Oracle Application Express by Design

Learn the many design decisions that must be made before starting to build a large Oracle Application Express (APEX) application for the cloud or enterprise. One of APEX's key strengths is the fact that it is a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool. This is also a major weakness when it tempts developers to start coding too soon. Small applications that consist of tens of pages can be coded without a lot of design work because they can be re-factored quickly when design flaws are discovered. Design flaws in large cloud and enterprise applications that consist of hundreds or thousands of pages are not so easy to re-factor due to the time needed to redevelop and retest the application, not to mention the risk of breaking functionality in subtle ways. Designing a large application before coding starts is a profitable exercise because a thoughtful design goes a long way in mitigating cost overruns and schedule slippage while simultaneously enhancing quality. This book takes into account perspectives from other non-developer stakeholders such as maintenance developers, business analysts, testers, technical writers, end users, and business owners. Overlooking these perspectives is one of the chief causes of expensive rework late in the development cycle. Oracle Application Express by Design illustrates APEX design principles by using architecture diagrams, screen shots, and explicit code snippets to guide developers through the many design choices and complex interrelationship issues that must be evaluated before embarking on large APEX projects. This book: Guides you through important, up-front APEX design decisions Helps you to optimize your design by keeping all stakeholders in mind Explicit code examples show how design impacts cost, schedule, and quality What You Will Learn Pick and choose from the list of designs before coding begins Bake optimal quality into the underlying fabric of an APEX application Think and design from outside the developers narrow perspective Optimize APEX application designs to satisfy multiple stakeholder groups Evaluate design options through hands-on, explicit code examples Define and measure success for large cloud and enterprise APEX applications Who This Book Is For APEX developers and development teams