Database Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 6
Forms and Reports—The Basics
Now that you have the database objects and the base application in place, you can get to
the real work of building pages in your application. Most applications contain a series of
forms, reports, charts, and other elements designed to display, edit, and collect data.
This chapter focuses on basic forms and reports. These are the simplest, most stand-
ard types of forms and reports in APEX. They're most often created by using the APEX
wizards, which create all the elements of a form or report for you.
In the sections that follow, you learn how to use the APEX wizards to add pages to
your Help Desk application. You create some basic forms and reports on the Tickets
table; you also look at the elements created by the wizards for your working forms and
reports.
APEX Forms
Forms are used to display, edit, and collect data, which is then sent back to the database
for processing. Forms can interface with tables, views (via “instead of” triggers), pro-
cedures, and web services.
An APEX form is actually a collection of APEX objects acting together as a single,
cohesive unit to perform insert, update, and delete operations on data elements. An
APEX form generally consists of a region, one or more items, one or more buttons, and
one or more processes that handle interactions with the database. The APEX form wiz-
ards create all the objects necessary for a fully operational form.
