1. Developing Commercial APEX
Applications
Doug Gault & Scott Spendolini
Enkitec
1
WELCOME
2
Doug Gault
! doug.gault@enkitec.com
! Using Oracle since 1988
! Versions 5.1b, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
! Focused on Web Technologies
! OWA, ‘PSP’, Web DB, HTML-DB, APEX
! Hotsos Product Development Director
! Co-Founded Sumneva
! Now part of Enkitec
! APEX PRACTICE DIRECTOR
! Focused on Providing World Class APEX Products,
Education and Services
3
! scott.spendolini@enkitec.com
! @sspendol
! Ex-Oracle Employee of 10 years
! Senior Product Manager for Oracle APEX
from 2002 through 2005
! Founded Sumner Technologies
in October 2005
! Co-Founded Sumneva in January 2010
! Joined Enkitec in June 2012
! Oracle Ace Director
! Co-Author, Pro Oracle Application Express
! Author, Secure APEX Development Best
Practices
! “Scott” on OTN Forums
Scott Spendolini
4

2. About Enkitec
! Oracle Platinum Partner
! Established in 2004
! Headquartered in Dallas, TX
! Locations throughout the US & EMEA
! Specialties include
! Exadata Implementations
! Development Services
! PL/SQL / Java / APEX
! DBA/Data Warehouse/RAC
! Business Intelligence
5
Agenda
! Overview
! Design
! Infrastructure
! Testing
! Deployment
! Summary
6
OVERVIEW
7
Disclaimer
! Almost 100% of the content in this session are
applicable to any type of APEX project -
commercial software or internal
8

3. Passion for APEX
! Combined 25 years of APEX experience
! Wanted to produce a product with APEX
! Knew that a subject matter expert was needed to
succeed
! A tool for APEX developers solved this problem
9
eSERT Origins
10
! Given the declarative nature of APEX, many
security vulnerabilities could be exposed by
inspecting the metadata
! Why not build an APEX application to evaluate the
security of other APEX applications?
Benefits
! Can adopt the APEX footprint
! No additional software or hardware
! Same database and operating system versions
! Tight integration with APEX
! Ease of distribution
11
DESIGN
12

4. Design
! Hands down the most important phase
! Need to spend ample time here and work out problems on
paper not in code
! Conceptual and feature design is just as
important as visual design
! Version 1 vs Version 2
! Core Functionality
! Asynchronous Execution & Collections
! APEX_ADMINISTRATOR_ROLE Role
13
User Interface Mockups
! Balsamic mockups is invaluable
! Issues with UI can be flushed out early and quickly
! Easier to get user
feedback as you can send
as PDF or image versus
installing software
14
User Interface
! Keep it simple
! Keep dependencies similar to that of APEX
! You have no control over when APEX will be upgraded
! If it can't be installed easily, it's not worth
including
! Test in all target browsers early and often
! IE will add days to project timeline and subtract years
from your life if you wait until the end
15
Dealing with IE
! Initially tried to have a single CSS file for all
browsers
! Quickly realized that was a bad idea
! Thus, created a specific
CSS for IE
! A little extra work on our
side to synchronize the
two, but ultimately a
better approach
16

5. PL/SQL
! All code of any length goes in a package
! Even a simple RETURN FALSE
! Benefits of this approach
! Centralized
! Easier to patch
! Single SQL script vs. entire APEX application
! Wrappable
! Upgrade from 4.1 -> 4.0
17
Tables & Views
! All tables accessed via views
! Allows for security and manageability
! Easier to patch
18
Page Zero
! Used as much as possible
! However, need to keep an eye on the number of
components placed here
19
Shared Components
! Use as much as possible
! All computations and processes referenced package calls
20

6. Shared Components
! Images, JS and CSS have to be shared components
! Easier to install and manage
! Can't assume file system access
! Helpful to include version in file names
! Prevents browser cache issues after upgrades
21
Supporting Objects
! Decided to have a split installation
! DB objects installed via SQL Plus as SYS
! Images, JS and CSS delivered as Apex supporting objects
! Gotcha: supporting object definitions need to be updated
if their corresponding shared component is changed
22
Versions
! Multiple Apex versions presents a challenge
! Initially thought few customers were using Apex 4.0
! “Your idea, although interesting, is irrelevant”
! “The answer to your question is not in the building”
! Survey proved otherwise
! Ideally this can be mitigated by having common database
objects
23
Database Support
! Piggyback on APEX-supported versions
! 10g R2+
! Exception was Oracle XE
24

7. INFRASTRUCTURE
25
Infrastructure Choices
26
! Source Code Control
! Shared Development
! Automated Builds
! Licensing
Source Code Control
27
! We were comfortable with subversion
! Fear of change? Nahhh!
! Didn’t want to manage our own
! Fear of commitment? Nahhh!
! Looked for hosted version control
! Several out there, but one caught our eye
! WWW.CODESPACES.COM
CodeSpaces
28
CUSTOM

8. CodeSpaces
! Custom “Small Team” Plan
! Fewer Users (6)
! Less Storage (1Gb)
! Unlimited Projects
! Unlimited Repositories
! $200 per year ($16 per Month)
! Flexibility was a big selling point.
29
SubVersion Clients
! Versions
30
! Cornerstone 2
! Both were
! Simple easy to use interface
! Allows “experts” to do what
they need to do
! Friendly to SVN Newbies
! Recommended
SubVersion Structure
! TRUNK
! All development happens
here
! Sub-directories created for
each type of object
! Included objects that were
to be loaded into the app as
Supporting Object scripts
! Application was exported and
checked in as a single
object.
31
SubVersion Structure
! Branches
! Reserved for Branches in the
source code line
! When you need to change the code
based on changing underlying
requirements
! We needed a code branch when
we worked with both APEX 4.0 &
4.1
32

9. SubVersion Structure
! Releases
! Only created after building
and testing a release
! Takes a snapshot of all
source that was released
! Would allow us to
! Recreate the release if necessary
! Create a Branch / Create a Patch
33
Shared Development
! We faced a number of challenges
! Needed a platform we could share and use to develop
collaboratively
! Disparate Locations (Texas & Virginia)
! No hosting capability of our own
! Small company, so cost was important
! Traditional APEX Hosting companies weren’t a good fit
! No access to Internal workspace
! No access to SYS/SYSTEM users
34
Shared Development
! Amazon Web Services
! Inexpensive
! Easy to stand up
! AMI’s already existed with OEL and Oracle Database
! Full control of the machine
! DB Version
! APEX Version
! All the right access
! Safe from ourselves
! Available from everywhere
! Create our own AMI’s
35
Shared Development
! Database Version Choice
! Needed to make sure what we developed would work
across all versions
! Looked at XE
! Found issues on 10XE with some of the SQL syntax that we were using
! Settled on Oracle 10g SE as base development platform
! Lowest common denominator
! Lowest cost to the customer
! What we wrote here would work on Enterprise Edition
! Fairly confident that things would port seamlessly to 11+
36

10. Automated Builds
! Needed a way to create a “Release” of the
software
! Install testing, functional testing, actual release
! Manual method would get very tedious very
quickly
! Knew from previous experience that Apache ANT
could automate this type of thing
37
Automated Builds
! Created an ANT build.xml script allowing us to
! Dynamically create the working directory
! Check the most recent version of code out of SVN
! Replace @VERSION@ variables in code with a dynamic
versions number passed on the command line
! Choose to WRAP Oracle PL/SQL code
! (or not for dev builds)
! Zip the files into a “Release”
! Clean up the working directory
38
Automated Builds
! Final Build Script had 3 main targets
! RELEASE
! Create a final wrapped and zipped release
! NOWRAP
! Create a full release with unwrapped PL/SQL
! CLONE
! Create a Development version that doesn’t replace the @VERSION@
Tags
39
ant <Target> -D sv_version=020100
Product Licensing
! Licensing requirements were unique
! We understood that product licensing can almost always
be subverted. It’s there to keep honest people honest.
! Multiple license types
! SITE
! WORKSPACE
! APPLICATION
! Loads of licensing software out there, but nothing that
would really work for APEX
! Ended up having to rolling our own in PL/SQL
40

11. Product Licensing
! Licensing consists of a Customer Key and a
License Key
! Customer Key - Hashes information about the server,
GUID of the product and other info based on the license
type
! License Key - Hashes information that matches the
Customer Key as well as Expiration Date and Licensed
Company
41
Product Licensing
! Two sets of code
! Application Side
! Creates and encode Customer Key
! Receives, interprets and validates License Key
! Product Owner Side
! Receives and validates Customer Key
! Matches Customer Key to a valid license in our back end system
! Created and encodes License Key, saves it and presents to user
42
Application Side
43
Product Owner Side
44

12. Product Licensing Benefits
! Allows us to
! scale product use to the need of the end user
! quickly create “Trial” keys that expire after a given
amount of time
! limit the use of the product to a specific licensed server
regardless of the level of license purchased
45
TESTING
46
Product Testing
! Testing is hard and no one likes to do it
! It covers way more than you might think
! Functional Testing
! Installation Testing
! Upgrade Testing
! Platform Testing
! Do everything you can to make it
! Easy
! Repeatable
! Full Coverage
47
Product Testing
! We chose to use Virtual Machines as our testing
platform
! Self Contained “Sandbox”
! Easy to copy a fully set up system
! Easy access to multiple platforms (OS, DB, etc)
! Snapshots
! Makes rollbacks as easy as a button click
! Snapshots of successful installs/upgrades provide the basis for the next
generation
! Allows you to setup and test “edge-cases” and keep those
around for future tests.
48

13. Product Testing
! Identified and mitigated several potential
problems by having the wide variety of platforms
available.
! Issue with install script on Windows based SQL*PLUS
! Issue with 10g and positional parameters in a function
when used in a SQL Query
! Lack of support for certain functionality in Oracle XE
49
DEPLOYMENT
50
Deployment
! Decided early on to mirror the APEX install & upgrade
scheme
! Allows users to upgrade SAFELY in place
! Allows rollback in the odd case of a failed installation
! Multi Part Install
! Database Schemas and Objects
! SV_SERT_XXXXXX
! SV_SERT_APEX
! SV_SERT_APEX_ALL
! APEX Application
! Application per Workspace
! Application Cross Workspace
51
Deployment
! Database Schemas and Objects
! Modeled on the APEX install Scripts
! SQL Script run as SYS
! Checks pre-requisites
! Creates users
! Creates Objects
! Allows DBA’s to choose underlying tablespace(s) and features/grants to
install
! Future versions will
! Migrate data from previous working schema to new working schema
52

14. Deployment
! APEX Application
! Per Workspace
! Associate the SV_SERT_APEX schema as a Parse As Schema for a
workspace
! Install the eSERT APEX Application in the workspace where the Apps to
be evaluated are
! Cross Workspace (4.1+ only)
! Requires APEX_ADMINISTRATOR_ROLE to be granted to parse as schema
! Associate the SV_SERT_APEX_ALL schema as a Parse As Schema for a
workspace
! Install the eSERT APEX Application in the workspace
! Ability to evaluate all applications across all workspaces
53
Deployment
! Used Supporting Objects quite heavily for images,
JavaScripts, CSS
! Didn’t want customers to have to manually copy these
items to their web server
! Couldn’t adequately script this as everyone’s install bay
be different
! However it was a bit of a challenge
! No “Relationship” between shared components and
supporting objects
! Had to keep deleting & Re-creating them
54
SUMMARY
55
Summary
56
! Developing for APEX is not too unique - but there
are a number of unique benefits
! Shorter development cycles
! Ability to use built-in components to save time
! Charts, IRs, User Interface
! Code is easy to write; difficult to maintain
! Thus, less is more
! “The answer to your question is not in the
building”
! Customer feedback is critical

15. Download
! This and all other Enkitec presentations can be
downloaded for free from:
http://enkitec.com/presentations
57
http://www.enkitec.com
58