1. Karen Cannell kcannell@thtechnology.com
APEX:
Tight Tabular Forms
Karen Cannell

2. Volunteer to author ODTUG Journal Articles!
About Me …
Karen Cannell ~ Consultant, TH Technology
Analyzed, designed developed, converted, upgraded, enhanced and otherwise worked on database applications for 25+ years, focused on Oracle since 1994.
Currently migrating business processes from paper to web-based systems, leveraging the Oracle 10g & 11g suite of tools. Lately APEX.
Editor, ODTUG Technical Journal
Volunteer to author ODTUG Journal Articles!
Using APEX since the HTMLDB beginning

3. About You … (Audience Background)
New to APEX?
APEX Experience?
Previous Tools?
APEX Training?
Version 2.0? 3.1 ? 3.2 ? 4.0?

4. Agenda Tabular Forms, <= APEX 3.2 Tabular Forms, Manual
Loose
Tabular Forms, Manual
Tighter and Tedious
Tabular Form 4.0 Enhancements
Tighter, less work OOTB
Tabular Form Custom
Tightest and (a bit) less Tedious

5. Tabular Forms
Multiple Rows, Columns at Once

6. Tabular Form vs. Updateable Report
Coding w/the Enemy: JDeveloper as PL/SQL IDE
April 26, 2006
Tabular Form vs. Updateable Report
Tabular Form = = Updateable Report
Report + editable items + MRU, MRD, Add Row Processes.
Try adding fly-in HTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript URL
COLLABORATE ' Paper 532

7. Tabular Forms <= APEX 3.2 ~ Loose ~

8. The Problem? (<= APEX 3.2)
Limited Out-of-the-Box Validations
Required, Format Mask Column Checks Only
No Per Row
No “Has Row Changed?”
Error Message Stops on First
Error Does Not Show Row/Column of Error
Too Loose!
Bad Data In … Bad Data Out …
Need to Tighten Up …

9. Tabular Forms <= APEX 3
Tabular Forms <= APEX 3.2 Plus Manual Validations ~ Tighter, Tedious ~

10. Tabular Form
No Element Names
Where to Add Validations?

11. Tabular Form Validations - Solutions
Use a Developer Framework
i.e. APEXLib
Manually Code Validations

12. APEXLib APEXLib Development Framework
For APEX <- 3.2, Tabular form Enhancements Help
Not an Oracle Product
Not part of APEX

13. APEXLib Tab Form Features
Reference columns by name without having to find which array your column is mapped to
To get the correct number of rows to process
Identify which row has changed
Get your data with the correct data type (NUMBER, DATE) without having to take care about format masks.
Add a required column check by declaration, instead of coding it.
Get more meaningful error message than APEX provides.
These Features are in APEX 4.0

14. To Manually Code Validations:
Get the Generated Item Names or
Use APEX_ITEM in SQL Query
then
Use APEX_APPLICATION.g_fxx Arrays to Manually Write Validation/Processing Procedures

15. Generated Item Names Each Item has a Handle Handle   Aligns with an
per Wizard’s Standard Naming Convention
Handle   Aligns with an
APEX_APPLICATION.g_fxx Array

16. WebDeveloper Show ID & Class Details

17. Manual Tab Form Processing Has the Row Changed?

18. Tabular Forms APEX 4.0+ ~ Tighter, Less Work ~

19. APEX 4.0 Tabular Forms Validations!! NOT NULL Column String Comparison
e.g. value is numeric, value is a date, value only contains the following characters etc.
Error Message
Error Cell Highlighting

20. Tabular Form - Validations

21. Tabular Form - Validations
Columns

22. Tabular Form Validations
NOT NULL
String Comp

23. Tabular Form – String Comp
String Comparison
Options

24. Tabular Form Validations
Error
Display
Location

25. Tabular Form – Error Messages
Column and Row

26. Tabular Form Validations
Page

27. Tabular Form Validations - Page
SQL, PL/SQL
Use APEX_APPLICATION.g_fnn Arrays

28. 4.0 Tabular Forms - Limitations
Cannot Directly Reference Column Values
i.e. like Page Items
Field Highlighting Only via Declarative Validations
Default NOT NULL Validations Do Not Highlight
LOV Columns Do Not Highlight
Limited Options
“… We have plans to further extend this to support additional types of validations in future release of Application Express.”

29. Tabular Forms 4.0 - Limitations
Coding w/the Enemy: JDeveloper as PL/SQL IDE
April 26, 2006
Tabular Forms Limitations
No Declarative Per-Row Validation
No Declarative Page Validation (ok)
No Easy Reference to Tabular Form Cells
Field Highlighting Only Through Declarative Validations
To Code These Use:
APEX_ITEM in Query
APEX_APPLICATION.g_f0nn Arrays
Javascript
Still LOTS OF CODE!
COLLABORATE ' Paper 532

30. Tabular Forms APEX 4.0+ Plus Manual Validations ~ Tightest, Less Tedious ~

31. Manual Tabular Forms - Possibilities
Highlight Rows
Disable Columns
Custom Validations
Row-level, Page-level, Complex
Whatever You Can Code
Second Tabular Form on page
Whatever You Can Code!

32. Generated Item Names Each Item has a Handle Handle  
per Wizard’s Standard Naming Convention
Per APEX_ITEM Call
Handle  
APEX_APPLICATION.g_fxx Array

33. WebDeveloper Show ID & Class Details

34. Manual Tabular Forms User APEX_ITEM in Query to Build Element
Embed JavaScript in the APEX_ITEM call
Use APEX_APPLICATION.g_f0nn Arrays to Code Custom Validations, Other Processing
Essentially, you are Manipulating Arrays …

35. SQL for Manual Tabular Form:
Regular SQL Query

36. Manual SQL for Tabular Form

37. Resulting Item Names

38. APEX_ITEM.TEXT Call
Syntax:

39. APEX_ITEM.TEXT Example

40. APEX_ITEM.TEXT - Sorting

41. APEX_ITEM.MD5 - Checksum
Use When Need Checksum
Use for Has Row Changed Checks

43. APEX_APPLICATION.g_fXX Arrays

44. PL/SQL to Process Manual Tab Form
Use APEX_APPLICATION.g_f0n arrays to Process Data
Example:
Landed Lbs Must = Landed Qty If Unit = ‘LB’

45. Landed Lbs Must = Landed Qty If Unit = ‘LB’
Pseudocode:
IF g_f13=‘LB’ THEN
IF g_f11 <> g_f12 THEN
.. ‘Landed Lbs must match Landed Qty when Unit is LB’;
END IF;

46. The Real Code – Assessment Form Validation
DECLARE v_msg VARCHAR2(4000) := ' '; v_br VARCHAR2(6) := '<br>'; BEGIN FOR i IN 1 .. APEX_APPLICATION.g_f11.COUNT LOOP IF APEX_APPLICATION.g_f13(i) = 'LB' THEN IF APEX_APPLICATION.g_f11(i) <> APEX_APPLICATION.g_f12(i) THEN v_msg := v_msg ||'Row '||TO_CHAR(i) ||‘ - Landed Lbs must equal Landed Qty if unit is LBs‘ ||v_br; END IF; END LOOP; RETURN v_msg; END

48. Tabular Forms – Workarounds
Manual Tabular Forms
APEX_ITEM to build query, APEX g_f0nn arrays
Validations not covered by APEX
By-Row Validations
Embed JavaScript for all those extras:
Highlighting
Cascading LOVs
Conditional Validations
Development Framework (ex: APEXLib - Tab form help for < APEX 4.0)
Still LOTS OF CODE!!!

49. Manual Tabular Forms - Possibilities
Highlight Rows
Disable Columns
Custom Validations
Row-level, Page-level, Complex
Whatever You Can Code
Second Tabular Form on page
Whatever You Can Code!

50. Tabular Form - Manual
Manual Tabular Form Using APEX_ITEM

52. Manual Tab Form Processing Has the Row Changed?

53. Tabular Form - Online Examples
Great Examples at
Denes Kubicek
Many others out there!

54. Manual Tabular Forms Demo ~ in case I forgot ~

55. Tight Tabular Forms - Summary
<= APEX 3.2
No Validations
Anything can get in
APEX 4.0 +
Out-of-the-Box Validations Improves
Still only part way there!
Unless You Build It …
Be Prepared to Code, Still …

56. References APEX_ITEM Documentation APEX_APPLICATION Documentation
APEX_APPLICATION Documentation
APEX Documentation and Examples
Denes Kubicek (Tabular Form Examples)
APEXLib (Tabular Form Help)

57. K’Scope 2011!!

58. Share Your Knowledge ! Call for Articles/Reviewers
ODTUG Technical Journal
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59. Please fill out the evaluations!
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Tight Tabular Forms
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60. Please fill out the evaluations!
Tight Tabular Forms
February 2011
Thank You ~
Tight Tabular Forms
Please fill out the evaluations!
RMOUG Karne Cannell, THTechnoloy

61. <= 3.2 Tabular Form - Drawbacks
Limited Validations on Columns
No Row-Changed Function
Error Messages Do Not Indicate Row/Column
Stops After First Error
To Code Validations, use APEX_APPLICATION.g_fxx Arrays
All Custom Code
If Order Changes, Re-Code
Conditions Change g_fxx Array
Checkbox Columns Use g_fxx Arrays Differently …

62. Tabular Form - Manual
Manual Tabular Form Using APEX_ITEM