During Database & Technology Week 2022, an event sponsored by the Quest Oracle Community, Marc Sewtz, Senior Direct of Software Development for Oracle APEX, shared the new features in Oracles APEX’s release 22.2.

Oracle APEX is an enterprise low-code application platform that allows developers to quickly create and deploy cloud or on-premises apps that solve real problems and provide immediate value.  APEX provides solutions for a variety of use cases, including building new cloud and mobile apps, turning spreadsheets into apps, modernizing Oracle forms, SaaS and EBS extensions, external data sharing, and Datamart reporting.  According to a recent survey by IDC, APEX is the world’s most popular low-code platform.  New APEX releases occur biannually.

What’s New in Apex 22.2

APEX 22.2 was released on November 10, 2022.   This was the first time a version of APEX was released for download and on-premises installation on the same day.  The new features and enhancement include application search, invoke API process type, PWA and mobile enhancements, universal theme updates, landmark support for regions, JavaScript library updates, several new and updated components, and several other enhancements.

Application Search

Application Search allows you to easily create a search engine style functionality within your app that looks for matches across multiple data sources within your application.  It allows you to search with several different search configurations across multiple tables and outside data sources.  By creating a search configuration, you can search a local database, a REST enabled SQL, or a REST API.  Search configurations allow you to choose the data that appears in your search results and include a link.

Invoke API Processes

Invoke API Processes is a new page-level process type that allows you to map your forms to store procedures without having to write PL/SQL code.  APEX 22.2 will automatically map preset parameters to page items if they match by name so that you don’t have to do so manually.  You can also enable debugging so that you can see the procedure code of when a form was updated.

PWA and Mobile Updates

While installing a PWA as an app on a mobile device is not a new feature in APEX 22.2, your device now automatically detects if the PWA is supported by the device.  If your device supports mobile app installation, you will see an “Install App” icon at the top of the PWA, which you can click to install the app shortcut on your mobile device.  You can also configure screenshots to appear during the mobile app installation process, add shortcuts to your app that allow users quickly navigate to the pages you choose, allow your app to read geolocation, and use a dynamic action to share data from your app with improved more-descriptive visuals.

Universal Theme Updates

Within the APEX program there have been some updates to the universal theme in APEX 22.2.  There is a new Search Region template, which allows you to customize results for the new Search component and now makes it easier to position items and buttons together.  There is also an improved performance which allows for faster loading and less page flickering.

Landmark Support for Regions

This feature allows users to make an application easier to use with a screen reader.  You now automatically have landmarks predefined, which can be overridden if needed.

JavaScript Library Upgrades

With each new APEX upgrade, you also automatically get several updates to your JavaScript libraries so that you don’t have to upgrade and test these libraries yourself.  The APEX development team has already tested these libraries to make sure they still work to save time for customers.

Task Definition Enhancements

Additionally, with the APEX 22.2 release there have been enhancements made to the approvals component of Task Definition, including the ability to configure Due On dates and Expiration Policies of Tasks, the ability to log task history more easily, as well as various new attributes that are available on the Task Details page.

Date Picker

APEX 22.2 has also developed a brand-new Date Picker to improve user experience.  This Date Picker is accessible to keyboard only and screen reader users and the components are customizable.

Dynamic Content Region

The Dynamic Content region is now refreshable and supports lazy loading, which means that content that takes longer to load will appear as empty boxes on the page instead of waiting until all content have loaded to launch the page.  It also has support for MLE, and the region source can be written in JavaScript on databases 20c and 21c.

CLOB Support for Page Items

In APEX 22.2 there is now additional CLOB support for Page Items.  You can now store more than 32,000 bytes in Session State Data Type, allowing you to add more content.

Text Field with Autocomplete

There have also been updates to streamline using Text Field with Autocomplete.  These updates include Maps using vector layers, a numeric keypad pop up in number fields on mobile device, automatic updates to the calendar regions, and new attributes to the Rich Text editor for Toolbar Style.

Other Enhancements

There have also been several other enhancements to Oracle APEX 22.2 including:

• Improvements made to Dynamic Actions that allow you to add custom names and control the time and frequency of when the actions are firing
• Extensions made to Template Directives, which includes being able to use HTM Expressions of Classic and Interactive Report columns
• Updates to APEX Global Search
• Updates to Data Generator
• Updates to APEX_ESCAPE
• APEX_LDAP can also now store credentials

For demos and more information on how to use some of the above features, you can watch the full session here: 22.2: New Features Video Recording – Quest Oracle Community.

To learn more about the new features in APEX release 21, click here.