5.7 Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults)

Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults) enables you to assign default UI properties, create default wizards, modify the table UI defaults, add new attributes, and export the UI defaults.

Parent topic: Using SQL Workshop Utilities

5.7.1 About UI Defaults

Learn about UI Defaults

UI Defaults enable AI interactions to understand the contents of your tables. You can also use UI Defaults to populate initial labels for forms and reports, providing consistency across multiple pages in an application or multiple applications.

When you create an application using the Use Create App Wiaard option, you can specify in Advanced Setting if you want to use UI Defaults. When you create a form or report using a wizard, the wizard uses this information to create default values for region and item properties. Utilizing UI defaults can save valuable development time and has the added benefit of providing consistency across multiple pages in an application. UI Defaults are divided into two categories:

  • Table Dictionary - Specific to tables and columns within a selected schema. These defaults will be used over any defined within the Attribute Dictionary.

  • Attribute Dictionary - Contains a set of attributes about a column that are used in creating forms and reports. The definitions are matched by column name and a particular definition can be shared amongst several columns by using synonyms.

When you use UI Defaults during creation of pages and regions, the Table Dictionary takes priority over the Attribute Dictionary. If a table and column combination exists, that is used rather than an attribute definition of the same name. This can be useful, for example, when you want to have a specific label or Help text for the CREATED_BY column in the emp table but then use more generic defaults for CREATED_BY in another table.

Parent topic: Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults)

5.7.2 Creating UI Defaults for a Table

If no defaults have been created for a table, use the Table Dictionary Create Defaults wizard to automatically generate defaults based on the database table and column definitions. After the initial defaults are created, you can modify the individual default values.

To create the initial UI defaults for tables:

  1. On the Workspace home page, click the SQL Workshop.
  2. Click Utilities.
  3. Click UI Defaults.

    The Dashboard page for UI Defaults appears.

  4. Click Table Dictionary.

    The Table Dictionary page displays a report of all objects in your workspace that includes a Defaults Exist column indicating whether defaults have been created for each object.

  5. Click the object name for which you want to create defaults.

    The Create Table Dictionary Defaults page appears.

  6. Click Create Defaults.

    The Table Dictionary page displays a report showing that defaults exist for the object you selected.

    Note:

    Synchronizing defaults with the database data dictionary creates table-based defaults for any tables in the current schema that do not have defaults yet and updates those of tables that do to match the database definition.

    See Also:

    Modifying Table UI Defaults

Parent topic: Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults)

5.7.3 Modifying Table UI Defaults

Learn how to modify existing table UI defaults.

To modify existing table defaults:

  1. On the Workspace home page, click the SQL Workshop.
  2. Click Utilities.
  3. Click UI Defaults.

    The Dashboard page for UI Defaults appears.

  4. Click Table Dictionary.

    The Table Dictionary page displays a report of all objects in your workspace. The Defaults Exist column indicates whether defaults have been created for an object.

  5. Click the object name you want to modify.

    The Table and Column Properties page displays a report of column defaults.

  6. Click the column name you want to modify.

    The Column Defaults page displays.

  7. Make modifications and click Apply Changes.

    See field-level help for a description of the individual settings on this page.

    Tip:

    A column can be removed from the Table Dictionary, thus allowing the Attribute Dictionary defaults to be used during the creation process. For example, when you have auditing columns where you may want the exact same labels and help across every instance of CREATED_BY and CREATED_ON, regardless of which table they come from, you could remove the column defaults from each table for those columns.

Parent topic: Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults)

5.7.4 Creating UI Attributes

Use the Attribute Dictionary to define and add new attributes.

To create an attribute:

  1. On the Workspace home page, click the SQL Workshop.
  2. Click Utilities.
  3. Click UI Defaults.

    The Dashboard page for UI Defaults appears.

  4. Click Attribute Dictionary.

    The Attribute Dictionary page displays a report of all attributes in your workspace.

  5. Click Create.

    The Column Details page appears.

  6. Enter attribute specifications and click Create.

    See field-level help for a description of the individual settings on this page.

Parent topic: Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults)

5.7.5 Modifying UI Attributes

Modify existing UI attributes on the Grid Edit page or by selecting a specific column.

To modify an existing attribute:

  1. On the Workspace home page, click the SQL Workshop.
  2. Click Utilities.
  3. Click UI Defaults.

    The Dashboard page for UI Defaults appears.

    The current schema displays to the right of the breadcrumb menu.

  4. Click Attribute Dictionary.

    The Attribute Dictionary page displays a report of all attributes in your workspace.

  5. To edit select attributes for all displayed columns:
    1. Click Grid Edit.
    2. Edit the appropriate attributes and click Apply Changes.
  6. To edit a specific column, click the edit icon for the attribute you want to modify.

    The Column Details page displays.

    Tip:

    If you select to edit a synonym, identified by having the Synonym of column populated, you are taken to the definition for the base column, because the base column and all synonyms share one definition. To delete the synonym, select the synonym within the Synonyms region. Deleting the base column deletes the column and all synonyms.

  7. Make modifications and click Apply Changes.

    See field-level help for a description of the individual settings on this page.

Parent topic: Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults)

5.7.6 Exporting and Importing UI Defaults

Export UI defaults in the same way you export any related application file.

To export UI defaults from one development instance to another:

  1. Export the UI defaults using the Export User Interface Defaults utility.
  2. Import the exported file into the target Oracle APEX instance.
  3. Install the exported file from Export Repository.

When you export UI defaults, all UI defaults for the selected schema are exported to a single script. The file contains an API call to create table hints by making calls to the application PL/SQL API. You can use this file to import UI defaults to another database and Oracle APEX instance.

See Also:

In Oracle APEX App Builder User’s Guide

Parent topic: Managing User Interface Defaults (UI Defaults)