Application Express

Dynamic Duo
Josh Millinger
Niantic Systems

June 7, 2011

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 Speaker Qualifications

Josh Millinger, President, Niantic Systems, LLC

CS degrees from UW-Madison, Johns Hopkins
Former Oracle Sales Consultant and Founder of the Oracle
Partner Technology Center
15+ Years of Oracle Web Development Experience
Have Been Developing with and Teaching ApEx Since Well
Before It Was Even Released as a Product!
Started with Excel Migration as first project
Presenter at NYOUG, IOUG, ODTUG, Oracle OpenWorld

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 Niantic Systems

Oracle Consulting with a Focus on Application Express

Application Express Training
Oracle Forms/Reports
Discoverer
Mentoring
Forms/Reports to Apex Migration
Customers in the Federal, Commercial, Healthcare,
Higher Education, Financial, and Construction verticals

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 Agenda

Define Dynamic SQL

When to use Dynamic SQL
Using bind variables to secure SQL
Using with Interactive Reports

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 Agenda

Javascript Overview
Dynamic Action Overview
Demonstration

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What is Dynamic SQL?

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 What is Dynamic SQL?

Dynamic SQL is a programming technique that enables you to build SQL

statements dynamically at runtime. You can create more general purpose,
flexible applications by using dynamic SQL because the full text of a SQL
statement may be unknown at compilation. For example, dynamic SQL lets
you create a procedure that operates on a table whose name is not known
until runtime.

You can use dynamic SQL to create applications that execute dynamic queries,
whose full text is not known until runtime. Many types of applications need to
use dynamic queries, including:

Applications that allow users to input or choose query search or sorting criteria at runtime
Applications that allow users to input or choose optimizer hints at run time
Applications that query a database where the data definitions of tables are constantly changing
Applications that query a database where new tables are created often

Reference: Oracle Application Developers Guide - Fundamentals

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 Static vs. Dynamic

Static:
select patient, service_date, exam from exams
In this case the SQL statement is well known as design time

Dynamic:
declare
l_sql varchar2(1000);
begin
l_sql := select || :PX_COLNAME|| from exams;
return l_sql;
end;

In this case, the column to select is user defined at runtime

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 When do I need to use Dynamic SQL

declare
l_sql varchar2(10000);
begin
l_sql := select col1, col2 from jobs where 1=1 ;
..filters here
l_sql := l_sql || order by || v(P1_ORDERBY) ;
return l_sql;
end;
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When do I need to use Dynamic SQL - Example

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Region Type Definition

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 Where do I create Dynamic SQL?

When creating a complex function to generate

dynamic SQL, it is best to place function in
database either standalone or in package
Easier to edit
Creates ability to reuse it on other pages
Call function through normal return syntax

return my_pkg.get_page25_query(:P25_ITEMNAME);

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 Apex Parsing

If the builder cannot parse the sql statement you

will have to select:

Use Generic Column Names (parse query at runtime only)

Best Practice: For performance and productivity purposes, change the

maximum number of colums to something equal or slightly higher than
maximum number of possible columns

Warning: You might get error if column number greater than the number of
columns in query is higher on Report Attributes Page
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 Dynamic SQL and Charts

Dynamic SQL can also be used in:

Charts
List of Values

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 How to debug

When using Dynamic SQL it is important to be

able to see what query is being generated
Use DEBUG to help you determine the query

declare
l_sql varchar2(1000);
begin
l_sql := select || :PX_COLNAME|| from exams;
apex_application.debug(My query is : ||l_sql);
return l_sql;
end;

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 Using bind variables in Dynamic SQL
When generating in database still use the :BINDVAR syntax
This will allow the optimizer to reuse execution plan

declare
l_sql varchar2(1000);
l_col varchar2(100);
begin
if v(P1_TEST) = 1 then l_col := mycol1 ; else l_col := mycol2; end if;
l_sql := select || v(PX_COLNAME)|| from exams where id = :P1_ID ;
apex_application.debug(My query is : ||l_sql);
return l_sql;
end;

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 Using bind variables in Dynamic SQL
Prevent SQL Injection Attacks
Take a block of code that generates a query

declare
q varchar2(4000);
begin
q := select *
from tasks
where assigned = :APP_USER ';

if :P1_SEARCH is not NULL THEN

q := q || ' AND category
= ' ||:P1_SEARCH ;
end if;
return q;
end;

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 Using bind variables in Dynamic SQL
When a user provides email for P1_SEARCH our
query will be:

select *
from tasks
where assigned=:app_user
and category = email

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 Using bind variables in Dynamic SQL

but when a user provides email or a=a for

P1_SEARCH our query becomes

select *
from tasks
where .
and category = email or
a = a

So never arbitrarily append user input into your

application queries.
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 Interactive Reports
Interactive Reports were introduced in version 3.0
They provide
End users the ability to customize the data to their liking using controls
such as column filters, aggregates, computations, groupings, etc.
IRs are based off a SQL query
Limitation is SQL query HAS to be static

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 Interactive Reports and Collections

To overcome this limitation we use Collections

Collections defined:
Collections enable you to temporarily capture one or more nonscalar values. You can use
collections to store rows and columns currently in session state so they can be accessed,
manipulated, or processed during a user's specific session. You can think of a collection as a
bucket in which you temporarily store and name rows of information (Apex Documentation)
Useful when data is needed across page views as temporary tables wont
work

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 Interactive Reports and Collections
1. Create collection when the page renders
declare
l_sql varchar2(1000);
begin
if apex_collection.collection_exists(P25_ROWS)
then
apex_collection.delete_collection(P25_ROWS);
end if;

l_sql := my_pkg.get_my_query (:P1_VAR); -- get the dynamic sql query here

apex_collection.create_collection_from_query_b(P25_ROWS,l_sql); -- create the collection

end;

2. Create Interactive Report from Collection

select col1, col2
from my_table m,
apex_collections a
where m.id = a.c001
and a.collection_name = P25_ROWS

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 Dynamic Sql - Conclusion

Dynamic SQL
Is useful when a query not known at develop time
Unknown table
Unknown columns
Unknowns sorting
Can be used with Interactive Reports
By using collection or other row collecting mechanism
Can be used with Reports, Charts, and LOVs

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 Apex and Javascript

Apex is reliant on Javascript

Object Browser
Builder - Drag/Drop, Delete Confirmation
apex.submit
Hide/Show of relevant fields in Builder
Region Selector
Javascript can also be used by developers
Allow for custom interactive actions on page
Should not be confused with Java
See previous presentation by Niantic for NYOUG

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 Apex and Javascript

Developers use Javascript for

Validations
Computations and Calculations
Dynamic Control of the GUI
Alerts
Confirm Boxes
Region Selectors
Interactive Reports
AJAX

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 Apex and Javascript

Before Apex 4.0 Javascript would be either

Placed in .js file on filesystem
Placed in HTML Header
Placed in Page Template
Placed on Page Zero
Placed in Region on Page where needed
Would require manual creation of code
Needed knowledge of how to code Javascript

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 Dynamic Actions

Introduced in Apex 4.0

Allow for declarative creation of Javascript
Developers no longer need to be JS coders
Wizard based and Re-entrant
Created at Page Level

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 Dynamic Actions

Two types of Dynamic Actions

Standard
Advanced

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 Dynamic Actions - Standard
Selection Type: Item, Region, jQuery or DOM Object
Can be conditionally executed

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 Dynamic Actions - Standard
Action can Hide/Show or Enable/Disable page elements
Can create opposite False Action
If Dynamic Action shows item when the condition is
TRUE, then this created DA that hides item when FALSE

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 Dynamic Actions - Standard
Select what elements are affected by TRUE/FALSE action

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 Dynamic Actions - Advanced
Event Based
Change of Value
Losing Focus
Mouse entering/leaving
Page load/unload
Scroll
Double Click
Key Up/Down

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 Dynamic Actions - Advanced
Declare what action to take
Clear
Hide/Show
Set Value
Execute JS or PL/SQL
Add remove classes

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 Dynamic Actions Code Generation
Code is automatically generated for the page
Can be seen when looking at page source
Located at bottom of page

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 Dynamic Actions Conclusion
Javascript is integral to Apex
Previous to 4.0, manual coding was necessary
Dynamic Actions allow for easy generation without coding
Get opposite action for free
Can extend with custom Javascript, PL/SQL, jQuery
Makes everyone a Javascript Developer!

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 Questions?
Topics for Next Time?

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 Thank You!

Josh Millinger
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202.642.6845

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