New APEX Stammtisch in Munich (13.03.2012 / 19:30)

I am currently working on a project in Munich and I will be joining Carsten Czarski at his APEX Stammtisch in Munich.

See more details here if you like to join: https://blogs.oracle.com/apexcommunity_deutsch/entry/apex_stammtisch_in_münchen_13

Looking forward to meeting up with many other APEX aficionados while having a good German beer and some excellent local dishes.

Cheers and see you there,
Dietmar.

New APEX Stammtisch in Siegburg am 2.3.2012 / 19:00

Just as a reminder, we are having our next APEX Stammtisch (get together) this friday in Siegburg.

Please register for the Stammtisch so that we can make sure there is enough room for everybody:

https://www.opal-consulting.de/apex/f?p=107:11:0:::11:P11_EVT_ID:51

Cheers and hope to see you there, 

Dietmar. 

New Training Oracle APEX 4.0 / 4.1: New Features

Our next training is scheduled for March 2012. You can find the details on www.opal-consulting.de.

---

Wir (Denes Kubicek und Dietmar Aust) freuen uns, das nächste APEX Training bekannt geben zu können.

Es findet am 26.03.2012 bis zum 27.03.2012 erneut in Bensheim bei Frankfurt statt, im Alleehotel.

Oracle APEX 4.0 / 4.1: New Features

In diesem Kurs zeigen Ihnen zwei ausgewiesene Experten im Oracle APEX Umfeld die neuen Features der Oracle APEX Version 4 (4.0 und auch 4.1). Die Version 4 steigert die Produktivität der Anwendungsentwickler wieder einmal signifikant, insbesondere die neue Plugin-Infrastruktur, Dynamic Actions sowie das neue Error Handling.

Nutzen Sie das Wissen und die Erfahrung von

• Denes Kubicek, langjährige Projekterfahrung in den Bereichen Oracle und APEX mit multisite Applikationen, Preisträger des "Oracle APEX Developer of the Year 2008" Awards des Oracle Magazines, ein Oracle ACE Director und sehr bekannt im Oracle APEX OTN Forum für seine Beispielapplikation und
• Dietmar Aust, erfahrener Oracle Consultant mit Spezialisierung auf Oracle Apex, aktiv in den OTN Foren zu Apex und Oracle XE, mit Präsentationen auf den letzten DOAG Veranstaltungen.

Neben einer Fülle an Informationen, wie die neuen Features von APEX 4.0 / 4.1 am besten in Ihren Applikationen eingesetzt werden können, ist insbesondere die abendliche Q&A Session (von 19:00-21:00) als Highlight zu nennen.
Dort stehen wir Ihnen für zusätzliche Hands-On Sessions zur Verfügung, um die Beispiele des Tages durchzuarbeiten oder auch, um konkrete Fragestellungen in Ihren aktuellen Projekten zu diskutieren.

Zum Inhalt:

• Überblick der neuen Features, was ist alles neu
• Der Umgang mit Websheets, wie kann man die neuen Wiki-ähnliche Funktionalitäten sinnvoll nutzen
• Dynamic Actions, wie man AJAX Funktionalität deklarativ (ohne zu programmieren) in seinen Applikationen einsetzt
• Erweiterbarkeit von APEX über Plug-Ins, benutzerdefinierten Elementtypen und Regionen
• Verbesserungen der Tabular Forms, insbesondere die Validierungen und die Unterstützung zusätzlicher Elementtypen
• Die Verwendung der neuen Elementtypen
• Verbesserungen der mächtigen interaktiven Berichte mit komplexeren Filtern, Gruppierungen und das Abonnement von Benachrichtigungen
• Team Development, das Projekt direkt mit APEX managen
• Verbesserungen im Application Builder
• Neue Möglichkeiten der Chart-Engine sowie neue Diagrammtypen (GANTT und Kartendarstellungen)
• Web Services, deklarative Unterstützung von REST-Webservices
• Administration, Vereinfachungen in der Administration sowie im Deployment von Applikationen
• Umgang mit dem neuen APEX Listener
• Das neue Error-Handling, schöne Fehlermeldungen für interne Fehler sowie nicht länger redundante Validierungen programmieren müssen
• Mobile APEX: Anwendungen für Smartphones und Tablets entwickeln

Wir freuen uns, dieses Mal Peter Raganitsch als Gastredner bei uns im Kurs zu haben. Er ist in der APEX Community ebenfalls sehr bekannt und hält regelmäßig Vorträge zur Oracle APEX. Er wird das Thema "Mobile APEX: Anwendungen für Smartphones und Tablets entwickeln" behandeln.

Weitere Details zum Kurs sowie die Anmeldung finden Sie hier.

~Dietmar Aust.

Have fun at ODTUG Kaleidoscope

I hope all of you guys will have a hell of a time at ODTUG KScope11 ( http://www.kscope11.com/ ) in California :).

Yepp, I do envy and miss you guys. I would have loved to be a part of this wonderful community ... again. This is the best conference in the world regarding Oracle development topics and Oracle APEX in particular ... all the experts ... the development team is there ... excellent !!!

Still being overworked dealing with too many projects at the same time I had to make a decision ... say NO once in a while ;). Thus I have decided to skip all conferences and all other opportunities for new projects until the end of the year. Once my life is in line again ... I'll be back ... definitely next year at ODTUG :))

Cheers,
~Dietmar.

Oracle DDL Extraction Scripts (v0.9.0.0) released

Finally I have managed to document and release the scripts we use in our client projects to extract all DDL statements from our development instance into the filesystem.

They were announced in Chapter 9: Lifecycle Management in the book Expert Oracle Application Express.

You can find more details, the scripts and the documentation here: http://www.opal-consulting.de/tools .

Cheers and enjoy,
~Dietmar.

Expert Oracle Application Express book published

I guess I am the last one to blog about the new APEX book:  Expert
Oracle Application Express. ;).

The following 13 authors have contributed a chapter each to this excellent technical book on Oracle APEX 4.0.

• John Scott
• Dietmar Aust
• Doug Gault
• Dimitri Gielis
• Roel Hartman
• Michael Hichwa
• Sharon Kennedy
• Denes Kubicek
• Francis Mignault
• Anton Nielsen
• Raj Mattamal
• Daniel McGhan
• Martin D’Souza

Thanks a lot to John Scott for making this book happen!!! Aside from being a great effort from a truly technical point of view (getting 13 experts to write about their area of expertise :), it is also for a good cause !

Many of you might have heard about the deaths from Carl Backstrom and Scott Spadafore from the Oracle APEX development team. All royalties from the book sales will go to their families. They will be split 50/50 between the two memorial funds.

The book is available on Amazon, make sure to get a copy :).

You can find more details on John's blog.

Regards,
~Dietmar.

Issue with JasperReportsIntegration and the XML DB Listener

Hi guys,

I have helped somebody troubleshoot an issue with my JasperReportsIntegration kit. Although he had followed the instructions correctly, the report wouldn't show in the application.

It worked correctly when calling the j2ee application in the tomcat directly, but not when calling the report using the plsql interface xlib_jasperreports (which calls the j2ee server using utl_http)

The issue is related to the XML DB listener (also the primary http listener of Oracle XE) not supporting the http 1.1 standard. Since the XML DB listener only supports the 1.0 standard, the http parameter chunked transfer encoding is not working properly. 

When calling the report through my JasperReportsIntegration toolkit you would either see an empty report or nothing at all.

See this thread for more details and your options: http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=4563910#4563910

Also, this problem will not crop up when you use a plain Apache as a proxy to your XE installation.

Cheers,
Dietmar.

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.

Book on APEX and XE published

Finally! My first book on Oracle APEX has just been published and is available for sale now! Would make for a great Christmas present :)

I have teamed up with Jens-Christian Pokolm (a long time DBA from Postbank Systems, regular presenter at various Oracle conferences) and Denes Kubicek (Oracle ACE and APEX developer of the year, you know him ;).

Jens-Christian covered the Oracle XE part and Denes and me both worked on the APEX parts.

We took a very practical approach writing about the best practices we have developed through the years and many successful projects.

The book is available only in German, sorry ;).

We also provide a website for the book (http://www.apex-xe-praxis.de). How was it built? Certainly we have used Oracle APEX and XE, what else? Proof of concept ;).

Cheers and have a great Christmas,
~Dietmar.

Oracle APEX Training in Bensheim/Frankfurt (08.03.2010-10.03.2010)

Following up on the other successful APEX trainings in the past, Denes and me holding our next class in September (08.03.2010-10.03.2010). The class will be held in Bensheim (Germany), close to Frankfurt.

Oracle APEX: Knowhow aus der Praxis

The class will focus clearly on conveying the best practices that Denes and me have acquired in many different APEX projects at various client sites.

We have assembled the essence of the methods, strategies and workarounds to deliver successful APEX implementations.

The training will not be theoretical but jam-packed with all the essential tools and tips to get the best results. These are all proven techniques from real world projects.

You can find more information about the class here.

Surely one of the highlights of this training are the Q&A sessions which we will have on both evenings 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 see you in Bensheim!

Regards,
~Dietmar.

Speaking at the DOAG conference in November

Once again this year, I will be speaking at the German Oracle User Group (DOAG) conference in Nürnberg, Germany.

The conference will be held in Nürnberg from 17.11.2009 to 19.11.2009.

The title of the presentation will be (Producing complex MS Excel reports using Oracle APEX and jXLS):

"Komplexe Excel-Berichte mit APEX und jXLS erstellen"

I have implemented a pretty cool technique on producing complex forms and reports in MS Excel based on a templating approach using the open source framework jXLS.

But it is in more general term a showcase on how to embed a java framework into an APEX application.

Hope to see you there :).

Regards,
~Dietmar.

Oracle APEX Training in Bensheim/Frankfurt (21.09.2009-23.09.2009)

Following up on the other successful APEX trainings in the past, Denes and me holding our next class in September (21.09.2009-23.09.2009). The class will be held in Bensheim (Germany), close to Frankfurt.

Oracle APEX: Knowhow aus der Praxis

The class will focus clearly on conveying the best practices that Denes and me have acquired in many different APEX projects at various client sites.

We have assembled the essence of the methods, strategies and workarounds to deliver successful APEX implementations.

The training will not be theoretical but jam-packed with all the essential tools and tips to get the best results. These are all proven techniques from real world projects.

You can find more information about the class here.

Surely one of the highlights of this training are the Q&A sessions which we will have on both evenings 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 see you in Bensheim!

Regards,
~Dietmar.

Speaking at OOW 2009

I have just gotten my speaker invitation for Oracle Open World 2009 in San Francisco (October 11-15).

So far I have been talking about APEX at two ODTUG conferences and three DOAG conferences in Germany. So, this time it will be OOW.

Once again I will be talking about an alternative PDF printing solution with Oracle APEX, Jasper Reports:

ID#: S307883
Title: PDF printing with APEX - a cost-free alternative

I have already held the presentation at the last ODTUG conference in Monterey and the presentation was well received. There seems to be a big interest in this solution (PDF printing with APEX). Even for me, this was the reason I had built the integration in the first place ;).

I am pretty sure to have the integration kit ready to be released to the public by then. Currently I am still pretty much engaged in my customer projects and writing a book on APEX (and XE), together with Denes Kubicek and Jens-Christian Pokolm.
It will be in German only and - hey, we are already on Amazon :)

Oracle APEX und XE in der Praxis

One more thing about OOW 2009. I am really looking forward to seeing you guys again at OOW. Who will be going and where will you be staying in SF? I still have to make my reservation for a hotel.

Regards,
~Dietmar.

Mike Hichwa talking about APEX 4.0

On the last ODTUG conference in Monterey Mike Hichwa was giving a presentation on the new features of the upcoming release 4.0 of Oracle Application Express.

You can see the presentation slides and here the complete presentation here, since the ODTUG folks have recorded this session as well as a few others and put them online.

Lots of interesting features are coming :).

Have fun,
~Dietmar.

So Funny

The photos from the last ODTUG conference in Monterey are online available.

It was really good seeing all my friends again. These conferences are really like family reunions - just without the fights ;).

Here I am talking to Joel Kallman and Marc Sewtz.



I also talked to Mike Hichwa about the one or the other new feature I would like to see in the product. Although now I do wonder what he might be thinking about my constant suggestions ;).


It looks like just one too many ;). (Thanks to Patrick for pointing this out).

It was so much fun hanging out with all of you again.

Regards,
~Dietmar.