APEX:Creatingaformbasedona

procedure

3
DEVELOPMENTTOOLS,PL/SQL

BYVICTORONNOVEMBER12,2010

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Introduction
WithinApExforawhileithasbeenpossibletocreateapage(morespecifically,aform)basedonaprocedure.Aprocedureenablesyoutobuildinmorelogicthana
simpleDMLstatementorotherwise.MyexampleisrelativelysimpleinthatwhenIwanttobookanappointmentwithsomebody,Idonotwantthisappointmentto
overlapwithsomebodyelses.MaybeIevendontwantmyappointmenttobedirectlyafterorbeforeanotherone,andwanta15minutebreak.

Scenario

Buildtheprocedure
Thiskindofscenarioisnoteasytorealiseifyoudonthaveaplan.TheplanisthereforetobuildanINSERTstatement(intoaprocedure,notafunction!)thatisonly

actuallyexecutedwhenthereisenoughroomformynewappointmentintermsoftimeinmyagenda.BuildingthisprocedureisdoneintheObjectBrowserareaof
Apex(Home>SQLWorkshop>ObjectBrowserpressCreate).

Tocheckthatthereareactuallynooverlapsyouneedtoknowwhentheappointmentstartsandhowlongitwilltake.(Loadsmoreadditionalfeaturescouldbeadded,I
amtryingtokeeptheexamplesimplefornow).Thisjustifiesatleast2INparametersforaproceduretobebuilt,startingmomentanddurationoftheappointment.
Anotherparameterwillbeusedtoreturntheanswer.Thisanswermustbeofatextualcharacter(!),sayingsomethingalongthelinesofYourappointmentwas
successfullyenteredintoyouragenda,orYourplannedappointmentisoverlappingwithanother.Allowforatleastenoughcharacterstoholdthismessage,asan
OUTparameterinyourprocedure.Theprocedurecouldlooksomethinglikethis

Notetheuseoftheparametersatthetopandwhatpurposetheyserve.TheOUTparameterispopulatedwithaninformativemessagethatwillappearintheformthat
westillhavetobuild.

Buildthepage
Thenextstepwouldbetobuildthepage.Itisobviousthatyouneedtotestinsomewaythattheprocedureworks.Thereforerelevanttablesandreferencedatamust
beavailable.

Movetotherelevantapplicationandcreateyourpage.ThereforepresstheyellowCreatepagebutton.
ThenselectFormandpressNext.
ThenselectFormonaprocedureandpressNext.
Youarepromptedtoselecttheschemaowneroftheproceduretobeused.PressNext.
Thenextscreenenablesyoutoselecttherelevantprocedurefromalistofvalues.Whatisslightlymisleadingisthatthelistofvaluesalsodisplaysfunctions,
whichinthiscontextareofnouse,sadly.SelecttherequiredprocedureandpressNext.
Thenapagedisplayswith7entries,ofwhichthecompulsoryentriesaredepictedwithanasterisk:
Adefaultpagenumberisdisplayed.Youcanmodifyit,ifyouhavethoughtupyourownpagenumberingsystem.Itisacompulsoryentry.
Defineapagename,equallycompulsory.
Definearegiontemplate.Youcanleavethisasisfornow.
Thenextentry,regionname,isalsocompulsory.Makethisanexplanatorypieceoftext,asitwillappearontopoftheregion.
ThenexttwoentriesenableyoutoenterSubmitandCancelbuttonlabels.Youmayprefertodisplaylabelsinanotherlanguage.
Thefinalentryenablesyoutochoosetohaveabreadcrumbdisplayedatthetopofyourpage.Leavethisvalueasis.
PressNext.
YouwillbepresentedwithascreenthatenablesyoutoselectaTab(existentornow)ornotabatall.Fornowleavethistothedefaultsetting,andpressNext.
Nextyouwillseeascreenquotinganoptionalinvokingbutton.Thisisanextrabuttonthatwillbecreatedsomewhereelseinyourcollectionofpageswithinthe
application,thatenablesyoutomovetothepagethatwearecurrentlymaking.Thepagewhereyouwantthisbuttontobecreatedcanbedefinedinthefirst
entry,forwhichalistofvalidvaluesisavailable.
Inthesecondentryyoucansimplytypethelabelforthisbutton.Shouldyouleavethese2entriesemptythennosuchbuttonwillbecreated.
Fornowwewillnotdoanysuchthingyet.
PressNext.
ThenextscreenenablesyoutodefinewhichpagestomovetowhenyoueitherpresstheSubmitorCancelbuttons.Pleasedefinetwopages,makinguseof
theofferedlistofvalues.Youmayevendecidetousethesamepageforthetwodifferentbuttons.PressNext.
Nowyouarepresentedwithascreenthatmakesuseoftheparametersthatweredefinedfortheprocedureinvolved.

Hereyoucanseequotedthe3namesoftheparameters,forwhichyoucanmodifythelabels(thenamesthatappearintheformyettobegenerated).Namesin
theexamplestartwithD,likethenamesoftheparametersthemselves.The3settingsIncludeshouldbeleftsettoYes.IntheDefaultentryyoucansetdefault
values.Thevaluestobeentereddependonthetechnicalfunctionalityoftheprocedure.Iftheproceduretakescareofdefaultvaluesthentheapplicationdoes
notneedtodoso,andviceversa.NotethatinthisscenariodatesofdatatypeDateareinvolved,beingD_START_DATUM.Forall3itemstheDisplay
TypemaybekepttoText.
PleasenotethattheD_BERICHTparameteraccordingtotheprocedurewillcontainamessagethatcanbeusedintheapplication.
PressNext.
YouwillbepresentedwithaFormonProcedureconfirmation.PressFinish.
YouwillbegiventheoptionsofRunningorEditingthepage.Wearesoanxiousnow,sopressRunPage.

Somethinglikethiswillbepresentedtoyou:

Afewmorepointsneedtobeaddressedbeforetheformwillactuallyworkproperly:

Thisishardlyaformthatyoucanpresenttoauser.Toatleastmakeitabitmorepresentablegivetheuseracalendardisplaytype(thiswouldhavetoinclude
thetime,notjustthedate)whendatesneedtobeentered.
Adefaultvaluefortheminutes(thisisthenumberofminutesthatanappointmentwouldtake)couldbesetat60or90.
TheD_MESSAGEcanbeleftempty.Theprocedureshouldusethistofillinanappropriatemessage.
ThepreviouswarninginthistextsayingthatwearedealingwithdatatypeDATE(namelyD_START_DATUM)wewillhituponnow.Achangeinoneofthe
processesismandatoryforthisformtowork.
Finallythenamesofthefieldsandtheformsneedtobemodified.

Toaddresstheseissuesweneedtodothefollowing:

Press

EditPagexx

,inmyparticularcaseitwaspage13.Ascreenverysimilartothiswillappear:

InthePageRenderingbox:RightclickonP13_START_DATUM.
PressEdit.
IntheNamebox,setDisplayastoDatePicker.
IntheLabelbox,adjusttheLabel,byremovingthetrailingD.
IntheSettingsbox,setFormatMasktoDDMONYYYYHH24:MI(usethelistofvalues).
PressApplychangesinthetoprightofthescreen.
SimilarstepsfortheMinutesentrycanbeexecutedtocheckthatthereisadefaultvaluedefined.
WhenyouarebackinthescreenwherePageRenderingisatthetop,rightclickonRunStoredProcedureunderneaththePageProcessingheaderand
selectEdit.
Modifythecodeasfollows,notingthatitisacalltothepreviouslydefinedprocedure,whichneedstobeadjustedsothatthedata(namelydataof
typeDATE)isdealtwithproperly:

#OWNER#.P_ENTER_PLANDATE(
D_START_DATUM=>TO_DATE(:P13_START_DATUM,'DDMONYYYYHH24:MI'),
D_MINUTEN=>:P13_MINUTEN,
D_BERICHT=>:P13_BERICHT);

PressApplyChanges.
PressRunPage,andcheckthatthefunctionalityiscorrect.

Conclusion
WecanconcludethattherearemanythingsinApexthatcanberealised,butsometimesApexneedssomehelpfromus.ThemodificationinthecodethatApexmade
foruswasnotsufficientforittoworkproperly.Whenbuildingcodeyouwillfindmoreoftenthatyouareremindedofthefactthatyouareactuallytryingtobuildan
applicationfortheinternet,andthatbrowsersdontreallytakedatatypesoftypedate(andprobablyothersalso)intoconsideration.

Thetextinthisblogisbynomeanscomplete.Itismerelytryingtoinspirepeopletouseinthiscaseformsforaprocedure.Pleasedonothesitatetoleaveany
comments,feedbackoradditionstothetextofferedtoyou.Thankyouforyourattention.

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