is posted. Enabling this option prevents hidden values from being manipulated when a page is posted.
  • Session State, Data Type - Select the data type of the page item. Options include: VARCHAR2 or CLOB).
  • Session State, Storage - Select how session state is maintained. Options include:
    • 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 Page Items To Submit.
    • Per Session (Persistent) - Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across requests.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.14 Markdown Editor

Displays a simple text editor that enables you to use Markdown shorthand syntax to add formatting to text.

Note:

Markdown Editor is not supported for interactive grid columns.
Page Designer attributes that control behavior:
  • Settings, Toolbar - Provides several options to configure the toolbar for the markdown editor. Options include:
    • Simple - Display basic formatting controls in the toolbar.
    • Full - Display full set of formatting controls in the toolbar.
    • None - Hide the toolbar.
  • Settings, Syntax Highlighting- Determines whether to apply syntax highlighting for specific Markdown elements such as bold, italics, code blocks, and so on. Highlighting will only take place for content under 4000 characters in length.

  • Validation, Value Required- If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

  • Session State, Data Type - Select the data type of the page item (VARCHAR2 or CLOB).
  • Session State, Storage - Select how session state is maintained. Options include:
    • 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 Page Items To Submit.
    • Per Session (Persistent) - Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across requests.

See Also:

Markdown Guide

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.15 List Manager

Displays a text item with a popup list of values icon, Add and Remove buttons, and a list of selected values.

Note:

Not supported for interactive grid columns.

You can type in the value or pick from the list of available items. You can then utilize the buttons to manage the values selected. The selected values are stored in a single colon-delimited string.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Fetch - Select how data is displayed when the Popup LOV is opened.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

See Also:

Creating a Cascading List of Values

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.16 Number Field

Displays as a number field and supports automatic formatting.

Numbers are formatted on the client after data entry according to the format mask. This item type automatically checks if the entered value is a number. No extra validations are required. Validation is done on both client and server.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Appearance, Format Mask - Specifies how the number is to be formatted for display. The locale determines the decimal separator used for data entry.

  • Settings, Minimum Value - Enter the minimum value permitted. The value can be a static value or a dynamic value using substitution syntax.

  • Settings, Maximum Value - Enter the maximum value permitted. The value can be a static value or a dynamic value using substitution syntax.

  • Settings, Number Alignment - Select how to align the number that displays. This setting does not apply when the item is rendered as Read Only or where HTML Form Element Attributes are specified.

  • Settings, Virtual Keyboard - Select which virtual keyboard to display when using the number field on a touchscreen. Options include:

    • Decimal - Numeric only keyboard, with an added decimal key.
    • Numeric - Numeric only keyboard. This option is useful for monetary values, PIN, ZIP Codes, CC numbers, and so on.
    • Text - Regular alphanumeric keyboard.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted.

    You can replace the predefined error text with an application specific error message, by defining a message called APEX.PAGE_ITEM_IS_REQUIRED in Shared Components, Text Messages. Specify the message display location by updating the application-level setting, Default Error Display Location.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.17 Password

Displays an HTML password form element. As the end user enters text a black dot is displayed for that character, instead of the actual character entered.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. If set to No, no validation a NULL value is accepted.
  • Settings, Submit when Enter pressed - If set to On, when the user presses the ENTER key in the field the page is submitted.
  • Source, Maintain Session State - If set to Per Request (Memory Only), the value will not be written to the database and will only be available for the current request. For highly sensitive values, this is the preferred setting. However, if the value of Maintain Session State is set to Per Session (Disk), be sure to set Store value encrypted in session state to Yes.
  • Security, Authorization Scheme - Optionally select an authorization scheme which must evaluate to TRUE in order for this component to be rendered or otherwise processed.
  • Security, Session State Protection - You can select the level of session state protection by setting this attribute to Unrestricted or Restricted.
    • Unrestricted means the item may be set by passing the item in a URL or in a form. No checksum is required in the URL.
    • Restricted means the item may not be set from a browser. Use this when you want to restrict the way that the item value can be set to internal processes, computations, and so on. This attribute is applicable only to items that cannot be used as data entry items and is always observed, even if Session State Protection is disabled.
  • Security, Store value encrypted in session state - You can encypt sensitive content stored in APEX session state management tables. To encrypt an item when stored in session state, set this attribute to On. To learn more, see About Session State and Security.

See Also:

About Session State and Security

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.18 Percent Graph

Displays the value as a percentage graph. The value retrieved must be between 0 and 100.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.19 Popup LOV

Displays a text item with a popup list of values icon. When the end user clicks the icon, a popup window appears with a search field, and a list of supported values.

Popup LOV is best suited for large lists since end users can enter search criteria to reduce the available values displayed. For relatively small lists Select List is often better suited.

SELECT ename name, empno id FROM emp

If one of the columns is an expression, remember to use an alias. For example:

SELECT ename||' '||job display_value, empno FROM emp

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Display As - Selects how the results are displayed either an inline popup or modal dialog.

  • Settings, Initial Fetch - Select how data is initially fetched for the list of values. This applies only the first time the popup is opened after the page loads or the item is refreshed such as due to a cascade. See also attribute Minimum Characters.

  • Settings, Multiple Values - Specifies if multiple values can be selected or entered.

  • Settings, Manual Entry - Select whether or not manual entry is allowed.

  • Validation, Value Required- If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

See Also:

Creating a Cascading List of Values

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.20 QR Code

Encodes the selected source value into a QR code and displays it.

A QR code is a barcode that contains a machine-readable optical image. A QR code can be scanned using a smartphone camera and a QR code reader app and can be used to store or share information.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Value Protected - Specifies if the encoded value of the QR code item is protected. Enabling Value Protected switch prevents the value from being manipulated when the page is posted.
  • QR Code, Data Type - Select the type of the content that the QR code contains and a corresponding prefix value is inserted in front of the selected source value to affect how the user QR Code scanner will interact with the content. Options include:
    • Plain Text
    • Phone - Open the phone app with the input number. The phone number can contain special characters '(' , ')', '+', '-', '.', and spaces. The exact format of the phone number delegates to the phone's locale settings.
    • Email - Compose a new email to an email address. The expected format of the email address is a valid email address without leading or trailing spaces.
    • SMS - Compose a text message to a number. The phone number can contain special characters '(' , ')', '+', '-', '.', and spaces. The exact format of the phone number delegates to the phone's locale settings.
    • Geo location - Open a map application to specific coordinates. The expected format of the input coordinates is: lattitude,longitude with no leading or trailing spaces.
  • QR Code, Size - Sets the size of the QR Code in pixels. The actual pixel size of the QR Code item differs in different themes. Options include:
    • Default
    • Small
    • Medium
    • Large

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.21 Radio Group

Displays multiple values as radio group options, enabling the end user to select a single value.

The following example displays employee names (ename), but returns employee numbers (empno):

SELECT ename, empno FROM emp;

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Number of Columns - Enter the number of radio group columns to display. For example, a value of 2 would display two columns. If there were five values then it would display over three rows.

  • Settings, Page Action on Selection - Select what action is taken when a radio group value is selected. See Help for more details.

  • Settings, Execute Validations - This attribute only appears if Page Action when Value Changed is set to Submit Page. Controls the execution of validations when a page is submitted. Set this attribute to Off to prevent the execution of validations and associated error messages. Set this attribute to On to execute all page and built-in validations and associated error messages when the page is submitted.

    See Also:

    About Determining When Validations Execute and Creating a Cascading List of Values

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.22 Rich Text Editor

Displays a text area with comprehensive text formatting options.

End users can enhance the content displayed in a similar fashion to using a word processor, such as Microsoft Word. End users can also cut and paste documents that are in rich text format (RTF) file format into this item.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Library - Specify the JavaScript library the on which the Rich Text Editor should be based. Select TinyMCE.

    Note: CKEditor5 has been deprecated and replaced by TinyMCE. To prevent your application from breaking, you must make this switch manually. If you have used a custom JavaScript Initialization Function, or written code using the CKEditor5 APIs this will require rewriting.

  • Settings, Format - Specify the output format of the content entered in the rich text editor. Options include:
    • HTML - Use HTML for the source and output of this rich text editor. HTML is more flexible and offers more formatting options than Markdown, but is less secure and must be trusted or sanitized when displayed.
    • Markdown - Use Markdown format for the source and output of this rich text editor. Markdown is more restrictive than HTML in terms of features, but is more secure as it must first pass through a parser before being displayed.
  • If Settings, Format is HTML, the following additional attributes appear:
    • Settings, Toolbar - Select the number of text formatting options available within the editor. Available options include: Basic, Intermediate, or Full.
    • Settings, Toolbar Style - Choose whether the toolbar items should only take up one line and overflow into a popup menu if wider than the editor's width, or whether to split them into multiple lines. Options include: Overflow Menu or Multiline.

    • Settings, Allow Custom HTML - This attribute is only available in the deprecated CKEditor-based Rich Text Editor and in HTML mode.

      This attribute enables the General HTML Support and Source Editing CKEditor5 plug-ins. Combined, these bridge the gap between CKEditor4 and CKEditor5, by allowing for custom HTML and the ability to edit it inline. Oracle recommends disabling this attribute since it is intended for advanced usage and compatibility with content produced by CKEditor4. See Help for more details.

  • Settings, Minimum Height - Set the minimum height in pixels of the editable area.
  • Settings, Maximum Height - Set the maximum height in pixels of the editable area. Leaving this attribute empty will let the editor grow infinitely as you type.
  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.
  • Session State, Data Type - Select the data type of the page item (VARCHAR2 or CLOB).
  • Session State, Storage - Select how session state is maintained. Options include:
    • 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 Page Items To Submit.
    • Per Session (Persistent) - Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across requests.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.23 Select List

Displays an item with a built-in list of values selector. When the end user clicks the item, the list of supported values displays directly inline with the current item.

Select List is best suited for relatively small, discrete lists. End users can very quickly select a value from the list without needing to change focus to a popup dialog. For large lists, consider using a Popup LOV.

select [displayValue],
       [returnValue]
  from ...
 where ...
 order by ...

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Page Action on Selection - Select what action is taken when a list value is selected. See help for options.

  • Settings, Allow Multi Selection - Specify whether multiple values or only a single value can be selected from the list of values. Multiple values are returned as a comma-separated list.

  • Settings, Execute Validations - Displays if Page Action on Selection is set to Submit Page. Controls the execution of validations when a page is submitted. Set this attribute to Off to prevent the execution of validations and associated error messages. Set this attribute to On to execute all page and built-in validations and associated error messages when the page is submitted. Use this attribute in conjunction with the validation attribute, Always Execute.

    See Also:

    About Determining When Validations Execute

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Note:

To create this item type, you must define a list of values. See Creating Lists of Values at the Application-Level, Working with Multiple Select List Item, and Creating a Cascading List of Values.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.24 Shuttle

Displays as a multiple select list that includes two boxes containing lists. The left list displays the source list of values that have not been selected and the right list shows the currently selected values.

End users can select one or more values in a list then use the shuttle controls to move the selected values or all values. The current values are stored in a single colon-delimited string.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Show Controls - Select what data movement controls displays in the middle of the shuttle. Options include: None, Moving Only, Ordering Only, or All.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Note:

To create this item type, you must define a list of values. See Creating Lists of Values at the Application-Level, Working with Multiple Select List Item, and Creating a Cascading List of Values.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.25 Textarea

Displays a multiple-row text area.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Resizable - Specify whether the text area resizing using the mouse is enabled.

  • Settings, Auto-Height - Specify whether the height of the text area varies based on the amount of text displayed. Use this option to scale the text area to the amount of data.

  • Settings, Character Counter - If set to On include a counter that displays the number of characters entered in the field.

  • Settings, Trim Spaces - Select how the item value is trimmed. This setting trims spaces, tabs, and new lines from the text entered. Options include: Leading, Trailing, Leading and Trailing, or None.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

  • Session State, Data Type - Select the data type of the page item (VARCHAR2 or CLOB).
  • Session State, Storage - Select how session state is maintained. Options include:
    • 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 Page Items To Submit.
    • Per Session (Persistent) - Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across requests.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.26 Star Rating

Displays a star rating (maximum of 10) that end users can click to set a numeric value.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Number of Stars - Set the total number of stars (one to ten) for end users to choose (default five).

  • Settings, Use Defaults - If set to On, the Star Rating uses the application-level component settings defined in Shared Components, Component Settings, Star Rating.

    See Also: Configuring Star Rating

    If Use Defaults is set to Off, the following custom settings appear:

    • Icon - The icon class to use (such as fa-thumb-up). Click the drop-down list to pick an icon.
    • Active Color - Default color for active stars.
    • Inactive Color - Default color for inactive stars.
    • Tooltip - The template for the tooltip when end users hover the mouse over the item. This rating value replaces the #VALUE# substitution (for example, the movie rating is #VALUE#).
    • Show Clear Button - Choose whether to display the Clear button (x) next to the stars.
    • Show Value - Choose whether to display a value next to the stars.
    • Read Only Display - Choose what to display if the item is read only. Options include Stars, Value, Stars and Value, and Single Star and Value.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.27 Switch

Displays as a flip toggle switch.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Use Defaults - If set to On, the Color Picker uses the application-level component settings defined in Shared Components, Component Settings, Color Picker.

    Note:

    Switch items can display as a flip toggle switch (the default), Pill Button, or Select List. See Configuring Switch Defaults.

    If Use Defaults is set to Off, the following custom settings appear:

    • On Value - Enter the value stored in the page item if the user picks the On option. The value can be up to 255 characters long.

    • On Label - Enter the text displayed for the On option.

    • Off Value Enter the value stored in the page item if the user picks the Off option. This attribute can also be left blank if you want to store NULL when the Off option is selected. The value can be up to 255 characters long.

      Note: This value is used if the page item is populated with a value which does not match either the On Value or Off Value.

    • Off Label - Enter the text displayed for the Off option.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.28 Star Rating

Displays a star rating (maximum of 10) that end users can click to set a numeric value.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Number of Stars - Set the total number of stars (one to ten) for end users to choose (default five).

  • Settings, Use Defaults - If set to On, the Star Rating uses the application-level component settings defined in Shared Components, Component Settings, Star Rating.

    See Also: Configuring Star Rating

    If Use Defaults is set to Off, the following custom settings appear:

    • Icon - The icon class to use (such as fa-thumb-up). Click the drop-down list to pick an icon.
    • Active Color - Default color for active stars.
    • Inactive Color - Default color for inactive stars.
    • Tooltip - The template for the tooltip when end users hover the mouse over the item. This rating value replaces the #VALUE# substitution (for example, the movie rating is #VALUE#).
    • Show Clear Button - Choose whether to display the Clear button (x) next to the stars.
    • Show Value - Choose whether to display a value next to the stars.
    • Read Only Display - Choose what to display if the item is read only. Options include Stars, Value, Stars and Value, and Single Star and Value.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.29 Text Field

Displays the item as a text field.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Subtype - Select the HTML5 text subtype. This enables devices with on-screen keyboards to show an optimized keyboard layout specific to the subtype, for easier data input. The subtype selection is also used to render an appropriate link with the value of the page item, if it is rendered read only. This attribute does not change the text item, or data entry, when using a physical keyboard.

    Note:

    This HTML5 feature only works in modern browsers. Older, non HTML5-compliant, browsers ignore this attribute and render the page item as a normal text field.

  • Settings, Trim Spaces - Select how the item value is trimmed. This setting trims spaces, tabs, and new lines from the text entered. Options include: Leading, Trailing, Leading and Trailing, or None.

  • Settings, Text Case - Select how the item value text case is transformed. Options include: No Change, Lower, and Upper.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.30 Text Field with Autocomplete

Displays a text field that displays a list of possible values based on the text already entered by the end user, inline with the text item. The list is further refined as the end user types in more text.

Consider the following example:

select [column]
  from ...
 where ...
 order by ...

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Search - Select how the search against the entered value is performed. When using Lazy Loading this setting can have an impact on query performance. Selecting Contains & Case Sensitive or Contains & Ignore Case prevents the use of column indexes.

  • Settings, Fetch On Type - Specify whether matching values are retrieved from the database as the user types on the autocomplete item. Fetch On Type retrieves matching records from the database each time the user types a character. Otherwise, all of the list values are loaded on page load.

    Oracle recommends using Fetch On Type when you have a large select list since loading a large number of records may impact the time to initially load the page.

  • Settings, Maximum Values in List - Enter the maximum number of items to display in the select box. This value can help avoid performance problems by returning too many rows, and also prevent a very large return set when only a few letters have been entered.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

Parent topic: About Item Types

A.31 Textarea

Displays a multiple-row text area.

Page Designer attributes that control behavior:

  • Settings, Resizable - Specify whether the text area resizing using the mouse is enabled.

  • Settings, Auto-Height - Specify whether the height of the text area varies based on the amount of text displayed. Use this option to scale the text area to the amount of data.

  • Settings, Character Counter - If set to On include a counter that displays the number of characters entered in the field.

  • Settings, Trim Spaces - Select how the item value is trimmed. This setting trims spaces, tabs, and new lines from the text entered. Options include: Leading, Trailing, Leading and Trailing, or None.

  • Validation, Value Required - If set to On and the page item is visible, Oracle APEX automatically performs a NOT NULL validation when the page is submitted. See Help for more details.

  • Session State, Data Type - Select the data type of the page item (VARCHAR2 or CLOB).
  • Session State, Storage - Select how session state is maintained. Options include:
    • 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 Page Items To Submit.
    • Per Session (Persistent) - Maintain for each session by storing the value in the database, to access it across requests.

Parent topic: About Item Types