17 Upgrading Oracle APEX Applications

Installing a new release of APEX updates existing applications to the latest release, but does not alter application user interface or application components.

Once you upgrade an APEX instance from a previous release, existing applications will work without modification. However, to keep applications maintainable, up-to-date, and to leverage new functionality, perform the following steps after an upgrade or after an application has been imported which was exported from a previous release.

Tip:

At the completion of each task described in this section, Oracle recommends running and thoroughly testing your application.

See Also:

Upgrading from a Previous Oracle APEX Release in Oracle APEX Installation Guide

17.1 Reviewing Release Notes

After you upgrade from a previous APEX release, review the Oracle APEX Release Notes.

Oracle APEX Release Notes contain important information not included in the APEX documentation. Key sections to review include:

  • Changed Behavior - Describes changes in application and component behavior compared to previous releases.
  • Deprecated Features - Lists features which Oracle plans to desupport or remove in a future APEX release. If a feature is related to application metadata or an API, existing applications can still use the feature, but Oracle strongly recommends that developers start to modify their applications as described in this section. Use APEX Advisor to scan existing applications for deprecated attributes.
  • Deprecated in Previous Releases - Lists features which were deprecated in a previous release but have not been fully removed or desupported from APEX. Oracle strongly recommends that developers start to modify their applications as described in this section. Run APEX Advisor to scan existing applications for deprecated attributes.
  • Desupported Features - Lists features that are no longer available. If a desupported feature is related to application metadata or APIs, then existing applications may not work as they did previously. Oracle recommends modifying the application to replace the feature.

  • Desupported in Previous Releases- Lists features that were desupported in a previous release.

See Also:

Running Advisor to Check Application Integrity

Parent topic: Upgrading Oracle APEX Applications

17.2 Refreshing the Universal Theme

Update an application to use the latest Universal Theme to take advantage of new features, enhancements, and bug fixes as well as styling for new APEX components.

Tip:

Before starting this procedure, Oracle recommends backing up your application by either exporting it or creating a copy. See Exporting an Application and Copying an Application.

To update an application to use the latest Universal Theme

  1. Navigate to the App Builder home page:
    1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
    2. Select an application.

      If the Universal Theme is not up-to-date, the App Builder home page displays a banner at the top of the page that reads:

      There is a new version of Universal Theme available! You can refresh your theme to take advantage of new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.

  2. Click Refresh Theme.
  3. Run and test your application.

See Also:

Migration Guide page in the Universal Theme Reference app.

Parent topic: Upgrading Oracle APEX Applications

17.3 Updating App Compatibility Mode

The Compatibility Mode attribute controls the backward compatibility of the APEX runtime engine when executing an application.

Certain runtime behaviors change from release to release. To not break or change the behavior of existing applications, this attribute is automatically set during upgrade if necessary.

To keep applications maintainable, set Compatibility Mode to the latest release after reviewing the changed behavior in the Release Notes and making the necessary changes.

To update the Compatibility Mode within an application:

  1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
  2. Select an application.

    The Application home page appears.

    Description of edit_app_prop.png follows
    Description of the illustration edit_app_prop.png
  3. From Application home page, you can access the Edit Application Definition page in two ways:
    • Click the Edit Application Definition button.
    • From Shared Components:

      • Click Shared Components.

      • Under Application Logic, click Application Definition.

    The Edit Application Definition page appears.

  4. Click the Definition tab.
  5. Properties, Compatibility Mode - To use standard behavior in an application, set the compatibility mode of the application to the current version.
  6. Click Apply Changes to save your changes.
  7. Run and test your application.

See Also:

Changed Behavior, Compatibility Mode in Oracle APEX Release Notes

Parent topic: Upgrading Oracle APEX Applications

17.4 Running Application Upgrade

Learn about the Application Upgrade Wizard.

Use the Application Upgrade Wizard to perform a bulk update after upgrading to a new release or importing an application from a previous APEX release.

The Application Upgrade Wizard enables you to bulk update your application to leverage new features, or to automatically enable new functionality for existing components.

To upgrade an application to use new components:

  1. Navigate to the Application home page:
    1. Navigate to the Workspace home page.
    2. Click the App Builder icon.
    3. Select an application.

      The Application home page appears.

  2. To access the Upgrade Application page, you have two options:

    • New Features Available Notification:

      If upgrade options are available, a New Features Available notification displays on Application home page side bar. Click View Details.

    • From Utilities:

      1. On the Application home page, click Utilities.

      2. On the Utilities page, click Upgrade Application.

    The Upgrade Application page appears and displays the available Upgrade types, the number of objects that can be upgraded, and a Details button.

  3. Select and upgrade objects:
    1. Select either the Upgrade type or click Details.

      The Update page appears.

      Note:

      When at least one of the upgrade type (for example, Update Button Dynamic Actions to Trigger Actions) is updated, the New Features Available region disappears from the Application home page. You can always access the Upgrade Application page by clicking Utilities on the Application home page.
    2. Select the objects to upgrade and click Update.
  4. Repeat the previous step until all objects are updated.
  5. Run and test your application.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Upgrading Oracle APEX Applications

17.5 Reviewing Old JavaScript

For applications using jQuery Migrate or legacy JavaScript, review the User Interface, JavaScript settings.

If your application uses jQuery Migrate or legacy JavaScript, review this logic to determine if it is still necessary. Removing this dependency benefits the application by not only ensuring you are only reliant on current, supported technology, but also a performance benefit because APEX will not need to load the corresponding library code.

jQuery 3.x breaks compatibility with earlier 2.x versions. For applications that still rely on removed 2.x functionality, you can use the jQuery Migrate plug-in. To include the jQuery Migrate plug-in, go to the User Interface page and enable Include jQuery Migrate as described in the task that follows.

If your application relies on removed 1.x jQuery APIs, that functionality no longer works as of Oracle Application Express release 18.1. You must update the JavaScript to only use jQuery 3.5 or later APIs. To learn more, see Known Issues for jQuery Upgrade in Oracle APEX Release Notes.

To review the User Interface, JavaScript settings:

  1. On the Workspace home page, click the App Builder icon.
  2. Select an application.
    The Application home page appears.
  3. From Application home page, you can access the Edit Application Definition page in two ways:
    • Click the Edit Application Definition button.
    • From Shared Components:

      • Click Shared Components.

      • Under Application Logic, click Application Definition.

    The Edit Application Definition page appears.

  4. Click the User Interface tab.
  5. Edit the following settings:
    1. JavaScript, Include Deprecated or Desupported Javascript Functions - Specifies if deprecated or desupported JavaScript functions are included on every page in the application by selecting the appropriate releases. See Oracle APEX Release Notes for a list of deprecated and desupported functions.

      Tip:

      If you are confident your application does not contain any references to deprecated or supported functions, do not make a selection and reduce the overall size of the JavaScript files loaded.
    2. JavaScript, Include jQuery Migrate - Specifies if the jQuery Migrate plug-in should be included on every page in the application.

      jQuery Migrate plug-in restores deprecated features and behaviors of jQuery so that old JavaScript code and jQuery plug-ins will still run properly with the jQuery version loaded by APEX. This plug-in also helps find where you are using deprecated or removed jQuery APIs by logging warnings to the browser console.

      Tip:

      If you are confident your application does not use a jQuery plug-in and does not contain any references to deprecated jQuery features, disable Include jQuery Migrate to reduce the overall size of the JavaScript files loaded.
  6. Click Apply Changes to save your changes.
  7. Run and test your application.

Parent topic: Upgrading Oracle APEX Applications