Scott Spendolini's Blog

Ever since APEX 5, the poor Navigation Bar has taken a back seat to the Navigation Menu. And for good reason, as the Navigation Menu offers a much more intuitive and flexible way to provide site-wide navigation that looks great, is responsive and just plain works. However, the Navigation Bar can and does still serve a purpose. Most application still use it to display the Logout link and perhaps the name of the currently signed on user. Some applications use it to also provide a link to a user's profile or something similar. Another use for the Navigation Bar is to present simple metrics via badges. You've seen the before: the little red numbered icons that hover in the upper-right corner of an iPhone or Mac application, indicating that there's something that needs attention. Whether you consider them annoying or helpful, truth be told, they are a simple, minimalistic way to convey that something needs attention. Fortunately, adding a badge to a Navigation Bar entr...

Providing file upload and download capabilities has been native functionality in APEX for a couple major releases now. In 5.0, it's even more streamlined and 100% declarative. In the interest of saving screen real estate, I wanted to represent the download link in an IR with an icon - specifically fa-download. This is a simple task to achieve - edit the column and set the Download Text to this: <i class="fa fa-lg fa-download"></i> The fa-lg will make the icon a bit larger, and is not required. Now, instead of a "download" link, you'll see the icon rendered in each row. Clicking on the icon will download the corresponding file. However, when you hover over the icon, instead of getting the standard text, it displays this: Clearly not optimal, and very uninformative. Let's fix this with a quick Dynamic Action. I placed mine on the global page, as this application has several places where it can download files. You can do the same ...

It's conference season!  That means time to start looking at flights and hotels and ensuring that while I'm on the road, my wife is not at work (no easy task).  In addition to many of the conferences that I've been presenting at for years, I have a couple of new additions to the list. Here it is: RMOUG - Denver, CO One of the larger conferences, the year usually starts out in Denver for me, where crowds are always large and appreciative.  RMOUG has some of the most dedicated volunteers and puts on a great conference year after year. GAOUG - Atlanta, GA This will be my first time at GAOUG, and I'm excited to help them get their annual conference started.  Lots of familiar faces will be in attendance.  At only $150, if you near the Atlanta drive, it's worth checking out. OCOJ - Williamsburg, VA (submitted) This will (hopefully) also be my first Oracle Conference on the James.  Held in historic Williamsburg, OCOJ is also a steal at just $99. UT...

If you've been using APEX long enough, you've probably used a PL/SQL Region to render some sort of HTML that the APEX built-in components simply can't handle. Perhaps a complex chart or region that has a lot of custom content and/or layout. While best practices may be to use an APEX component, or if not, build a plugin, we all know that sometimes reality doesn't give us that kind of time or flexibility. While the PL/SQL Region is quite powerful, it still lacks a key feature: the ability to be refreshed by a Dynamic Action. This is true even in APEX 5. Fortunately, there's a simple workaround that only requires a small change to your code: change your procedure to a function and call it from a Classic Report region. In changing your procedure to a function, you'll likely only need to make one type of change: converting and htp.prn calls to instead populate and return a variable at the end of the function. Most, if not all of the rest of the code can rem...

On Twitter today, Jeff Smith tweeted about a new SQL Developer cheat sheet that he created with a site called cheatography.com . Not to be outdone, I created a cheat sheet for the APEX 5 Keyboard Shortcuts . Not only can you view it online, but you can also download a PDF version of it. Check it out and let me know if there's anything that you'd like to see added.

In migrating SERT from 4.2 to 5.0, there's a number of challenges that I'm facing. This has to do with the fact that I am also migrating a custom theme to the Universal Theme, as almost 100% of the application just worked if I chose to leave it alone. I didn't. More on that journey in a longer post later. In any case, some of the IR filters that I have on by default can get a bit... ugly. Even in the Universal Theme: In APEX 4.2, you could click on the little arrow, and it would collapse the region entirely, leaving only a small trace that there's a filter. That's no longer the case: So what to do... Enter CSS & the Universal Theme. Simply edit the page and add the following to the Inline CSS region (or add the CSS to the Theme Roller if you want this change to impact all IRs): .a-IRR-reportSummary-item { display: none; } This will cause most of the region to simply not display at all - until you click on the small triangle icon, which will...

I'm a huge fan of APEX's new Universal Theme, and have been working quite a bit with it.  One of the coolest features is how easy it is to change the colors.  You don't even need to be good at design - just click Theme Roller, and spin all the things! However, as much as you change the colors, the look and feel still largely looks the same, since the base font is unchanged. So let's change it up! More importantly, let's change it up without making any changes to the Universal Theme itself, so that when we upgrade to APEX 5.1, our changes will be preserved. First, head on over to Google Fonts ( https://www.google.com/fonts ) and pick a font to use as your new base font.  It doesn't really matter which one you use.  For this example, I’m going to use Montserrat.  Once you've chosen which font to use, click on the Quick Use icon.  This will render a page with a number of different options as to how to include the font in your application. Select which s...

The next Oracle APEX NOVA MeetUp is going to be held on November 12th, 2015 at 7PM.  We decided to mix things up a bit and are going to have it at Vapianos in the Reston Town Center.  We're also going to try a more informal agenda.  In other words, there will be no agenda. So if you're around Reston on November 12th from 7-9PM (or so), feel free to stop by.  Here's the MeetUp.com link:  http://www.meetup.com/orclapex-NOVA/events/226009784/

I just ran the following script: -- TABLES FOR x IN (SELECT table_name FROM user_tables) LOOP   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE('DROP TABLE ' || x.table_name || ' CASCADE CONSTRAINTS'); END LOOP; -- SEQUENCES FOR x IN (SELECT sequence_name FROM user_sequences) LOOP   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE ('DROP SEQUENCE ' || x.sequence_name); END LOOP; -- VIEWS FOR x IN (SELECT view_name FROM user_views) LOOP   EXECUTE IMMEDIATE ('DROP VIEW ' || x.view_name); END LOOP; Basically, drop all tables, views and sequences.  It worked great, cleaning out those objects in my schema without touching any packages, producers or functions.  The was just one problem:  I ran it in the wrong schema. Maybe I didn't have enough coffee, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but I essentially wiped out a schema that I really would rather not have.  But I didn't even flinch, and here's why. All tables & views were safely stored in my data model.  All sequence...

About a month ago, I left my position at Accenture Enkitec Group. I had a couple of ideas as to what I wanted to do next, but nothing was 100% solid.  After considering a couple of different options, I'm happy to announce that together with Doug Gault & Tim St. Hilaire, we're re-launching Sumner Technologies . Much like last time, the focus will be on Oracle APEX; but we’re going to refine that focus a little bit.  In addition to traditional consulting, we’re going to focus more on higher-level services, such as security reviews and APEX health checks, as well as produce a library of on-demand training content.  APEX has matured tremendously over the past few years, and we feel that these services will complement the needs of the marketplace. It’s exciting to be starting things over, so to speak.  Lots will be the same, but even more will be different.  There’s a lot of work to be done (yes, I know the site is not in APEX - yet), but we’re excited at the potential of what...

Just under three years ago, I joined Enkitec when they acquired Sumneva.  The next three years brought a whirlwind of change and excitement - new products, additional training, and expanding the APEX practice from an almost nonexistent state to one of the best in the world. Like all good things, that run has come to an end.  Last Friday was my final day at Accenture, and I am once again back in the arena of being self-employed.  Without any doubt, I am leaving behind some of the best minds in the Oracle community.  However, I am not leaving behind the new friendships that I have forged over the past three years.  Those will come with me and hopefully remain with me for many, many years to come. Making the jump for the second time is not nearly as scary as it was the first time, but it's still an emotional move.  Specifically what's next for me?  That's a good questions, as the answer is not 100% clear yet.  There's a lot of possibilities, and ...

Last week, I participated in my first Little League draft for my son's baseball team.  This was new territory, as up until now, play has been non-competitive.  This year we will actually have to keep score, and there will be winners and losers. In preparation for the draft, we had tryouts a few weeks ago where we evaluated the kids on a number of different criteria.  Never have I seen so many scared 7 and 8 year olds march through the cages as dozens of coaches with clipboards watched and recorded their every move.  I camped out and watched them pitch, as from what many veteran coaches told me, the key to keeping the game moving along is the pitcher. In preparation for the draft, we were sent a couple of key spreadsheets.  The first one had an average rating of all of the kids tryouts assessments, done by the board members.  The second one contained coaches evaluations for some of the players from past seasons. Lots and lots of nothing more than raw d...

Every time I attend a conference, the Twitter traffic about said conference is obviously higher.  It starts a couple weeks or even months before, builds steadily as the conference approaches, and then hits a crescendo during the conference.  For the past few conferences, I’ve started my sessions by asking who in the audience uses Twitter.  Time and time again, I only get about 10-20% of the participants say that they do.  That means that up to 90% of the participants don’t.  That’s a lot of people.  My informal surveys also indicate a clear generation gap.  Of those that do use Twitter, they tend to be around 40 years old or younger.  There are of course exceptions to this rule, but by and large this is the evidence that I have seen. I actually took about 10 minutes before my session today to attempt to find out why most people don’t care about Twitter.  The answer was very clear and consistent: there’s too much crap on there.  And t...

The big news about Oracle APEX from OOW is not so much about what, but more about when.  Much to many people's disappointment, APEX 5.0 is still going to be a few months out.  The "official" release date has been updated from "calendar year 2014" to "fiscal year 2015".  For those not in the know, Oracle's fiscal year ends on May 31st, so that date represents the new high-water mark. Despite this bit of bad news, there were a number of bits of good news as well.  First of all, there will be an EA3.  This is good because it demonstrates that the team has been hard at work fixing bugs and adding features.  Based on the live demonstrations that were presented, there are some subtle and some not-so-subtle things to look forward to.  The subtle include an even more refined UI, complete with smooth fade-through transitions.  I tweeted about the not-so-subtle the other day, but to recap here: pivot functionality in IRs, column toggle and reflow in jQuer...

Steven Feuerstein ( https://twitter.com/stevefeuerstein ) just tweeted this: Improve your programming with a daily regimen of situps (or anything you can do to strengthen abs), walks in the woods, and lots of water. — Steven Feuerstein (@stevefeuerstein) July 14, 2014 Which in turn, inspired me to quickly write this post. The combination of being in IT and working from home leads to lots of hours logged in some sort of chair, whether its in my home office, at a customer site or a coffee shop.  You don't need to be a doctor to realize that this is not particularly healthy behavior. So for the past few months, I've incorporated something new into my daily routine: taking a walk.  It doesn't sound like much, and quite honestly, it really isn't.  But, I wish that I had started this years ago, because the benefits of it are huge. First of all, it's nice to get outside during the day, especially when it's actually nice out.  Nothing can quite compare to i...

The next Meetup for the ORCLAPEX NOVA Meetup Group will be this Thursday, July 17th at 7:00PM at Oracle Reston.  (Details:  http://www.meetup.com/orclapex-NOVA/events/192592582/ ) We're going to try the "Open Mic" format that has been wildly successful at KScope for the past few years.  The rules are quite simple: anyone can demonstrate their APEX-based solution for up to 10 minutes.  No need to reserve a spot or spend too much time planning.  And as always, no slides will be permitted - strictly demo. Anyone and everyone is welcome to present - even if you have never presented before.  We're a welcoming group, so please don't be shy nor feel intimidated!  I've actually seen quite an amazing selection of APEX-based solutions at prior open mic nights from people who have never presented before, so I encourage everyone to give it a try. While there is WiFi available at Oracle, it's always best to have a local copy of your demonstration, just in cas...

For the upcoming inaugural ORCLAPEX NOVA MeetUp on May 29th , not only will we have Mike Hichwa , Shakeeb Rahman and David Gale from the Reston-based Oracle APEX development team present, but we will also have the entire Columbus, OH based APEX team in attendance, as well: both Joel Kallman and Jason Straub will be in town and have RSVP’ed to the MeetUp! Outside of major conferences such as KScope or OpenWorld, there is no other public forum that will have the same level of APEX expertise from the team that develops the product present!  So what are you waiting for?  Join the rest of us who have already RSVP’ed to this event, as it’s 100% free, and you’re sure to learn a bunch about APEX 5.0 and other exciting happenings in the Database Development world at Oracle. Note: you have to be a member of MeetUp (which is free to join) and RSVP to the event to attend (which is also free), as a list of people needs to be provided to Oracle the day before the event occurs.

Overview Recently, I was working with one of our customers and ran into a rather unique requirement and an uncommon constraint. The customer - Storm Petrel  - has designed a grant management system called Tempest.  This system is designed to aid local municipalities when applying for FEMA grants after a natural disaster occurs.  As one can imagine, there is a lot of old fashioned paperwork when it comes to managing such a thing. Thus, the requirement called for the ability to upload and store scanned documents.  No OCR or anything like that, but rather invoices and receipts so that a paper trail of the work done and associated billing activity can be preserved.  For APEX, this can be achieved without breaking a sweat, as the declarative BLOB feature can easily upload a file and store it in a BLOB column of a table, complete with filename and MIME type. However, the tablespace storage costs from the hosting company for the anticipated volume of documents was considerable.  So much so...

Following in the footsteps of a few others, I’m happy to announce the formation and initial meeting of the ORCLAPEX NOVA (Northern Virginia) group !   As  Dan McGhan  and Doug Gault have mentioned in their blogs, a bunch of us who are regular APEX users are trying to continue to grow the community by providing in-person meetings where we can meet other APEX developers and trade stories, tips and anything else.  Each of the groups is independently run by the local organizers, so the formats and topics will vary from group to group, but the core content will always be focused around Oracle APEX. Groups will also be vendor-neutral, meaning that the core purpose of the group is to provide education and facilitate the sharing of APEX-related ideas, not to market services of products. Right now, there are a number of groups already formed across the world:  ORCLAPEX-MSP  for the Minneapolis, St. Paul area led by  Jorge Rimblas ORCLAPEX-DFW  for the Dallas/Fort Worth area led by  Doug G...

On Thursday, February 27th Thursday, March 6th, I will be taking over @WorkingOrange - the Syracuse University Career Services Twitter account. WorkingOrange was created to allow Syracuse alumni from all fields to share what it is they do on a typical day, as well as interact with students, other alumni and anyone else.  It is typically active each Tuesday and Thursday, and has hosted alumni from all kinds of industries.  For example, today is an elementary school teacher, and this past Tuesday was a producer for a TV station in Philadelphia. I encourage everyone to follow along here: http://www.twitter.com/workingorange or just follow @WorkingOrange  More information on SU's Career Services can be found here:  http://careerservices.syr.edu UPDATE: due to a scheduling issue, I've been reassigned to Thursday, March 6th.