All content in Oracle APEX App Builder User’s Guide has been updated to reflect release 24.2 functionality and user interface changes.

New Features and Updates

The following features have been added or updated for this release:

• JSON Sources

  JSON Sources in APEX consist of information about the owner and name of a database table. You can use a plain table with columns containing JSON data or a JSON collection table. After picking the table and column to use, APEX either determines the data profile from the actual data or uses an uploaded JSON Schema file.

  Plain tables with JSON columns are supported in Oracle Database 19c and 21c. JSON collection tables are only available in Oracle Database 23ai or higher.

  See Managing JSON Sources.

• JSON Duality Views

  Developers can now create Duality View objects to retrieve data sourced from a Duality View in a local or a remote database. Duality views are available to page components, including reports, charts, and forms, and shared components, including lists of values and automations.

  Duality Views are only available in Oracle Database 23ai or later.

  See Managing Duality Views.

• REST Source Enhancements

  • Support for Token-Based Pagination in Simple HTTP REST Data Sources

    The Simple HTTP REST Data Source type now supports REST services with token-based pagination, enhancing integration with APIs that use this pagination scheme.

    See Creating a REST Data Source and Editing a REST Data Source.

  • Flexible Remote Servers

    When editing a remote server, you can now use placeholders (for example, #tenant#) within the endpoint URL as well as within other attributes. At runtime, APEX can derive the placeholder values as well as the Base URL of a Remote Server object (used for REST Data Sources, REST Enabled SQL, and Authentication) dynamically with a PL/SQL Configuration Procedure. This allows APEX to invoke the endpoints dynamically based on the current application, tenant, or environment settings.

    See About Flexible Remote Servers.

• Workflow Enhancements:

  • New Invoke Workflow activity enables you to invoke a workflow from a parent workflow.

  • New Copy Workflow functionality enables you to copy a workflow from another application.

  • You can now resume a suspended workflow at any activity.

  • Workflow parameters and workflow variables now support CLOB data types.

  See Managing Workflows and Tasks.

• Generative AI

  • Dynamic Action True Actions Changes:

    • New Dynamic Action, True Action, Generate Text With AI - Use the Generate Text With AI True Action to call the configured Generative AI Service and generate a one-time response based on user content.
    • Dynamic Action, True Action Renamed Show AI Assistant - The Dynamic Action, True Action Open AI Assistant which is used to display the AI-powered chat service, AI Assistant, has been renamed. In release 24,2, this True Action, is now named Show AI Assistant.

    See Including Generative AI in Applications.

  • AI Configurations and RAG Sources

    An AI Configuration is a shared component that centralizes key Generative AI settings, including the System Prompt, Welcome Message, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) sources. Creating an AI Configuration enables you to reuse these settings across multiple AI-enabled components such as dynamic actions that display AI Assistant or generate a text response from a Generative AI Service.

    See Managing AI Configurations and RAG Sources.

  • AI Test Connection Button

    When you create or edit a Generative AI Service, a new Test Connection button enables you to validate the information you enter prior to completing the setup.

    See Creating a Generative AI Service Object and Editing or Deleting a Generative AI Service.

• BOSS REST Service Support

  This release adds support for APEX REST Data Sources for Oracle Cloud Applications (BOSS) REST Services.

  See Working with Oracle Cloud Applications BOSS REST Services.

• Fusion Integrated Starter App Wizard

  New option in the Create App wizard enables your to create a new application pre-integrated with a Fusion Applications instance.

  See Integrating APEX with Fusion Applications.

• Document Generator Enhancements

  Document Generator now supports DOCX to DOCX, XLSX to PDF, and XLSX to XLSX.

  See Viewing Database Object Dependencies.

• Database Object Dependencies Report

  Scan an entire application or just one page to generate a report that details database object dependencies. Database Object Dependencies page features a hierarchical tree control to visualize all the tables, views, packages as well as their components.

  See Viewing Database Object Dependencies.

• Control Breaks for Template Components

  APEX now supports control breaks (grouping) for Template Component Reports. .

  See Template Components.

• Unlimited Attributes for Item Plug-ins

  In this release the custom attribute limit for has been extended to Item plug-ins. When your upgrade to APEX 24.2, custom attributes are migrated to include a new Static ID attribute.

  See Adding Custom Attributes to a Plug-in

• List Enhancements

  To edit static list, you now select the list Name. In addition, developers can edit list entries on the Grid Edit List Entries report. Simply navigate to the List Details page by selecting Grid Edit from the Tasks list.

  See Editing a Static List and Accessing List Reports.

• Export App Enhancements

  When you export a translated application, APEX checks the application to ensure that the translations are in sync. If the translations are out of sync, a warning message displays on the Application Export Page.

  See Translating Messages.

• Default RTL Direction Based on Language

  The Document Direction attribute on the Application Globalization page and Translation Language Mappings page now defaults to Language Default instead of left-to-right. When an application set to Language Default runs, the direction is now derived from the language.

  See Document Direction.

• Text Messages Enhancements

  • Comments and Metadata

    The Create/Edit Text Message dialog now includes Comments and Metadata.

    See Managing Text Messages.

  • Display Text Message Values

    In Page Designer, the new Text Messages Picker (Page Designer, Utilities, Show) controls the visibility of the Text Messages dialog buttons (globe icon). If enabled, this button opens a Text Messages dialog that lists all available Text Messages in the current application.

    See Managing Text Messages.

  • Extended Substitution Syntax for Text Messages

    For applications with a Compatibility Mode 24.2 or later, you can now reference text messages by enclosing the message name in curly braces ({}).

    See Substitutions in Text Messages (24.2 or later).

• Application User Experience Data (OpenTelemetry)

  OpenTelemetry is a standard for collecting user experience data in web applications, such as page load times and user interactions. Enabling OpenTelemetry makes it easier to monitor and analyze how users engage with an application. To configure OpenTelemetry, first set the Client Logging Service URL and the Token Relay URL in Workspace Utilities, OpenTelemetry.

  See OpenTelemetry.

• Improved Popup LOV Functionality

  The appearance and behavior of Popup LOVs is now similar to searchable LOV items such as Select One, Select Many, and Combobox. This creates a unified and intuitive user experience when searching.

• Themes and Theme Styles

  • Theme Metadata Decoupled from Application Metadata

    Starting with Universal Theme 24.2, theme metadata (templates, theme styles, template components, and so on.) is now stored in a central workspace, decoupled from applications. This improves performance with faster application export/import, smaller file sizes, and optimized storage in version control systems.

    Related updates include:

    • Refresh Theme alert now displays on the Application home page. Previously, this alert displayed on the Shared Components page.

      Refreshing the Universal Theme.

    • Outdated APEX Builder pages related to theme management have been updated or removed, simplifying the interface.

    • Active theme style selection has moved from the theme style level to the theme level.

      See Using Theme Styles.

    See Using Themes and Theme Styles

• Select Many Improvements

  If you set Display Values As to Comma-separated List. there is now a counter icon on the item that displays the current number of selected values. Clicking on the counter opens the dropdown, displaying only the selected values.

• Universal Theme Enhancements

  • Font APEX 2.4

    Font APEX now includes 244 country flag icons to easily display flags within your APEX application. Display the new icons with .fa-flag-##, where ## is the country code..

    See Accessing Font APEX.

  • Password Item Enhancements

    Password type page items now include a Show Password button. Users can select Show Password to reveal the entered password, and select Hide Password to conceal the password again. This button is enabled by default for all application using Universal Theme 24.2 and later. To disable this button, edit the template options for the Password item, and select Hide Password Visibility.

• The Page Designer breadcrumb now includes the page number and name.

• Workspace Utilities now includes a link in the Tasks region to Data Dictionary Cache.

Other Changes

• Forms Optimized for Mobile Environments has been renamed to Legacy Forms Optimized for Mobile Environments and moved to Managing Application Legacy Components.

Deprecated and Desupported Features

See Deprecated Features and Desupported Features in Oracle APEX Release Notes.