Database Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 7
Forms and Reports—Advanced
This chapter focuses on more complex types of forms and reports; it also introduces
charts and maps. Although these are more complex types of forms and reports, they're
most often created by using the APEX form and report wizards.
In the sections that follow, you learn how to use the APEX form and report wizards
to add pages to your Help Desk application to manage multiple tickets on a single page,
allow some interactive analysis of ticket data, and visualize tickets by date and status. To
do so, you create a tabular form, an interactive report, a calendar, and a pie chart, each
demonstrating one of the more advanced types of APEX forms and reports.
Tabular Forms
Tabular forms allow users to edit both rows and columns of data at once, much like a
spreadsheet. The developer can choose a different element type for each column—text
box, text area, select list, check box, radio group, and so on. Users can make changes to
multiple data elements and submit them as a single transaction. APEX tabular forms
handle inserts, updates, and deletes—all with no code!
The APEX wizards create all of the required elements for a fully operational tabular
form. Like all APEX forms, there is no logical relationship between items that make up
a tabular form. Once the wizard creates the items, they're indistinguishable from other
APEX page items and can be modified independently of one another. However, we re-
commend exercising caution when making modifications to items generated by an
APEX wizard; doing so can cause the tabular forms to become inoperable.
