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Preface

Oracle Application Express API Reference describes the Application Programming Interfaces, referred to as APIs, available when programming in the Oracle Application Express environment.

Topics:

Topic Overview

Topics in this help set include:

Title Description
APEX_APPLICATION
Use the APEX_APPLICATION package to take advantage of a number of global variables.
APEX_APPLICATION_INSTALL
The APEX_APPLICATION_INSTALL package provides a number of methods to modify application attributes during the Application Express application installation process.
APEX_COLLECTION
Use APEX_COLLECTION 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.
APEX_CSS
The APEX_CSS package provides utility functions for adding CSS styles to HTTP output. This package is usually used for plug-in development.
APEX_CUSTOM_AUTH
Use the APEX_CUSTOM_AUTH package to perform various operations related to authentication and session management.
APEX_DEBUG_MESSAGE
The APEX_DEBUG_MESSAGE package provides utility functions for managing the debug message log.
APEX_INSTANCE_ADMIN
The APEX_INSTANCE_ADMIN package provides utilities for managing an Oracle Application Express runtime environment. Use the APEX_INSTANCE_ADMIN package to get and set email settings, wallet settings, report printing settings and to manage scheme to workspace mappings.
APEX_ITEM
Use the APEX_ITEM package to create form elements dynamically based on a SQL query instead of creating individual items page by page.
APEX_JAVASCRIPT
The APEX_JAVASCRIPT package provides utility functions for adding dynamic JavaScript code to HTTP output. This package is usually used for plug-in development.
APEX_LANG
Use APEX_LANG API to translate messages.
APEX_LDAP
Use APEX_LDAP to perform various operations related to Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) authentication.
APEX_MAIL
Use the APEX_MAIL package to send an email from an Oracle Application Express application.
APEX_PLSQL_JOB
Use APEX_PLSQL_JOB package to run PL/SQL code in the background of your application. This is an effective approach for managing long running operations that do not need to complete for a user to continue working with your application.
APEX_PLUGIN
The APEX_PLUGIN package provides the interface declarations and some utility functions to work with plug-ins.
APEX_PLUGIN_UTIL
The APEX_PLUGIN_UTIL package provides utility functions that solve common problems when writing a plug-in.
APEX_UI_DEFAULT_UPDATE
You can use the APEX_UI_DEFAULT_UPDATE package to set the user interface defaults associated with a table within a schema. The package must be called from within the schema that owns the table you are updating.
APEX_UTIL
Use the APEX_UTIL package to get and set session state, get files, check authorizations for users, reset different states for users, and also to get and set preferences for users.
APEX_WEB_SERVICE
The APEX_WEB_SERVICE API allows you to integrate other systems with Application Express by allowing you to interact with Web services anywhere you can utilize PL/SQL in your application. The API contains procedures and functions to call both SOAP and RESTful style Web services.
JavaScript APIs
Use these JavaScript functions and objects to provide client-side functionality, such as showing and hiding page elements, or making XML HTTP Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) requests.


Note:

In release 2.2, Oracle Application Express APIs were renamed using the prefix APEX_. Note that API's using the previous prefix HTMLDB_ are still supported to provide backward compatibility. As a best practice, however, use the new API names for new applications unless you plan to run them in an earlier version of Oracle Application Express.

Audience

Oracle Application Express API Reference is intended for application developers who are building database-centric Web applications using Oracle Application Express. The guide describes the APIs available when programming in the Oracle Application Express environment.

To use this guide, you need to have a general understanding of relational database concepts as well as an understanding of the operating system environment under which you are running Oracle Application Express.


See Also:

Oracle 2 Day + Application Express Developer's Guide

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Related Documents

For more information, see these Oracle resources:

For information about Oracle error messages, see Oracle Database Error Messages. Oracle error message documentation is available only in HTML. If you have access to the Oracle Database Documentation Library, you can browse the error messages by range. Once you find the specific range, use your browser's "find in page" feature to locate the specific message. When connected to the Internet, you can search for a specific error message using the error message search feature of the Oracle online documentation.

Many books in the documentation set use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

For additional documentation available on Oracle's Technology Network, please visit the Oracle Application Express web site located at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/application_express/

For additional application examples, go to the Learning Library. Search for free online training content, including Oracle by Example (OBE), demos, and tutorials. To access the Oracle Learning Library, go to:

http://apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=9830:28:0::NO:RIR:P28_PRODUCT_SUITE,IR_P

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To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/membership/

If you already have a user name and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/

Conventions

For a description of PL/SQL subprogram conventions, refer to the Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference. This document contains the following information:

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention Meaning
boldface Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
monospace Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.