Companies that need an Oracle APEX Expert will often ask 'how long the expert has been working with it?' Since that can be quite some time, it is important to recall the Oracle APEX history.
This is a fantastic presentation about the Oracle APEX product, given by its main creator, Michael Hichwa. It describes the past, present and future vision of the product. It happened in Berlin in one of the best APEX conferences of 2016.
Following this Oracle APEX history recap, you can see below information about all Oracle APEX releases, since the beginning in 2004 when it was still called HTML DB. (Source: Wikipedia.com)
Product Name |
Version |
Released |
Notes |
HTML DB |
1.5 |
2004 |
First release. |
HTML DB |
1.6 |
2004 |
Added themes. |
HTML DB |
2.0 |
2005 |
Added SQL Workshop. |
Application Express |
2.1 |
January 2006 |
HTMLDB was renamed to APEX. Version 2.1 of APEX was bundled with the free Oracle Express Edition (XE) database. |
Application Express |
2.2 |
2006 |
Packaged Applications. |
Application Express |
3.0 |
2007 |
This version featured several new features, including PDF Printing, Flash charting and Access Application Migration. |
Application Express |
3.0.1 |
July 2007 |
This version could also be installed into an Oracle XE database. |
Application Express |
3.1 |
Spring 2008 |
This included a new major feature known as Interactive Reporting (enabled end-users to customize a report without programmer intervention, using techniques such as filtering, sorting, group-by, choosing displayed columns, etc. The user can even save multiple versions of their customized reports. The programmer can limit which features are enabled). Also added support for BLOB data type. |
Application Express |
3.2 |
2009 |
Forms conversion. |
Application Express |
4.0 |
June 2010 |
Some notable features are declarative Dynamic Actions (which allow reacting to changes on a page without the developer having to write custom Javascript) and Plugins (which allow developers to create custom components such as items, regions and processes, that can be re-used across pages and applications). Also added Websheets and RESTful Web. |
Application Express |
4.1 |
August 2011 |
Notable new features included improved (customized) error handling, use of ROWID for updates, a data upload feature for end-users, and improved WebSheets (a hybrid of a spreadsheet and a Wiki, built using Apex itself). |
Application Express |
4.1.1 |
February 2012 |
Notable new features included new theme (cloudy) and various templates. |
Application Express |
4.2 |
October 2012 |
Notable new features such as application builder for mobile, mobile and responsive themes, and HTML5 support. |
Application Express |
4.2.1 |
December 2012 |
Bug Fixes. |
Application Express |
4.2.2 |
April 2013 |
Bug Fixes, Improved PDF printing, new Survey Builder packaged application. |
Application Express |
4.2.3 |
September 2013 |
This is a cumulative patch set for Application Express 4.2.0, Application Express 4.2.1, and Application Express 4.2.2. |
Application Express |
4.2.4 |
December 2013 |
This is a cumulative patch set for Application Express 4.2.0, Application Express 4.2.1, Application Express 4.2.2 and Application Express 4.2.3. |
Application Express |
4.2.5 |
April 2014 |
This is a cumulative patch set for Application Express 4.2.0, Application Express 4.2.1, Application Express 4.2.2, Application Express 4.2.3 and Application Express 4.2.4. |
Application Express |
4.2.6 |
September 2014 |
This is a cumulative patch set for Application Express 4.2.0, Application Express 4.2.1, Application Express 4.2.2, Application Express 4.2.3, Application Express 4.2.4 and Application Express 4.2.5. |
Application Express |
5.0 |
April 2015 |
Notable features are focused on developer productivity and improving the User Interface of user applications. This version introduces Page Designer, a browser-based IDE which provides drag and drop layouting of page components, property editor, and much more, reducing the need to go from page to page to make changes. Version 5.0 also introduces Universal Theme, a responsive user interface for user applications which can easily and extensively be customized using Template Options and Theme Roller (which enables on-the-fly theming of an application). |
Application Express |
5.0.1 |
July 2015 |
This is a cumulative patch set for Application Express 5.0.0. |
Application Express |
5.0.2 |
October 2015 |
This is a cumulative patch set for Application Express 5.0.0 and Application Express 5.0.1. |
Application Express |
5.0.3 |
December 2015 |
Application Express 5.0.3. |
Application Express |
5.0.4 |
July 2016 |
This is a cumulative patch set for Application Express 5.0.0 and Application Express 5.0.3. |
It is so rewarding to recognize for how long the Oracle APEX product has survived and evolved already. That happened probably because the product itself is data driven and generated on the fly, running on top of a relational, mathematical, reliable, portable and secure data repository, the Oracle Database, which also happens to have been the best database in the market for all these years. Last but not least, Oracle APEX bet more than a decade ago in another winner, the web browser. That was before the internet was The Internet, and before Cloud was a technical term, instead referred by the applications, servers, databases, networks that it really is.
Until my next post.
Sandro
Until my next post.
Sandro
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