About Creating Smart Filters Pages

8.5.2 About Creating Smart Filters Pages

Create a smart filters page by running either the Create Application Wizard or Create Page Wizard.

Both the Create Application Wizard and Create Page Wizard support the creation of a smart filters page which contains a single search field at the top of the page with filters that display suggestion chips. Alternatively, you can add a smart filters region to an existing report in Page Designer. Each suggestion chip displays a single count for the specific suggestion values. The suggestion chip count only displays for filters that support counts, such as LOV-based filter types. Users can search, or click a suggestion chip to quickly filter the report. You choose if the report is a classic report or a cards report. If you create a smart filters page using the Create Application Wizard, you can also choose to include an update form.

Smart Filters, Breadcrumbs, and the Create Page Wizard

When adding a new smart filters page using the Create Page Wizard, breadcrumbs function a little differently. If breadcrumbs are disabled, the Smart Filters region is added to the Body container. However, if breadcrumbs are enabled, the Smart Filters region is added to the Breadcrumb container and a Breadcrumb displays at the top the page.

About Auto-Discovered Filters

When you build a smart filters page with either wizard, you can select a table or view on which to build the page. If you create the page based on a table, the filters are auto discovered using the Data Dictionary Cache. In contrast, if you build the page on a view or a SQL query, the facets (filters) are not auto-discovered. Instead, the wizard creates a filter region which only searches VARCHAR2 columns.

About the Data Dictionary Cache

The Data Dictionary Cache report displays statistics and a data analysis of schema tables and caches in a workspace. Both the Create Application Wizard and Create Page Wizard use the Data Dictionary Cache when creating new applications and pages. You can preview how the wizards will render facets (filters) on the Data Dictionary Cache page by viewing the Table Column Cache report. The wizard uses the first top five facet (filter) search score columns with score greater than or equal to 20.

If a table changes due to DDL or DML modifications, the Oracle Application Express nightly job ORACLE_APEX_DICTIONARY_CACHE refreshes the Data Dictionary Cache. However, you can refresh the cache manually by navigating to the Data Dictionary Cache and clicking either Gather Statistics and Refresh Cache or Refresh Cache Only at the workspace or table-level.