Practical Dynamic Actions Intro

Jorge Rimblas

DRW, Enterprise APEX Development Team Lead

@rimblas

rimblas.com/blog

Oracle DB since 1995
APEX since it was HTMLDB in 2004
Always involved in web technologies
Ex-Enkitec, Ex-independent, Ex-Insum

Agenda

Browser events
Dynamic Action Structure
Demos
AJAX
Advanced Dynamic Actions

Background

Your static web pages are "alive"

Ok, maybe not "alive", but they are not just static.

JavaScript can affect the structure

(this means changing the HTML)

With

JavaScript can affect the look

(this means changing the CSS and Styles)

With

Definitions

Client Side

Server Side

Dynamic Actions are all about

Client Side

" "

Events

activities

Browser Events

Click

Change

Key Press

Page Load

Scroll

Resize

Any Browser Event

Custom Events!

Browser Events

4.2

5.0

19.1

APEX

4.2

APEX

5.x

APEX

19.x

Actions

Component Actions

Hide/Show
Disable/Enable
Clear
Set Value
etc...

Style Actions

Set Class
Remove Class
Set Style

Navigation Actions

Submit Page
Cancel Dialog
Close Dialog

Notification Actions

Alert
Confirm

"Other" Actions

Execute JavaScript Code
Execute PL/SQL Code
Plugins
etc...

More about this later

Anatomy of a Dynamic Action

When event

What to do?

When True

When False

[Optional Client Side Condition]

[Affected Elements]

When event

True Actions

False Actions

When True

When False

[Optional Client Side Condition]

When event

True Actions

False Actions

When True

When False

[Optional Client Side Condition]

APEX 21.1 →

Anatomy of a Dynamic Action

APEX view

Event/When?

When will the Dynamic Action execute?

On click
On item (data) change
On Focus
On Page Load
On (any) browser event
etc

Where?

Where will the event happen?

Where?

Where will the event happen?

Item(s)
Button
Region
Column(s)
jQuery Selector
JavaScript Expression

4.2

5.x

18.x|19.x

Hide

&

Show

Demo:

Two Buttons to Hide/Show

P11

Builder Tabs

p20

With No Dynamic Actions

Show Text Item "Enter User"
Hide List Item "Select User"
Show "Switch to Select User" Button
Hide "Switch to Enter User" Button

Show List Item "Select User"
Hide Text Item "Enter User"
Show "Switch to Enter User" Button
Hide "Switch to Select User" Button

Disable & Enable

Sometimes a good alternative to Hide & Show

Hide

& Show

Demo:

•Conditional•

P25

Condition

Structure

Condition Detail

Condition

Several Condition Options

Set Value

Demo:

P30

Often used as part of several True Actions.
Often used to set a hidden item
- Hidden Item needs: "Value Protected" = No

$s("{ITEM}", "{VALUE}");


// Set to today
$s("P30_LOG_DATE", "&P30_TODAY.");


// Clear date
$s("P30_LOG_DATE", "");

Set Value with JavaScript; API $s

Uppercase Code

Demo:

Key Release

p40

Event

Set Value action

Name to Uppercase Code

this.triggeringElement.value
       .toUpperCase()
            .replace(/\s+/g, '_')
                  .substring(0, 20);

Get value of the triggeringElement
Make it uppercase
Globally Replace spaces (\s) with "_"
Only return the first 20 characters

Change

& Refresh

Demo:

p110

Don't forget:

Page Items to Submit

Inspect Submission

P110_DEPTNO is sent

APEX 4.2

APEX 5.0

P110_DEPTNO is sent

APEX 5.1 - 19.1

and beyond...

AJAX

asynchronous JavaScript and XML

group of interrelated Web development techniques used on the client-side to create asynchronous Web applications

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)

Client Side

Server Side

AJAX

JavaScript

SQL

PL/SQL

AJAX

Demo:

Multiple Actions

It's easy!

p215

Two Different DA

Assign Role
Remove Role

Assign Role

Event: On Button Click
Insert new role
Refresh Role Dropdown
Refresh Report

insert into app_user_roles
 ( username
 , role_key)
values
 ( :P215_USERNAME
 , :P215_ROLE_KEY);

Remove Role

Event: On .deleteRow Click
Delete role
Refresh Role Dropdown
Refresh Report

delete
  from app_user_roles
 where id = :P215_UR_ID;

Remove Role

Event: On .deleteRow Click
Ask for Confirmation
Use "Set Value" to "save" ID of clicked row
Delete role
Give Confirmation
Refresh Role Dropdown
Refresh Report

Get the ID value

this.triggeringElement.getAttribute("data-id");

this.triggeringElement.dataset.id

Get the ID value

this.triggeringElement.dataset.id

Dataset / Data Attributes

// data-id="{value}"
this.triggeringElement.dataset.id


// data-active="YES"
this.triggeringElement.dataset.active


// data-selected="YES"
this.triggeringElement.dataset.selected


// data-lineID="123"
this.triggeringElement.dataset.lineID


// data-rownum="2"
this.triggeringElement.dataset.rownum

Event Scope

Static
Dynamic
Once

Static
Dynamic
Once

Dynamic Scope

Immediate
Debounce
Throttle

Advanced Dynamic Actions

this.triggeringElement

this.browserEvent

this.data

Built-in JavaScript Objects

triggeringElement

Available inside the DA JavaScript

var el = this.triggeringElement;

var $el = $(this.triggeringElement);

Name to Uppercase Code

this.triggeringElement.value
       .toUpperCase()
            .replace(/\s+/g, '_')
                  .substring(0, 20);

Value of the triggeringElement
Make it uppercase
Globally Replace spaces (\s) with "_"
Only return the first 20 characters

Complex Page

APEX 2x.x

Complex Page

APEX 5.0, 5.1

APEX 18.x, 19.1

Resources

Demo apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=90770 [ Download]
JavaScript.com
dynamic-actions.com
Easy Prototyping with triggeringElement
( rimblas.com/blog/2014/06/easy-prototyping-when-using-apex-da-triggeringelement/ )
Install & Review Packaged Application:
"Sample Dynamic Actions"

Sample Dynamic Actions

Q&A

Practical Dynamic Actions

Jorge Rimblas

@rimblas

rimblas.com/blog

Practical Dynamic Actions in APEX (2023)

By Jorge Rimblas

Practical Dynamic Actions in APEX (2023)

Let's explore all the features that Dynamic Actions have to offer. Dynamic Actions (DA) in Oracle Application Express provide a declarative approach to using the JavaScript programming language in your browser. But, what does it mean to be able to use JavaScript in your browser? In this session, we'll cover the basics and then quickly move on to as many real life examples as we can. Whether you're not using DA yet, or you only use the most basic features, this session is sure to help you take your DA knowledge to the next level. We'll cover the many options offered by Dynamic Actions. How to correctly specify a condition. The difference between True and False actions. How to use multiple Actions. Execution Scope. Plus many different real life examples that users can apply right away in their APEX projects.