What's New in Oracle APEX 24.2

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Unlocking GenDev with new AI capabilities

Oracle APEX 24.2 unlocks new capabilities for Generative Development (GenDev) that makes it easy to build intelligent applications that respond with precision and relevance. Developers can quickly set up retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) data sources within the new AI Configurations Shared Component, create custom data models with natural language in SQL Workshop, and seamlessly integrate AI-driven text generation with the new Generate Text with AI Dynamic Action. These advancements enable developers to create applications that are not only more intelligent but also precisely tailored to user needs.

Provide RAG Data for AI Calls

Enhance AI Assistant responses by sending additional context data based on a SQL query, function output, or static text. These RAG sources can be conditional and are re-evaluated with each user prompt, ensuring responses stay relevant and up-to-date.

  • AI Configurations

    A new Shared Component for AI Configurations encapsulates a system prompt, welcome message, and any number of RAG Sources. These configurations can be leveraged with the Show AI Assistant and Generate Text with AI Dynamic Actions, and with the APEX_AI PL/SQL APIs.

  • Conditional RAG Sources

    RAG sources within AI Configurations can utilize server-side conditions to respond dynamically to user prompts. You can use conditions like User Prompt Contains or All User Prompts Contain by specifying keywords that the system should look for. For more advanced logic, use bind variables such as APEX$AI_LAST_USER_PROMPT or APEX$AI_ALL_USER_PROMPTS in your expressions.

AI-Assisted Development

  • Declarative Calls to AI Services

    Combine AI Configurations with the new "Generate Text with AI" Dynamic Action to help perform predefined actions such as creating content, summaries, and translations. Calling the action immediately returns a response, giving you full control over the desired user experience.

  • Create Custom Data Models

    Use natural language to design custom schemas in SQL Workshop. APEX AI Assistant helps generate Oracle SQL or Quick SQL scripts for creating tables, triggers, constraints, and more. Read the blog post.

  • Vector Search Support

    Empower end-users to find the most relevant results with semantic similarity searching. A new Search Configuration type simplifies adding Oracle Database 23ai vector search to your applications. Specify details like index usage, distance metrics, and maximum vector distance, then watch users smile as they find what they're looking for more quickly than ever. Read the blog post.

New and Updated Components

JSON Data Sources

Work directly with JSON data in your APEX applications with the new JSON Sources Shared Component. Create JSON Sources from a table with JSON columns, or in Oracle Database 23ai using Duality Views, JSON Collection Tables, and JSON Collection Views.

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  • Auto-Generated Data Profiles

    Oracle APEX generates a Data Profile for a JSON Source, which automatically turns JSON data into rows and columns and supports nested JSON structures.

  • JSON Column-Based Components

    Create APEX page components such as reports, charts, and forms directly on JSON data sources, and access JSON Sources to build out Shared Components, including Automations, LOVs, Search Configurations, and Report Queries.

  • Supports DML

    Easily save Forms and Grids based on JSON sources using automatic DML handling. APEX updates the JSON document automatically using JSON_TRANSFORM.

Workflow Enhancements

  • Workflows within Workflows

    Streamline your processes by reusing common workflows and breaking down complex tasks into manageable units with the new Invoke Workflow activity. This feature allows you to call one workflow from another, and pass along input and output parameters to ensure smooth data exchange and efficient task management. Read the blog post.

  • Copy from Other Apps

    You can now copy a Workflow definition from one application to another to simplify the development of similar processes.

  • Resume Workflow at Any Activity

    Workflow administrators can now easily handle unexpected scenarios or accidental human error by resuming a suspended Workflow at any activity in the process. Read the blog post.

  • Modernized Human Task and Workflow Pages

    The Create Page wizard now generates human task and workflow pages with a simplified layout using Template Components, menus, and modal dialogs. This harmonizes their look and feel and promotes easier customization and maintenance.

  • Additional Improvements

    View Workflow utilization in Task Definitions, Email Templates, and REST Data Sources with the updates to utilization reports, and pass CLOB values to Workflow variables and parameters.

REST Source Enhancements

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  • Flexible Remote Servers

    Configure remote servers with more flexibility using the new SET_REMOTE_SERVER API to dynamically derive the base URL of a Remote Server object, and invoke completely dynamic endpoints with APEX based on the current app, tenant, or environment settings.

  • Token-Based Pagination

    Simple HTTP REST Data Sources now support token-based pagination to simplify the user experience for presenting data from APIs that use this approach.

  • Streamlined Shared Components Region

    Manage REST Data Sources, Duality Views, and JSON Sources from a simplified Data Sources section, while Data Load Definitions and REST Synchronizations have moved to more sensible locations on the page.

  • Additional Sort Capabilities

    Sort results of REST Data Sources of the ORDS type using the added support for "Order By NULL" clauses.

Improvements to Text Messages

Text Messages have been enhanced with a shorter substitution syntax, support for named parameters to improve clarity, and the added convenience of a Text Messages Picker directly within Page Designer.

  • Shorter Substitution Syntax

    The new &{TEXT_MESSAGE_NAME}. syntax is here to lighten your load. This syntax is simpler, requires fewer keystrokes, and also supports passing parameters. It's a trim and tidy way to reference Text Messages—your fingers will thank you.

  • Named Parameters

    Name substitution parameters within Text Messages to make code more meaningful for developers, and include more than ten substitutions within a single message. Simply use the &{TEXT_MESSAGE_NAME foo="hello world" bar=&P1_ITEM!RAW.}. syntax to pass parameters through.

  • Text Messages Picker in Page Designer

    You can easily search and select Text Messages directly from the Property Editor within Page Designer. Enable this from the Page Designer toolbar's Utilities menu → Show → Text Messages Picker.

Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications

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  • Automate Fusion Applications Integration

    Kickstart your next Fusion Applications project with the new "Fusion Integration" option in the Create Application wizard. The new app is ready-to-use and extend with single sign-on (SSO) and identity propagation setup, a testable REST data source, and an appropriate remote server and web credential defined.

  • Expanded Support for Fusion REST APIs

    Create APEX applications that read and write Fusion Applications data using any Fusion REST APIs, including the newest ones with /api/boss in their URL. Discover all supported operations and data profile automatically, and get optimized runtime performance in any APEX region by delegating filtering and sorting to the Fusion REST API and by requesting and sending only necessary attributes.

Developer Experience

Application Object Dependencies

The new visual Database Object Dependencies utility enables developers to effortlessly scan applications and generate reports on database object references within a workspace, streamlining the management of object dependencies.

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  • Streamlined User Experience

    Quickly scan an entire application or individual pages to visualize references to database objects, including tables, views, packages, and their components like columns, procedures, and functions. Easily review code blocks referencing selected objects, search and filter report results, and access the source of each reference via direct links from dependency reports to component properties.

  • Comprehensive Dependency Detection

    Dependency detection extends beyond database objects. Identify errors in application code blocks, incorrect object references, and system dependencies that may require developer attention. APEX can now also detects references within REST Source queries, Data Profile SQL expressions, and report columns using a SQL expression.

  • API Updates

    The APEX_APP_OBJECT_DEPENDENCY API has been updated to fix bugs, improve performance, and support the extension of dependency detection.

General Builder Enhancements

  • Export and Import Pages Across Workspaces

    Move pages seamlessly between different APEX environments by exporting one or more pages from one workspace, then importing them into an application in another workspace.

  • Builder Extensions

    Instance administrators can set up workspaces which automatically subscribe to Extension Menu entries, removing the need to manually subscribe to applications that are intended to always be available.

  • Simpler List Edit Experience

    The Edit List page in application Shared Components has been updated to display List details in a more user-friendly manner. View List Entry data in a simplified Interactive Report, and use the separate Grid Edit page to bulk edit List Entries.

  • Improved Page Designer Context

    The window title and breadcrumb in Page Designer now show the current app and page for better navigation.

  • Resizable Modal Dialogs

    Declaratively make modal dialog pages resizable with a new page attribute to switch the resizable setting on or off.

User Experience

UI and Universal Theme Updates

  • Grouping Support in Template Components

    Template Components now support grouping, allowing developers to easily add grouping headers, similar to control breaks, for organized data presentation. Simply define the grouping columns, set the region Order By, and provide an appropriate group title – APEX handles the rest.

  • Content Row Group Headers

    The Content Row Template Component now supports grouped headers, enabling developers to organize content more efficiently. Group headings can include both a title and an icon, offering a more intuitive and visually appealing method to categorize and display information in your applications

  • Country Flags in Font APEX 2.4

    The latest release of Font APEX introduces over 250 new, full-color flag icons to Universal Theme that represent countries across the globe.

  • Multiple Avatars

    The ability to create regions of multiple Avatars is now supported, with new configuration options for spacing and stacking Avatars.

  • Password Visibility

    A new password visibility toggle for Password items lets users view or hide an entered password.

  • New Utility Classes

    A number of new utility classes for Typography, Shadows, Flex Order, Padding, and Margin give developers further control over the style and layout of their applications.

  • Performance

    Universal Theme is now stored in a centrally located theme repository, ensuring that APEX applications contain only the information relevant to an individual app. This approach improves performance, shrinks the size of the application export file, and streamlines CI/CD operations.

Accessibility

  • Read-Only Elements

    Read-only elements within the App Builder have been updated to support accessible rendering, building on the read-only item support introduced in the 24.1 release.

  • Builder Heading Improvements

    Heading levels across pages in the App Builder have been updated to fix a number of hierarchy problems that impact accessibility.

  • ARIA Live Regions

    ARIA live regions within APEX have been modularized to be more accessible and consistently handle live messages which notify screen reader users of important page updates.

OpenTelemetry Support

Leverage the features of OpenTelemetry in APEX applications, and achieve industry standards for instrumenting and collecting client-side telemetry data.

  • Declarative Telemetry Configuration

    Easily set up Client Logging Service (CLS) end points and Token Relay URLs directly from Workspace Utilities in the App Builder, then configure OpenTelemetry settings for an individual application.

  • UX Analysis

    Perform a deeper analysis on UX performance using OpenTelemetry to collect client-side UX data such as resource fetch timings, AJAX and XHR requests, and user interactions.

Additional Updates and Enhancements

  • Unlimited Attributes for Item Plug-Ins

    Building on the removal of attribute limits for Template Components and Regions in the 23.2 and 24.1 releases, Item Plug-ins now utilize the updated infrastructure by default, allowing developers to configure an unlimited number of attributes for items.

  • Select Many Improvements

    The Select Many page item has been updated to include a count button when displaying selected values as a comma-separated list. The new button shows the current number of selected values, and when pressed, it opens a dropdown that displays only selected values.

  • Declarative Pagination Control

    Developers now have control over the behavior of pagination when using the Refresh Dynamic Action on an Interactive Report. While the default behavior of resetting pagination still exists, developers can configure their Interactive Report to maintain the current pagination and position of scrollbars after refresh.

  • Faceted Search Enhancements

    The Faceted Search region has been enhanced to improve handling the creation and display of Facets. Quickly create new Facets for existing regions with the new synchronize functionality, and make many facets available without overwhelming the end-user with the new option to display Facets in a dialog. Read the blog post.

  • Modernized Popup LOV

    Brings Popup LOV search attributes up-to-date to be consistent with new LOV components such as Select One and Many, and Combobox. Get richer search capabilities using Match Type and Case Sensitive attributes.

  • Excel Support for Document Generator

    The Document Generator Integration service has been improved to support Excel templates as Report Layouts. Print from DOCX to DOCX, XLSX to PDF, or XLSX to XLSX. Read the blog post.

  • Search Page Improvements

    Search Pages created from Search Configurations have been improved to provide a better UI experience. The generated Search Input Field includes a default search icon, clears on ESC input, and displays a placeholder. Standard default messages have been added for the Search Results region to avoid an empty results region before any search has happened.

  • Map Region Labels

    Map regions have been enhanced to provide full support for right-to-left text rendering. This fixes an outstanding bug regarding displaying RTL labels in Map regions.

  • Outdated App Translation Information

    When running a translated version of an application, developers will be notified if the translated version is not up-to-date with the primary language.

  • Content-Security-Policy

    This release expands the support for a content-security-policy without unsafe inline styles, script tags, and JavaScript pseudo URLs across the APEX platform.

  • Substitution String for MAIN_APP_ID

    When application logic depends on the application ID, developers can use a new substitution string MAIN_APP_ID to reliably reference the main application ID, even when running in a working copy.

  • PL/SQL API Updates

    Updates to the APEX PL/SQL APIs bring new and improved functionality to developers. A brand new package, APEX_SHARED_COMPONENTS provides new APIs for working with Shared Components. The APEX_LANG package has been enhanced to include new GET_MESSAGE function and updated UPDATE_MESSAGE and CREATE_MESSAGE procedures. A new parameter has been added to the GET_URL function in APEX_PAGE to handle absolute URLs. Use the new GET_ID function in APEX_REGION to return an ID for a named region. And programmatically change the scope of a Web Credential with the SET_SCOPE procedure in APEX_CREDENTIAL.

  • JavaScript Library Upgrades

    We've updated several JavaScript libraries to newer releases, including Oracle JET 17.0.2, FullCalendar 6.1.15, Monaco Editor 0.51.0, MarkedJS 14.1.2, DOMPurify 3.1.6, Terser 5.31.3, Cropper.js 1.6.2, Turndown 7.2.0, Font APEX 2.4, Oracle Rich Text Library 2.0, jQuery Migrate 3.5.2, and MapLibre 4.6.0.

APEX 24.2 also delivers on 20+ community submitted ideas!

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