Livin’ La Vida Low Code
Oracle Application Express is a leading development platform.
Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a low-code development platform that enables you to build scalable, secure enterprise apps, with world-class features, that can be deployed anywhere.
Getting started with Oracle Application Express is very easy.
There are a number of ways to create an APEX application that reside on-premise and in the cloud.
Those methods include:
- Run APEX in the Database Application Development Virtual Appliance. ie Oracle Database, Oracle SQL Developer, and Oracle Application Express.
- Download and install Oracle APEX locally.
- Use Oracle APEX on Autonomous Database.
- Download and install APEX into other Oracle Cloud services.
However for prototypes and for evaluation in the Oracle cloud for free, there are 2 ways:
- Free APEX workspace
- Always Free APEX Service
Let’s examine how to setup using each of these methods.
Free APEX workspace
For those without an OCI account, the easiest and quickest way to evaluate Oracle APEX is to request a free workspace hosted on apex.oracle.com.
Click on the button to request a free workspace.
Your email address will be your username, and your password will be set later in the process.
Go through the remainder of the prompts, then to continue the process you need to check your email.
The email will have a button to take you to the browser to create your new workspace.
The next screen will allow you to setup a password for your account, and then you’ll be able to login.
On login you’ll be able to see the APEX dashboard.
Always Free APEX Service
If you already have an OCI account, then setting up a APEX instance is just as easy.
Oracle APEX Application Development (APEX Service) provides low-code development and deployment of APEX applications in OCI — with Autonomous Database included.
Inside the OCI dashboard, choose Developer Services, then APEX Instances.
In the next screen you’ll be able to create an APEX Service.
In the following screen, choose the defaults, then choose an administrator password.
Lower in the page you’ll be able to choose the network access for your APEX app.
Now you are ready to create the service.
Click the button, and the dashboard of the APEX instance will be shown.
When the APEX instance is ready, you’ll be able to launch it.
When creating an APEX Service for the first time you may get the following email.
Congratulations, your new Always Free APEX Service was successfully created and is now available. This consumes 1 of your 2 allowed Always Free instances in the Oracle Autonomous Database category.
After login, you’ll be able to use the administrator password that you setup before.
In the next screen, you’ll be able to create a workspace for a non-administrator user.
Specify the non-administrator user, and a password for the user that conforms to the following rules:
The password must be between 12 and 30 characters long and must include at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one numeric character.
The password cannot contain the username.
The password cannot be one of the last four passwords used for the same username.
The password cannot contain the double quote (“) character.
The password must not be the same password that is set less than 24 hours ago.
You can specify a new user, and password. And the name of the workspace will default to the name of the user.
Then you will be able to create a workspace.
So you should see the APEX dashboard next.
Note the message at the top:
Workspace created. Sign out of Administration Services and sign in to TEST to begin building applications.
So let’s do that.
Now sign in as a non-administrator. We are going to specify the user known as Test.
And now we are back to the APEX dashboard, but this time as the Test user.
Now from here we can create an application.
Paul Guerin is an international consultant that specialises in Oracle database. Moreover, he has presented at some of the world’s leading Oracle conferences, including Oracle Open World 2013. Since 2015, his work has been featured in the IOUG Best Practices Tip Booklet, and in publications from AUSOUG, Oracle Technology Network, Quest, and Oracle Developers (Medium). In 2019, he was awarded as a most valued contributor for the My Oracle Support Community. He is a DBA OCP, and continues to be a participant of the Oracle ACE program.
