What's new in FOEX 20.2
This is the 20th release release of the FOEX Enterprise Framework, it’s a significant milestone for us and fittingly we decided to align with APEX version numbering. From this version forwards the framework will match the latest version of APEX that the framework supports. In this release we now support APEX 20.2 down to 5.1, as well as a number of enhancements you can find out more about below:
Execute PLSQL Code
This new dynamic action plug-in introduces some enhancements that are missing from the existing “Execute PL/SQL Code” dynamic action that APEX provides. These additional features include:
Providing a processing icon whilst optionally masking the background either at the region or page level
- Declarative Success & Error Notifications
- Submitting and returning CLOB data using page items or Javascript variables
- Returning the execution results to a Javascript variable
- Optionally suppressing the change event on page item values that are returned
- [Advanced Usage] return instructions to the browser for things like hiding/showing items & regions, refreshing them, returning item errors, and more. Using these advanced instructions can save you the overhead of creating many actions.
Sparkline Charts in Grid Columns
We have introduced an improvement to grid/tree grid plugins to allow developers to easily include a sparkline chart in grid columns. You simply need to provide a colon delimited list of values for the chart data source (i.e. the column in your SQL query) and provide some additional config in the “FOEX Config” dialog for the grid column e.g.
"xtype": "widgetcolumn",
"widget": {
"xtype": "sparklineline",
"bind": "{record.MY_COLUMN_ALIAS}"
}
Conditional Checkbox Selection
By adding a specific column you your grid query named “FXSELECT” with a Y/N value you can control whether or not the checkbox is shown for the allowed selection rows. In your grid settings you have the option of providing a page item that will automatically track your row selections in a colon delimited list of grid primary key values.
APEX 20.2 Support
With this release of FOEX we now support APEX 20.1 & APEX 20.2. You will be able to take advantage of all the new features APEX provides e.g.
- Cards Component
- Automations
- Faceted Search Enhancements
- Report Printing
- REST Data Source Synchronization
- REST Data Source Connector Plug-Ins
- New Web Credential Types
- Redwood Light Theme Style
- Plus many other improvements
Auto Expand to Node
We have updated the Tree Grid, in addition to saving the current row selection(s), you can now save their path(s) and expand the tree to these nodes on tree reload.
This is the ideal solution when you have searched and found a record that matches your search, and you want to clear the search and expand to this node in the tree on reload. This is especially useful for large datasets where you want to locate a particular record and look at their children, since they are excluded from search results.
How do I enable this functionality? Simply add an extra page item to the track selections attribute and we’ll do the rest
What's new in FOEX 4.2
Version 4.2 of the FOEX Enterprise Framework introduces a revolutionary new feature to make enterprise APEX development and realtime data collaboration possible with almost no effort. Sign up for a free trial today and test it yourself!
Live Editing with Websockets
This is the premier feature of the release. The ability to perform live collaboration and see data changes in real time. Enabling this new feature is just a single click away.
In this release we are introducing a new addon to introduce live editing capability of the grid, tree grid, and editable list views. You will be able to see realtime changes and a realtime visualization of other users modifying data in the same view of data you are viewing. Just like you can with Google spreadsheets..
For some businesses the difference between knowing something now vs in 1 minute from now can have a huge impact. It can save lives, it can give you a competitive advantage, it can make you more money. This is what you get with FOEX Live, seeing your data changes in realtime and being able to immediately respond and make decisions based on these changes.
Inactivity Timeout
We have introduced an improvement to both the Timer and Message Box plugins to allow developers to easily include an inactivity timeout warning. The Timer plugin has a new inactivity timer option which will be triggered when the user has not moved their mouse or pressed a key for X many seconds.
The "Message Box" improvement provides a progress indicator with a timeout message. The OK button is included to allow the user to prevent the default action from occurring e.g. page reload, session timeout etc. Since the "Message Box" allows you to define PLSQL you can use this setting in conjunction with the application Idle timeout to prevent the APEX session from timing out as well. Or you could use the "No/Cancel/Timeout" PLSQL to log the user out e.g.
apex_authentication.logout(:SESSION, :APP_ID);
Debounce & Throttle Dynamic Actions
In this release we are adding some additional dynamic actions to provide some missing functionality in APEX, which is the ability to deal with actions that fire to frequently e.g. you probably don't want your actions to fire a keyup event action (when the user is typing) until they have stopped typing for say 1 second. These new actions we are adding are Debounce & Throttle.
What's the difference between Debounce and Throttle?
Debouncing enforces that a function not be called again until a certain amount of time has passed without it being called. As in "execute this action only if 500 milliseconds have passed without it being called."
Throttling enforces a maximum number of times a function can be called over time. As in "execute this action at most once every 500 milliseconds."
The inseresting thing about these actions is that they only apply to proceeding actions, so you can define actions before them that will fire every time the event fires, thus giving you much more flexibility. Note: the only requirement when using these actions is, you must set "Wait For Result" to "Yes"
(Click the image to see demo video)
APEX 19.2 Support
With this release of FOEX we now support APEX 19.2. You will be able to take advantage of all the new features APEX provides e.g.
- Faceted Search
- New Popup List of Values
- REST Enabled Interactive Grid
- New Dark Mode Theme Style
- Team Development Improvements
- Plus many other improvements
Other Enhancements
Thanks to the continued use of FOEX from a growing customer base we receive requests for enhancements and improvments. Whilst we can't implement every request we receive (for different reasons) the following improvements have been introduced in this release:
What's new in FOEX 4.1
Version 4.1 of the FOEX Enterprise Framework introduces a number of new features to make enterprise APEX development faster and easier than ever. Sign up for a free trial today and test it yourself!
Drag & Drop
This is the standout feature of the release. Drag and drop is an intuitive way of copying, moving and rearranging things.
In this latest release of FOEX we are introducing a very flexible dynamic action that will allow you to drag & drop across regions or re-order rows/items in existing regions.
There is no limit in the number of regions you can drag/drop between and you can drag & drop across regions defined on different pages loaded in single page mode using the content loader or window plugins.
JET Chart Master Detail & SPA
With the introduction of JET Charts in APEX 5.1, the visualization capability of APEX out of the box increased dramatically. We have taken the step to integrate the existing APEX JET Chart region with our plugins and provide single page application support across different pages.
That’s right, you can simply (re)use the APEX JET Chart region under your FOEX viewport hierarchy. We have introduced the ability to select chart items and perform master detail relations using our dynamic action plugin in combination with our existing region plugins like the grid, tree, tree grid, form, and list view.
New Page Items
The color picker can appear as a select list or as a button and has extensive colour formats which can be returned.
The toggle button behaves like a switch with customization over labels, icons, background colors, and rounding or square edges.
The sparkline chart item plugin allows you to show mini charts inline within other form items. This can be useful in situations where a chart is overkill and a smaller simpler representation suffices e.g. for use in toolbars.
(Click the image to see demo video)
Editable List Views
To easily support the new drag & drop feature with list item re-ordering capability we extended the “List View” plugin to be editable. You can now use the same functionality as you find within the grid/tree grid to save the list data. This ensures that it’s very simple to save changes using just several plugin settings with zero programming overhead.
Additionally we are also providing a number of dynamic actions like set item values, refresh item, and reject changes. Here is an example of using the “Set Item Values” dynamic action to set the values of selected rows programatically.
Easily Add Values to LOV's
Sometimes you have LOV’s in your application where users need to add a new value to the list. As a developer it’s normally an annoyance/cumbersome process to provide a button next to the list that opens a popup with a form to add the extra value, especially if you have 5 or more LOV’s to provide this functionality for.
From this version onwards we now take this headache away for you, all you need to do is add a few settings to your LOV and we will take care of the rest.
Updated Template Application
In earlier versions of FOEX we provided a blank template application which had all our plugins and templates loaded. You copied this application as a starting point for creating new FOEX applications. However that was it! We didn’t include any pages since it was a minimal starting point, but it was a bit too minimal.
So in this release we have included a main navigation page with a navigation region, navigation bar and a number of dynamic actions that gives you a quicker starting point to getting your application up and running.
New APEX Integration Showcase
See how you can use the grid or tree grid as a standalone region on a regular APEX page. The regions will work with responsive design and auto resize on window resize and navigation collapse.
Alternatively you can use everything FOEX has to offer on a regular APEX page by starting with a layout region as the parent region and then nest whichever FOEX plugin you like below. For existing developers already using FOEX all you need to do is switch your viewport to the “FOEX Layout” plugin. This means that you can take advantage of everything FOEX has to offer like single page application design without having to re-develop your application.
What's new in FOEX 4.0
Version 4.0 of the FOEX Enterprise Framework introduces a series of performance improvements and design changes that will make your applications load and run faster. Sign up for a free trial today and test it yourself!
Performance Improvements
FOEX 4.0 comes with lots of code optimizations & improvements, focused on reducing the initial load times.
Due to the extensive work we have done with optimizing the PLJSON library, page build times have been reduced from anywhere between 20-60%, depending on the number of regions, items & dynamic actions that you have on the page.
Click the images on the right side to see the difference (no. of requests & data transferred) between loading the same component (a readonly grid) in FOEX 3.1 compared to loading it in FOEX 4.0
Theme Roller Integration
Starting with FOEX 4.0 you will be able to customise your FOEX applications' style by using the built-in APEX Theme Roller.
This integration enables you to easily align the application's UI to your company's branding guidelines & styling rules.
No need for iFrames anymore
FOEX 4.0 enables you to load new pages into existing ones without the need to use iframes anymore.
This improvement provides a decrease page load times of up to 50%, and is supported for all FOEX regions (except for the FOEX Desktop plugin), page items and all regular APEX & FOEX dynamic actions.
In addition:
- all processes defined 'Before Header' will be executed
- inline CSS & JavaScript defined in the Page Definition will be included
- a transparent fallback to iFrame mode is also provided
HTML page structure: FOEX 3.x versus FOEX 4.0
(Click the image to see demo video)
Compact & Mini Triton themes
FOEX 4.0 introduces two new versions for the Triton theme: Triton Mini and Triton Compact for customers that prefer a more data-intensive, compact view in their applications and for those users who still use the classic themes.
These new application themes enable developers to build pages that offer a compact user interface which allow you to display & manipulate more data on screen.
Grid/Tree Page Item Binding
FOEX 4.0 comes with the ability to use external page items to edit grid data on row selection.
The data binding goes both ways:
- Grid row changes are propagated to page items
- Page item changes are propagated to the selected grid row
What's new in FOEX 3.1
Version 3.1 of the FOEX Enterprise Framework introduces a series of new features and functionality enhancements that will take your APEX development one step further. Sign up for a free trial today and test FOEX 3.1 yourself!
Dropzone Upload Plugin
A new region-type plugin that allows you to upload multiple files via drag & drop to multiple destinations such as: table/view, an APEX collection or file system directory.
This component resizes automatically when the page layout changes and supports:
- individual & bulk file removal
- resizing images before upload
- clear dropzone functionality
- set file size limit & allowed file types
Islamic (Hijri) Date Picker
Version 3.1 introduces a Hijri calendar date picker for those who need to display calendar dates in islamic format.
This component supports:
- multi-month display
- date range client-side validation
- automatic date conversion (Gregorian - Hijri)
- works in both LTR and RTL modes
Multi-Select Grid Combo
A form-item plugin similar in functionality and behavior to the FOEX Grid Combo. This plugin does not limit you to one selection, it is a multi-column list of values (LOV).
This component enables you to automatically save selections to the Forms' table or to a separate intersection table and it comes with regular dynamic action support, so you can set value, set read-only, enable/disable, styling or make any other dynamic changes to it.
Progress Item Plugin
This new component is ideal for tracking long-running processes or used as a static indicator to show the progress achieved on a specific task/activity.
It is supported in the toolbar, in a form, but also as an individual item outside the form. Additional functionality:
- set custom text
- define colors based on progress stage
- automatically set up a timer to execute progress tracking and update the bar
- set request limit & custom interval
Grid Enhancements
In FOEX 3.1 our grid component becomes even more powerful with additional client-side validations that are performed in cell edit mode, before the grid is saved, reducing the amount of AJAX calls back to the server.
The Select Row(s) and Refresh Rows dynamic actions have also been enhanced and now support multiple selections. Both now support regular expressions for performing column search and client-side substitutions.
Icon Button Item Plugin
Building on top of Font Awesome/Font APEX, you can now define icons, resize and place them either in a toolbar or a form.
This component supports:
- set custom icon size
- active/disabled color change
- help text
- use icons in read-only mode
Return/Display Item Plugin
A component familiar to Forms developers that behaves similar to the Grid Combo and which enables you to perform a record lookup based on its ID.
What's new in FOEX 3.0
We, at FOEX, focus on creating a flexible low-code rapid application development (RAD) tool that any developer can use to build complex business applications with basic PL/SQL and Oracle APEX knowledge. In FOEX 3.0 we combined what's best of Oracle APEX and Sencha ExtJS together with our own set of powerful plugins to enable you to create & deliver enterprise-grade web applications on time and within budget.
The result is one declarative development tool that speeds up the application development process in Oracle APEX by orders of magnitude.
We look forward to see what you'll build with it!
Compatible with APEX 5.1
With the release of v2.2.1 and v3.0.1, the FOEX Plugin Framework ensures compatibility with APEX 5.1.
Test it yourself, sign up for a free trial!
APEX version |
Firefox 35+ |
Chrome 40+ |
Safari 7+ |
IE 10+ |
APEX 5.1.x |
|
|
|
|
APEX 5.0.x |
|
|
|
|
APEX 4.2.x |
|
|
|
|
APEX version |
Firefox 35+ |
Chrome 40+ |
Safari 7+ |
IE 10+ |
APEX 5.1.x |
|
|
|
|
APEX 5.0.x |
|
|
|
|
APEX 4.2.x |
|
|
|
|
Touch Screen Device Support
With FOEX 3.0 you are able to build and run your applications on tablets (or smartphones) with no additional modification.
Improved UX
A great user interface goes beyond some good looking graphics. FOEX 3.0 enables you to design visually compelling web applications for desktop, tablets and smartphones using the high-performance UI components of Sencha ExtJS 6.2.
Grid Enhancements? You Bet!
The FOEX grid is arguably one the most popular components and in this new version we’ve made it even more powerful.
FOEX 3.0 introduces new functionality such as: multiple search, expander rows and column multisort.
New Layout Options
FOEX 3.0 adds even more layout styles that can be used in regions, panes, forms, and windows. These include: Absolute, Auto, Center, HBox -> VBox and Anchor.
New Features
The new navigation region plugin offers a fast and easy solution for users to navigate to other pages in your application.
Keyboard Navigation
For our power-users navigating using the keyboard is often faster than with a mouse. FOEX 3.0 comes with improved navigation functionality specifically designed to enable you to speed up development.
See why FOEX is the right development tool for you