Oracle APEX - Basic Business Questions

It could be the case that you have heard of Oracle APEX lately. Maybe not just once, but a couple of times and maybe more often than ever before. We I will try to answer a couple of basic questions in this blog, that might help you understand why Oracle APEX is great and is becoming very popular.

What is Oracle APEX? What is Oracle APEX used for? What is Oracle ORDS? is Oracle APEX free? How popular is Oracle APEX? Is Oracle APEX low-code or no-code? How can I learn Oracle APEX?

If you are still doubting Application Express super powers, this blog might help you clarify.

What is Oracle APEX?

Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a low-cost, easy-to-use development environment that enables you to create sophisticated, database-driven applications. With APEX, you can quickly develop applications that run on the Oracle Database.

APEX enables you to develop and deploy web-based applications on the Oracle Database. It includes an IDE with a set of tools to accelerate the development process. APEX is fully supported and comes with a set of sample applications.

What is Oracle APEX used for?

APEX is the perfect tool for creating small, departmental applications, prototyping new ideas or even creating large enterprise applications. Given that it follows the latest web standards, it makes it simple to create any type of application that can be handled by your browser.

Some common use cases for Oracle Apex include:

• Opportunistic Apps
• Spreadsheet Replacement
• Oracle Forms Modernization
• External Data Sharing
• Datamart Reporting
• Enterprise-scale Apps
• SaaS and EBS Extensions

Is Oracle APEX free?

I would like to say NO to this question, as the price seems to be one of the key factors in APEX's unpopularity a couple of years ago. Free things are not very welcomed in enterprises. But... YES, Oracle Application Express (APEX) is free. It is a fully supported no-cost feature of the Oracle Database. It can run as well in the free version of the database (XE).

How popular is Oracle APEX?

There is no definitive answer to this question as popularity is subjective. However, a quick Google search shows that there are many articles and blog posts discussing the popularity of Oracle APEX. For some real examples, you can check this site or contact us for a demo :). Maybe checking this post from Oracle is worth it.

Is Oracle APEX low-code or no-code?

Oracle APEX can be considered low-code as it allows users to develop applications without writing extensive amounts of code. As Oracle said:

Build enterprise apps 20x faster with 100x less code.

but I believe the good thing is, that you can execute any PL/SQL logic or reuse any views that you have already in your database.

How can I learn Oracle APEX?

Generally speaking, if you know SQL and PL/SQL, you might be halfway there. Add some Web technologies knowledge (HTTP, HTML, CSS, JS, etc.) and you will be able to deploy your first app in no time.

There are a few ways that you can learn Oracle APEX:

• Take an Oracle APEX training course. Contact our training department if need help with that.
• Read the Oracle APEX documentation.
• Download the Oracle APEX development environment from the Oracle website and build some sample applications.
• Attend some of the many Oracle APEX community events.

What is Oracle ORDS?

Oracle ORDS (Oracle Rest Data Services) is a tool that allows developers to quickly create RESTful API endpoints for data stored in an Oracle database.

ORDS can be used with any Oracle database and makes it easy to build RESTful services that expose the data in the database.

In the APEX case, is the middle-tier platform that allows a client (browsers) to reach APEX scripts to receive data back from the database (an HTML document to be rendered for example).

Find out more about our APEX services