Book Image

Oracle Application Express 4.0 with Ext JS

By : Mark Lancaster
Book Image

Oracle Application Express 4.0 with Ext JS

By: Mark Lancaster

Overview of this book

Modern web-based applications are moving rapidly away from simple HTML pages, with users expecting desktop styled rich internet applications. Oracle Application Express includes multiple built-in interfaces especially designed for adding JavaScript libraries and components. Ext JS is a polished, high performance set of customizable UI widgets with a well designed and extensible Component model. Combining Ext JS components with the well engineered server side processing provided by Oracle APEX is a recipe for success. Written by Oracle ACE, Mark Lancaster, this book is a complete practical guide to building robust desktop-styled web applications using Oracle Application Express and the powerful Ext JS JavaScript library This book starts off by setting up a productive environment for Oracle APEX and Ext JS, preparing you to get ready to code, and then gradually introducing you to the Ext JS API. You then create a theme based on Ext JS into APEX from scratch, starting with integrating the Ext JS library into the page template, then covering all the template types. You further enrich your interface by integrating Ext JS form components and Ext JS layout elements. You are shown how to integrate components including tab panels, toolbars and menus. Existing components are also enhanced, transforming select lists into auto-completing combo boxes and text-areas auto-sizing as you type.Using exciting new Plug-ins feature, you will learn how to develop custom APEX components that can be used declaritively. This book extends native APEX functionality by integrating Ext JS widgets and components with integrated server-side JavaScript generation, AJAX processing and validation.The book then covers integrating Plug-ins with APEX provided Dynamic Actions JavaScript. You proceed further to build advanced interactive components using AJAX enabled trees and grids. Then you will see how to use the iFrames component along with page templates to build a multi-page interface and also deal with JavaScript communication between iFrames. Finally, you will integrate Ext JS with jQuery using the Ext jQuery adaptor. This book also covers examples of jQuery functionality interacting with Ext JS. By the end of this book you will also learn to improve the performance of your JavaScripts.

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Oracle Application Express 4.0 with Ext JS
Mark Lancaster
Mar, 2011 | 392 pages
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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Oracle Application Express 4.0 with Ext JS
Oracle Application Express 4.0 with Ext JS
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Setting up an Oracle APEX and Ext JS Environment
Setting up an Oracle APEX and Ext JS Environment
Setting up for success
Installing Oracle APEX
Downloading Ext JS
Which web server to use?
Oracle HTTP Server
Embedded PL/SQL Gateway
Oracle APEX listener
Overviewing the production setup
Using Ext JS in a hosted APEX environment
Installing a source code repository
Automating the build process
Setting up a local web server
Summary
2
Getting Acquainted with Ext
Getting Acquainted with Ext
Building a sandbox
Cross-browser DOM manipulation with Ext.Element
Defining event handlers
Parameter passing using object notation
Use namespacing to avoid collisions
Ext.BLANK_IMAGE_URL
Summary
3
Building a Ext JS Theme into APEX
Building a Ext JS Theme into APEX
Theme basics
Creating a theme
Building a Viewport Page template
Summary
4
Ext Themed Regions, Labels, and Lists
Ext Themed Regions, Labels, and Lists
Region templates
Label templates
List templates
Summary
5
Ext Themed Buttons, Popups, Calendars, and Reports
Ext Themed Buttons, Popups, Calendars, and Reports
Button templates
Popup List of Values template
Breadcrumb templates
Report templates
Calendar templates
Publishing your theme
Summary
6
Adding Ext Layout Elements
Adding Ext Layout Elements
Speed dating with a Date Picker
Resizable text areas
Auto-sizing text areas
Auto-completing text fields
Building tab panels using subregions
Toolbars and menus
Summary
7
Working with Plug-ins and Dynamic Actions
Working with Plug-ins and Dynamic Actions
A home for your plug-ins and dynamic actions
Building a better Number Field
Summary
8
Data Stores, AJAX-enabled Plug-ins, and Dynamic Actions
Data Stores, AJAX-enabled Plug-ins, and Dynamic Actions
Storing data on the browser client
Building a ComboBox plug-in
Mixing ComboBoxes with Dynamic Actions
Summary
9
Getting Interactive with GridPanels
Getting Interactive with GridPanels
Components making up a GridPanel
Getting the GridPanel into APEX
GridPanel as a region plug-in
Using the TableGrid
Summary
10
IFrame Tabs, Panels, and Popup Windows
IFrame Tabs, Panels, and Popup Windows
Embedding pages using iFrame panels
IFrame panel plug-in
Modal popup windows
Creating a tabbed document interface
Summary
11
Performance Tuning Your JavaScript
Performance Tuning Your JavaScript
Best practices for JavaScript and CSS
JSBuilder2 installation and usage
Eliminating unused Ext JS library components
Minimizing Application JavaScript
Summary
Index
Index

Chapter 1. Setting up an Oracle APEX and Ext JS Environment

In this chapter, we will go through the process of setting up a productive development environment for both Oracle Application Express (APEX) and Ext JS.

APEX applications are accessed by a web browser via an HTTP Server, which may use the Oracle APEX Listener, Oracle HTTP Server with the mod_plsql plug-in, or the Embedded PL/SQL Gateway to act as the web server.

Each of the web server options has advantages and disadvantages. We will examine the relevant merits of each option separately, before showing how to configure them to support development with Ext JS.

Setting up a development environment is more than just installing the relevant software. It's also about managing versioning and dependencies of your code, and configuration files and other project assets. Automating your backup and build processes ensures that you are able to deliver your software in a repeatable and consistent manner. Regular software releases should be a straightforward activity and not a major issue.

Making good choices setting up your development environment at the beginning of a project can be enormously beneficial for the entire lifecycle of the project. Getting it wrong can be equally as bad!

This chapter covers:

  • APEX installation considerations

  • Brief overview of the Ext JS SDK

  • Merits of each of the web tier options: Oracle APEX Listener, Oracle HTTP Server with the mod_plsql plug-in, and the Embedded PL/SQL Gateway

  • Loading the Ext JS SDK on each of the web tier options, and also onto hosted environments where you don't have direct access to the web server

  • Setting up a Subversion source code repository for project assets

  • Automating backup and build processes to simplify application deployments and reduce errors

By the end of the chapter, you will be fully set up and ready to code.

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