Slides from APEX Posed 2010 in Brussels

I just came back from Brussels where I was attending the APEX Posed 2010 conference in Brussels, Belgium.

It was a really good conference with excellent speakers regarding PL/SQL and APEX development. Also, the APEX development team was showing a strong presence once again: Patrick Wolf, Anthony Rayner and Hilary Farell.

My presentation revolved around a structured way to control the changes in an APEX project. As usual, I have made some last minute changes to my presentation, thus you can download the updated slides here as well as the template directory for building a patch.

Cheers and see you at the DOAG conference, who ever may go :),
~Dietmar.

APEX 4.0 New Features Training in Bensheim/Frankfurt (04.10-05.10.2010) - closed

Due to the very high interest in this class we had to close the registration. If you are interested in this class at a later time please send us an email.

Cheers,
Dietmar.

Jasper Reports Integration v1.1.0.0

I have just published version 1.1.0.0 of my Jasper Reports Integration package for integrating Jasper Reports into your Oracle APEX applications. There is no dependency on a specific APEX version nor on the database version.

You can find more information here: http://www.opal-consulting.de/tools

What can you do with it? Creating high-fidelity print ready reports in PDF, RTF, XLS and other formats using a really good report designer (iReport). And the best about it ... it is for free !

What are the major changes?

• Upgrade of the libraries to Jasper Reports 3.7.4. Before, only reports created with iReport version 3.6.0 and below could have been run with this integration kit. Now the most up-to-date version of the JasperReports libraries are included. 
• Instructions for using the integration on Oracle 11.x was added. In order to use http callouts one has to configure the access control lists (ACL) for accessing external network resources. 

Please let me know if anything is not working or when a new version of Jasper Reports is coming out and you need the updated libraries for running the reports.

Cheers and enjoy,
~Dietmar.

APEX 4.0 New Features Training in Bensheim/Frankfurt (04.10-05.10.2010)

Following up on the other successful APEX trainings in the past, Denes and me holding our next class in September (04.10-05.10.2010). The class will be held in Bensheim (Germany), close to Frankfurt.

Oracle APEX 4.0: New Features

The class will focus clearly on conveying the most effective ways to utilize the newest and hottest features of the upcoming release 4.0.

Which are the features you will benefit the most of? What works really well and where does APEX 4.0 still have its shortcomings?

These are the topics we will cover:

• An overview of all the new features.
• Websheets - how can you utilize the new wiki-like functionality?
• Dynamic Actions - Declarative interface to implement dynamic client-side behavior declaratively without the need to know JavaScript (e.g. show, hide, enable, disable).
• Extending APEX with Plug-Ins, custom item types and custom regions.
• Improved tabular forms, including declarative support for validations and additional item types.
• Team Development - Facilitates the management of the application development process including Features, To-Do, Bugs and Milestones.
• Improved charting engine, based on AnyChart 5.1, including declarative Flash-based Maps and Gantt charts.
• Enhanced Web services - Declarative RESTful Web services together with improvements to Web service integration and capabilities.
• Expanded Interactive Reports - Integrated report, icon and detail views plus compound filters, group by, email notifications, and additional save options.
• Modernized Application Builder - Usability improvements including integrated application search, advisor, dashboards, highlighting current actions, and improved Administration screens.
• Oracle APEX Listener - A J2EE-based alternative to mod plsql providing improved performance, direct file upload, file system-based page caching, and improved PDF printing.

The training will not be theoretical but jam-packed with hands on sessions and lots of tips and tricks to get the best results.

You can find more information about the class here.

Surely one of the highlights of this training is the Q&A session which we will have the first evening from 19:00-21:00. Bring your current APEX application to the session and we will discuss with you possible strategies and/or help with coding problems in your application right there.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Bensheim!

Regards,
~Dietmar.

APEX Stammtisch am 22.02.2009 in Siegburg

The following post is targeted towards a German audience, thus it is in German:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wir (Denes Kubicek und Dietmar Aust) werden am 22 Februar 2010 um 19:00 noch einmal den APEX Stammtisch in einer lockeren Variante durchführen, einfach nur ein leckeres Bier, gutes Essen, interessante Gespräche rund um APEX und interessante Leute.
Weitere Details und die kostenlose Anmeldung findet Ihr hier ...

Wir freuen uns auf ein lockeres Kennenlernen bei einem Bier und evtl. leckerem Flammkuchen.

Viele Grüße und bis zum Stammtisch,
~Dietmar.

Jasper Reports Integration - beta release v0.8.0.0

First the good news: I have finally wrapped up the Jasper Reports Integration package and made it available for download.

It is in beta quality and needs some more testing (of the code and documentation) before it should be used in production. Once it hits the first production release, the interface packages should remain stable. Until then they might change with the later beta releases.

Everybody who wants to join the beta program is more than welcome! Any feedback is welcome.

You can get all the files, infos about the architecture and the installation guides here.

Then, I really have to apologize for taking so long (I had promised to release it much earlier) and not responding to many of the emails I have received. I am really sorry for that but my life has gone haywire in the last year - and I am still recovering from that. 

Update on 04.09.2010: Version 1.1.0.0 is now available: http://daust.blogspot.com/2010/09/jasper-reports-integration-v1100.html

Regards,
~Dietmar.