Transcript APEX_Mobile_Apps_Development_101x

APEX Mobile
Application
Development 101
François Briard GS-AIS-HR
Database Developers Forum, APEX
6th 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.
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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
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• 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
jQuery Mobile
• APEX integrates jQuery for
improving Javascript use
and support AJAX requests
• jQuery mobile is a framework built
on top of jQuery
• 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 add an additional
interface
• Pages can be assigned any
of the application interfaces
• There is only one jQuery Mobile
theme, but it can be customized
through CSS generated by
jQuery Mobile Theme Roller
APEX Mobile Regions and Items
• Mobile specific page types
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ListView
ListView and Form
HTML5 Charts
HTML5 Calendars
Mobile specific item types
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Text Field sub-types: email, phone, URL
Yes/No
Slider
Simple
Demo
(http://cern.ch/go/apexdemo)
In a nutshell
1. Select « jQuery Mobile Smartphone » for User Interface
when creating the application
2. Use mobile page types:
• ListView
• ListView and Form
• HTML5 Charts
• HTML5 Calendars
3. Check exsiting mobile region templates
4. Use mobile item types
• Text Field sub-types: email, phone, URL
• Yes/No
• Slider
My experience
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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
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Keep as much business logic in DB
(this is true for all APEX applications)
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Reuse what jQuery mobile offers:
http://demos.jquerymobile.com
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When testing run app in new tab