2.4 Configuring Workspace Preferences

Workspace administrators can configure preferences for a workspace on the Set Workspace Preferences page.

Use the Set Workspace Preferences page to configure account login controls, control access to App Builder, SQL Workshop, and Team Development, control support for PL/SQL editing in SQL Workshop, enable support for RESTful Services, configure email credentials, and configure Session Timeout.

Some workspace preferences can also be configured for an entire instance. If applicable, the section includes references to any instance-level settings.

Tip:

You can access many workspace administration functions (such as Manage Service, Set Workspace Preferences) from both the Administration menu and the Workspace Administration home page. For consistency, this section navigates the user to the Workspace Administration home page.

• Managing Workspace Account Login Controls
  Configure workspace account login controls such as account expiration and locking, maximum number of failed login attempts, and end user account password lifetime.
• Controlling Access to App Builder
  Control whether developers can access App Builder.
• Controlling Access to SQL Workshop
  Control developer access to SQL Workshop.
• Configuring Email Credentials for a Workspace
  Configure email credentials for a workspace.
• Disabling PL/SQL Program Unit Editing for a Workspace
  Control whether developers can edit and compile PL/SQL program units from Object Browser.
• Enabling RESTful Services and Defining a Path Prefix for a Workspace
  Workspace administrators can control whether RESTful Services are enabled in the current workspace.
• Configuring Team Development in an Existing Workspace
  Configure Team Development for a workspace.
• Configuring Session Timeout for a Workspace
  Use the Session Timeout attributes for a workspace to reduce exposure at the application-level for abandoned computers with an open web browser.

2.4.1 Managing Workspace Account Login Controls

Configure workspace account login controls such as account expiration and locking, maximum number of failed login attempts, and end user account password lifetime.

• About Login Controls
  Workspace administrators can configure login controls for an individual workspace.
• Configuring Workspace Account Login Controls
  Configure login controls for an individual workspace.

2.4.1.1 About Login Controls

Workspace administrators can configure login controls for an individual workspace.

Administrators can also configure login controls for an entire Oracle APEX instance. For example, if an Instance administrator configures account login controls in APEX Administration Services that configuration applies to all APEX accounts in all workspaces across an entire instance.

If the Instance administrator does not enable login controls across an entire instance, then each Workspace administrator can configure the following controls on a workspace-by-workspace basis:

• End-user account expiration and locking
• A maximum number of failed login attempts for end-user accounts
• The password lifetime (or number of days an end-user account password can be used before it expires for end-user accounts

Tip:

This feature applies only to accounts created using the APEX user creation and management. Application Accounts Authentication provides additional authentication security for applications. See Managing Users in a Workspace.

2.4.1.2 Configuring Workspace Account Login Controls

Configure login controls for an individual workspace.

To configure login controls for a workspace:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Select Manage Service and then Set Workspace Preferences.
3. Account Login Control, Account Expiration and Locking - Determines whether APEX end user accounts can be expired or locked. This feature provides additional authentication security for applications and only applies to end-user accounts created using the APEX user management interface. Options include: Enable or Disable.

   If you select Enable, user account passwords expire after a configurable time period, accounts will be locked after a configurable number of authentication failures, and account passwords can be set to expire after the first use.

   If the Instance administrator sets the Environment Setting Require User Account Expiration and Locking to Yes, this means that this feature must be enabled for all workspaces, Account Expiration and Locking will display Enable and cannot be changed by the workspace administrator.

4. Account Login Control, Maximum Login Failures Allowed - Enter a positive integer for the maximum number of consecutive unsuccessful authentication attempts allowed before an end-user account is locked. If you do not specify a value in this field, the instance-level setting for Maximum Login Failures Allowed is used.
5. Account Login Control, End User Account Lifetime (days) - Enter a positive integer for the maximum number of days an end-user account password may be used before the account expires. If you do not specify a value in this field, the instance-level setting for Account Password Lifetime is used.
6. Click Apply Changes.

2.4.2 Controlling Access to App Builder

Control whether developers can access App Builder.

To control access to App Builder:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Click Manage Service.
3. Click Set Workspace Preferences.
4. App Builder, Enable App Builder:
   • Yes - Enables App Builder
   • Yes - Disables App Builder.
5. Click Apply Changes.

Tip:

These settings can be overridden by an Instance administrator. See Managing Component Availability for an Instance.

2.4.3 Controlling Access to SQL Workshop

Control developer access to SQL Workshop.

Deelopers use SQL Workshop to access tools for viewing and managing database objects.

To control access to SQL Workshop:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Select Manage Service and then Set Workspace Preferences.
3. SQL Workshop, Enable SQL Workshop - Specify whether to enable SQL Workshop in the current workspace. Use the SQL Workshop to access tools for viewing and managing database objects. Options include:
   • Yes- Enable access to SQL Workshop.
   • No - Disable access to SQL Workshop.
4. Click Apply Changes.

Tip:

These settings can be overridden by an Instance administrator. See Managing Component Availability for an Instance.

2.4.4 Configuring Email Credentials for a Workspace

Configure email credentials for a workspace.

Note:

To enable APEX to send mail, an instance administrator must first configure instance-level email settings. To learn more, see Configuring Email.

Enabling the Use Workspace SMTP Credentials switch enables workspace administrators to configure a Web Credential that contains a SMTP Username and SMTP Password. APEX can then use these credentials to authenticate to the Email Server when sending emails for the current workspace.

To configure email credentials for a workspace:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Select Manage Service and then Set Workspace Preferences.

   Edit the following Email attributes.

3. Email, Instance SMTP Server - Displays the previously configured SMTP server used by APEX instance. To learn more, see Configuring Email
4. Email, Use Workspace SMTP Credentials - Specify whether to use workspace-specific credentials to authenticate with the SMTP server for sending email. If disabled, APEX will use credentials specified by the instance administrator.

   If enabled, the following additional attributes display.

5. Email, SMTP Authentication Credential - Select a Web Credential to use for authentication with the SMTP server. The list shows Web Credentials of the Basic Authentication type defined in the current workspace.
   To create new Web Credentials or edit an existing Web Credential, navigate to Workspace Utilities, Web Credentials. To learn more, see Managing Web Credentials.
6. Email, SMTP Web Credential Name - Provide a name for the new Web Credential. This name must be unique within the workspace.
7. Email, SMTP Username - Enter a username. If you enter a username, APEX authenticates against it when sending emails.
8. Email, SMTP Password - Enter a password. If you enter a password, APEX authenticates against it when sending emails.
9. Click Apply Changes.

   Tip:

   Tip: You can use the Test SMTP Credential button to verify whether the credentials are correct.

2.4.5 Disabling PL/SQL Program Unit Editing for a Workspace

Control whether developers can edit and compile PL/SQL program units from Object Browser.

By default, developers can change and compile PL/SQL source code when browsing database procedures, packages, and functions in SQL Workshop Object Browser. Workspace administrators can disable PL/SQL program unit editing by selecting Do not allow PL/SQL program unit editing on the Set Workspace Preferences page.

To disable PL/SQL program unit editing:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Select Manage Service and then Set Workspace Preferences.
3. SQL Workshop, PL/SQL Editing - Select one of the following:

   • Allow PL/SQL program unit editing

   • Do not allow PL/SQL program unit editing

     Disabling this feature discourages developers from changing PL/SQL code directly from the Data Dictionary. If you select Do not allow PL/SQL program unit editing, developers can still create and replace PL/SQL program units using scripts or the SQL Command Processor.

4. Click Apply Changes.

2.4.6 Enabling RESTful Services and Defining a Path Prefix for a Workspace

Workspace administrators can control whether RESTful Services are enabled in the current workspace.

RESTful Services enable the declarative specification of RESTful services used to access the database. The definitions of RESTful services created within Oracle APEX are stored in the Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) repository.

To configure RESTful access:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Select Manage Service and then Set Workspace Preferences.
3. SQL Workshop, Enable RESTful Services:

   • Yes - Enables developers to create and access RESTful Services mapped to SQL and PL/SQL.

   • No - Prevents developers from creating and accessing RESTful Services mapped to SQL and PL/SQL.

4. SQL Workshop, Path Prefix:

   Tip:

   Path Prefix only displays if Enabled RESTful Services is set to Yes.

   Specify the URI path prefix to be used to access RESTful Services in the current workspace. The default path prefix value is the name of the workspace.

   For example, a workspace named QA_1 could have a path prefix set to QA. In this case, path to the RESTful service:

   http://www.example.com/apex/qa/hr/employees/
5. Click Apply Changes.

2.4.7 Configuring Team Development in an Existing Workspace

Configure Team Development for a workspace.

Tip:

These settings described in this topic do not affect existing workspaces.

To enable users to attach files to issue comments in Team Development, you must set the Enable Issue File Repository attribute for the workspace to Yes.

To configure Team Development for a workspace:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Select Manage Service and then Set Workspace Preferences.
3. Team Development, Enable Team Development - Specify whether to enable Team Development in the current workspace. Select Yes or No.
4. Team Development, Enable Issue File Repository - Specify whether to enable file upload in the Team Development central file repository:

   • Yes - Select Yes to enable file upload to the Team Development central file repository.

   • No - Select No to disable file upload to the central file repository.

5. Team Development, Maximum Issue File Size (in MB) - Only displays if Enable Issue File Repository is set to Yes.

   Select the maximum file size for any file uploaded into the Team Development file repository. The default value is 15 MB.

6. Team Development, Enable Feedback File Repository - Specify whether to enable file upload for Feedback.

   Note:

   This attribute can only be modified if the feature configuration Enable Feedback File Repository is set to Yes in Administration Services.

   Options include:

   • Yes - Selecting Yes creates a local APEX$ table to store the files.

   • No - Select No to disable file upload for Feedback.

7. Click Apply Changes.

2.4.8 Configuring Session Timeout for a Workspace

Use the Session Timeout attributes for a workspace to reduce exposure at the application-level for abandoned computers with an open web browser.

Workspace administrators configure Session Timeout for a workspace on the Set Workspace Preferences page.

Tip:

This settings described in this topic are superseded by the corresponding application-level setting.

To configure Session Timeout attributes for a workspace:

1. Navigate to the Workspace Administration page:
   1. Sign in to APEX.
   2. Select the Administration menu and then Administration.

   The Workspace Administration home page appears.

2. Select Manage Service and then Set Workspace Preferences.
3. Session Timeout, Maximum Session Length in Seconds - Define how long (in seconds) sessions can exist and be used by applications in this workspace.

   • Enter a positive integer to control how long a session can exist.

   • Enter 0 to have sessions exist indefinitely.

   • Leave the value empty in order to use the time defined at the instance-level.

4. Session Timeout, Maximum Session Idle Time in Seconds - The Session Idle Time is the time between the last page request and the next page request.

   • Enter a positive integer to control the default idle time for sessions used by applications in this workspace.

   • Leave the value empty in order to use the idle time defined at the instance-level.

5. Session Timeout, Session Timeout Warning in Seconds - The session timeout warning time defines (in seconds) how long before a session times out (either maximum session length, or maximum session idle time), to warn the user. For the maximum session idle time warning, the user will have the opportunity to extend the session. For maximum session length warning, the user will be prompted to save any work, to avoid loss of data when the session maximum time is reached.

   • Enter a positive integer to control the default idle time for sessions used by applications in this workspace.

   • Enter 0 to switch off session timeout warnings for sessions used by applications in this workspace.

   • Leave the value empty in order to use the warning time defined at instance level.

6. Click Apply Changes.