Deliver a Knockout with
your APEX Applications

Jorge Rimblas

Jorge Rimblas

Senior APEX Consultant

  • Oracle DB since 1995
  • APEX since it was HTMLDB in 2004
  • Always involved in web technologies
  • jrimblas in OTN Forums
  • Contributor to
    "Expert Oracle Application Express, 2nd Edition"
    with "Themes & Templates" chapter

Age: 14 years!
Staff: 80+ employees
60 consultants/developers
APEX Solutions: 12 Years!
Largest APEX practice in North America
Oracle Center of Excellence

 

Agenda

  • Why?
  • What is KnockoutJS?
  • Data Binding
  • Two-Way Data Binding
  • Using with APEX
  • More APEX examples

Why?

Solid Track Record

Used by

Portal

Library

Not a framework

jQuery is a library

Good news for APEX

Dynamic Actions

More dynamic than

Dynamic Actions!

What is

?

Knockout is a JavaScript library that helps you to create rich, responsive display and editor user interfaces with a clean underlying data model.

* Source knockoutjs.com

Declarative Bindings

Automatic UI Refresh

Dependency Tracking

Templating

* Source knockoutjs.com

Declarative Bindings

select * from emp where empno = :empno
<span data-bind="text: empno"></span>
function emp() {
  this.empno = 7839;
}
<span data-bind="text: empno"></span>

JavaScript ViewModel contains data

function emp() {
  this.empno = 7839;
  this.ename = 'KING';
  this.job   = 'PRESIDENT';
  this.sal   = 5000;
}
<span data-bind="text: empno"></span>
<span data-bind="text: ename"></span>
<span data-bind="text: job"></span>

JavaScript ViewModel contains data

function emp() {
  this.empno = 7839;
  this.ename = 'KING';
  this.job   = 'PRESIDENT';
  this.sal   = 5000;
}

var viewModel = new emp();

ko.applyBindings(viewModel);

Automatic UI Refresh

...JavaScript...

ko.applyBindings();

Two-Way

Data Bind

observables

function empModel(data) {
  this.empno = data.empno;
  this.ename = ko.observable(data.ename);
  this.job   = ko.observable(data.job);
  this.sal   = ko.observable(data.sal);
}

observables

ko.observable()
ko.observableArray()

Dependency Tracking

Dependency Tracking

computed

  self.total = ko.computed(function() {
    return parseInt(self.val1()) +
           parseInt(self.val2());
  }, self);

Dependency Tracking

subscritions

self.val.subscribe(function(newVal) {
    self.save_value(self);
  }.bind(self));
apex.server.process(...)

Templating

// Static template name
<div data-bind="template: { name: 'personListTemplate', data: employees }"></div>
// Template determined by a function
<div data-bind="template: { name: selectedTemplate} "></div>

Dynamic Template

Templating

<script type="text/ko-template" id="personListTemplate">
<ul data-bind="foreach: people">
  <li data-bind="text: name"></li>
</ul>
</script>
<script type="text/ko-template" id="personTableTemplate">
<table>
<thead><tr><th>Name</th><th>Salary</th></tr></thead>
<tbody data-bind="foreach: people">
<tr>
  <td><span data-bind="text: name"></span></td>
  <td><span data-bind="text: sal"></span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</script>

KnockoutJS
and
APEX

Demo p10

Include the library

// APEX 18.1
#IMAGE_PREFIX#libraries/oraclejet/4.2.0/js/libs/knockout/knockout-3.4.0.js

APEX 18.1

// APEX 5.1
#IMAGE_PREFIX#libraries/oraclejet/2.0.2/js/libs/knockout/knockout-3.4.0.js

APEX 5.1

Demo p10

ko pre-rendered plugin

Playing Nice with APEX

#APP_IMAGES#knockout-pre-rendered.min.js

Add "init" binding

data-bind="init, textInput: val1"

Demo p12

Add "foreachInit" binding for looping

data-bind="foreachInit: products"

// or with template somewhere else on page

data-bind="foreachInit: { name: 'productTemplate', data: products }"


Demo p20

<script type="text/ko-template" id="productTemplate">
  <li data-bind="text: name"></li>
</script>

Adding "foreachInit" to the correct parent

var $rowContainer = $(this.triggeringElement).find(".t-Report-report tbody");

// Add ko foreach bind
$rowContainer.attr("data-bind",
                   "foreachInit: { name: 'productTemplate', data: products }");

Demo p20

Demo

Q&A

Deliver a Knockout with
your APEX Applications

Jorge Rimblas

Twitter: @rimblas

Deliver a Knockout with your APEX Applications

By Jorge Rimblas

Deliver a Knockout with your APEX Applications

KnockoutJS provides two-way data binding between JavaScript and DOM elements and it's also the foundation for OracleJET. Whether you use OracleJET or not, KnockoutJS can deliver more pizzazz to your APEX pages. If you often feel your Dynamic Actions are getting too complex, or they are one line of code away from disaster, this session is for you. Come and get a short KnockoutJS tutorial and learn how to integrate it with APEX.

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