APEX Mobile Application Development 101 Franois Briard GSAISHR

APEX Mobile Application Development 101 François Briard GS-AIS-HR Database Developers Forum, APEX 6 th May 2014

Disclaimer • Even if widely used in the past and still in use for some applications, Oracle Application Express (APEX) is not the main GS-AIS Development Tool. • This presentation is based mostly on personal experience made with the tool outside AIS main scope (i. e. Open Days tools)

Mobile Apps Native Apps Pros Web Apps • Installed on the device • Available from a « store » • Running in a web browser • Just need URL • • • No need to deploy • Users always have latest version • Runs on (nearly) all OS/Platform/Browser Can run offline Better performance Better user experience Better at monetization Cons • Approval / Publication in Stores can be complex • Need to develop/support multiple versions • Permanent Internet Connection • Access to local resources (GPS, camera etc) not guaranteed • Security considered lower If you need a database intensive application available to a maximum number of mobile OS then APEX Mobile Web Apps is the right choice.

Tim Berner-Lees on Mobile Apps “If you don't give it a URL, people can't tweet about it. If people can't tweet or email about it, then it's not part of the discourse. ” cnet. com, March 2014

j. Query Mobile • APEX integrates j. Query for improving Javascript use and support AJAX requests • j. Query mobile is a framework built on top of j. Query • Simplistic page structure • Comes with bunch of predefined CSS styles • Very constraintful but guarantees native-like look and feel

APEX Mobile Applications and Pages • Applications are assigned one default User Interface • In Application Properties, you can additional interface • Pages can be assigned any of the application interfaces • There is only one j. Query Mobile theme, but it can be customized through CSS generated by j. Query Mobile Theme Roller

APEX Mobile Regions and Items • Mobile specific page types • • • List. View and Form HTML 5 Charts HTML 5 Calendars Mobile specific item types • • • Text Field sub-types: email, phone, URL Yes/No Slider

Simple Demo (http: //cern. ch/go/apexdemo)

In a nutshell 1. Select « j. Query Mobile Smartphone » for User Interface when creating the application 2. Use mobile page types: • List. View and Form • HTML 5 Charts • HTML 5 Calendars 3. Check exsiting mobile region templates 4. Use mobile item types • Text Field sub-types: email, phone, URL • Yes/No • Slider

My experience • Desktop and Mobile versions of a web application are 2 very different web applications! Don’t try to adapt existing screens from Desktop to Mobile. • Desktop UI = many data / few clicks • Mobile UI = few data / many clicks • Tablets are somewhere in between • Keep as much business logic in DB (this is true for all APEX applications) • Reuse what j. Query mobile offers: http: //demos. jquerymobile. com • When testing run app in new tab