Introduction and Oracle APEX 3.0

Well, what can I say I’ve been avoiding starting a blog for some time. I don’t know if it was because of the lack of time or just the unwillingness to conform to my technology driven ambitions. Now, that I’ve started one, I will being making entries in reguards to my experiances with Oracle products and other technology items which I have used. Since this is my first post, I’ll make a few quick comments about Oracle and some of their products.

I’ve been using Oracle since 9i came out six years ago. At that time I didn’t know much about Oracle other than it was a database that had a lot of buzz around it. At the same time I found doing database administration amazing and exciting to do. So, I set off to get my certification in Oracle9i. Half way through my certification, Oracle10g came out. I was left woundering, how does anyone ever stay up to speed with Oracle. Oracle’s database product line is so vast that its had to stay up with their evolution. Now, I’m not bashing Oracle for this because I think that is great. It keeps us DBAs on our toes and if you fall behind then you could possibly loss job secuirty.

Speaking of Oracle products that have evolved over the past few years is APEX 3.0 (HTMLDB). I remember when the Oracle reps told be about HTMLDB and asked me to evaluate it. At first I was all getty with the excitement of Oracle asking for my advice; after I got over the gettyness, I was disappointed with HTMLDB. I couldn’t think of any reason to use this tool at the time. So, here I am a few years later and I’m working with an application that had to be developed in a matter of 3 weeks (didn’t follow the development lifecycle at all) and it was written in VB.Net and Access. What basicly happened, the application was delivered to the customer with minimal working functions, I found this to be a disappointment and a flaw with not developing the application correctly. I took my frustiation and turned it into a prototype that I developed in Oralce Database XE with APEX 2.1. The managment loved this prototype and the fact that we could host the database in house that the development was approved.

Of course with any Oracle product there is a bit of a learning curve, APEX 3.0 was no different. The setup was a bit confusing at first, but the best thing about APEX 3.0 is that it intergrates with Oracle database seamlessly and uses the standard HTTP server that comes on the Oracle Database companion cd. By using a standard HTTP this allows you to avoid using a complex and expensive Application Server that most small to medium size business do not invest in.

APEX 3.0 works well and you can develop professional applications in a short amount of time (barring the learning curve). So, to help others out I have added the general steps to setting up APEX 3.0 below.

1. Download APEX 3.0 from http://www.oracle.com\technology\apex
2. Install a version of Oracle10g database other than XE
3. Install all the HTTP server from the companion cd
4. Install APEX 3.0
5. Insure that all accounts that are created a unlocked.
6. Test your configuration

Extra tip: Read the documentation as well.

Well, everyone take care and I’ll post again later.

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