Are you a report-conductor?

You do not need to be an HTML guru to be able to beautify your reports. You do not be an HTML master adjusting templates or even creating new ones.
We will start conducting our reports using tiny HTML snippets, add them to our reports and give that extra bit of user experience that will make your application stand out above others!
Template directives allow you to give that little extra pizzazz needed to grab the attention of your user. This session explains the use of template directives, when to use them and why.

APEX 23.2 New features that might have slipped your attention

APEX 23.2 is stacked with major improvements like the Application Working Copies, Workflow and Template Components. However there are lots of smaller additions, enhancements and changes in this release. The session will cover a number of these smaller, new and lesser known features, like a new Combo-Box, a QR generator, the List Subentries and APEX_INSTANCE_ADMIN. Prepare yourself for getting inspired with lots of new ideas and possibilities.

Unveiling the Hidden Gems of Oracle APEX 25.1

Oracle APEX 25.1 introduces a suite of enhancements aimed at empowering developers and enriching the application-building experience. While the spotlight often falls on marquee features, this session unveils the lesser-known innovations that redefine efficiency and creativity in APEX development. From subtle yet powerful updates in the development environment to improvements in performance tuning and RESTful integration, we’ll explore features that streamline workflows and enhance application scalability.

This session is perfect for APEX developers eager to deepen their expertise, discover nuanced capabilities, and prepare for the future of low-code development with Oracle APEX. Whether you’re optimising for rapid prototyping or enterprise-grade deployment, this talk highlights the features that will make your journey smoother in APEX 25.1.

Project APEX - using SQL-CL Project to deploy database and apex applications

In the fast-paced realm of application development, staying agile and efficient is essential, especially when managing complex Oracle Database projects. Enter the SQLCL Project command - an invaluable asset in the toolkit of Oracle APEX developers. This command redefines database deployment by packaging SQL and PL/SQL scripts into a structured, version-controlled format that supports collaborative workflows and continuous integration. With the SQLCL Project command, teams can standardise and automate key stages of Oracle APEX deployments, ensuring consistent and error-free rollouts across environments.

This presentation will guide you through the core benefits of the SQLCL Project command, showing how it enables seamless synchronisation between code and database schema, simplifies project dependencies, and enhances traceability for rapid development cycles. By the end, you'll see why this command is more than just a deployment tool—it's a bridge to efficient, scalable, and sustainable database management in Oracle APEX environments.

Observability for APEX Heroes: Why OpenTelemetry Will Change Your Life (and Your Apps)

Let’s be honest: when users say “your app is slow,” what they mean is “I want you to magically fix something without any actionable data.” And like the responsible developer you are, you do what every APEX professional does:
- open the Activity Monitor
- stare at logs
- swear a bit
- pray to the PL/SQL gods
- blame ORDS
- then try again

OpenTelemetry finally ends this madness.

With built-in support in Oracle APEX, you can now trace requests end-to-end — from browser click to SQL execution and all the weird stuff in between. Think of it as having X-ray vision for your application, except it doesn’t require gamma radiation or a tragic backstory.

In this session, we’ll explore what OpenTelemetry is (spoiler: open, standard, not another Oracle-only thing), why it’s the coolest addition to APEX in years, and how it turns debugging from a séance into a science. We’ll follow real traces, catch slow database calls in the act, confront laggy REST services, and build dashboards that make you look like a productivity wizard.

If you’ve ever wished you could answer “why is this slow?” without sweating, guessing, or summoning dbms_output, OpenTelemetry is your new best friend.

Oracle APEX now speaks OpenTelemetry — and that is a big deal. For the first time, you can capture real distributed traces, metrics, and logs from your APEX applications and follow a user request as it flows through ORDS, PL/SQL, SQL, REST calls, and external services. No more blind debugging sessions, no more “works on my machine,” and definitely no more guessing.

This session shows why observability matters, how OpenTelemetry works, and how APEX developers can use it today to get actionable insight into performance, bottlenecks, and application behaviour. Best of all? You don’t need to be a DevOps guru to start using it.

Key Takeaways

- Why OpenTelemetry matters: What observability is, and why logging alone is not enough.
- End-to-end request tracing: Follow APEX calls through ORDS, PL/SQL, SQL, REST services, and more.
- APEX + ORDS integration: What is captured out of the box and how to configure it.
- Real-world debugging superpowers: Identify slow queries, broken integrations, and hidden bottlenecks.
- Tooling options: Use Jaeger, Zipkin, Grafana, OCI Observability, or any OpenTelemetry-compatible backend.
- Zero vendor lock-in: Standardised telemetry that works everywhere.
- How to start quickly: Minimal setup steps to get dashboards and traces flowing within minutes.

A Surprisingly Friendly Introduction to Semantic Search in APEX

Vector search is everywhere—AI search, recommendations, chatbots, you name it. And Oracle Database now has it built-in. Great!
…except most explanations involve enough math to make you question your life choices.

This session takes a different route.

We start with the absolute basics: what an embedding is, why it looks like a barcode for meaning, and how the database magically knows which things are “close” to other things. No Greek letters. No 500-dimensional headaches. Just clear, visual explanations that finally make vectors click.

Then we take all that clarity and plug it straight into APEX. You’ll see how to generate embeddings, store them in Oracle, and expose a semantic search feature in APEX that feels modern, fast, and shockingly easy. You’ll leave knowing how it works, why it works, and how to brag about it to your colleagues.

Perfect for anyone who has looked at vector examples online and thought, “There has to be an easier way.” There is. It’s this session.

Curious about AI-powered search but tired of explanations that sound like math class?
This session turns vector search into something you’ll actually understand—and enjoy. I break down the concepts with humor and clarity, then show you how to build real semantic search in APEX using Oracle’s vector features. You’ll walk out smarter, entertained, and ready to implement it yourself.

Key Takeaways

- The “aha!” explanation of embeddings you wish you’d heard earlier
- How similarity search really works—minus the academic trauma
- How to generate and store vectors in Oracle Database
- How to integrate semantic search into APEX without tears
- Practical patterns, demos, and code you can copy with pride
- A new superpower: explaining vectors to others without scaring them

Property Graphs in Oracle: Your Data Has Relationships… Let’s Talk About Them

Let’s be honest: some data models are basically screaming “I’m a graph!” while we keep shoving them into relational tables like it’s 1999. Thankfully, Oracle Database includes first-class property graph support, PGQL for querying, and features that make graph modeling far less scary than its academic reputation.

In this session, we’ll demystify property graphs through relatable examples, questionable metaphors, and at least one diagram that looks like spaghetti but is technically accurate. You’ll create graph views over relational data, run PGQL to explore connections, and see how to bring those results to life in Oracle APEX — from graph visualizations to interactive drill-downs.

If you’ve ever written a join with more than six tables and thought “there must be a better way,” congratulations — you’re ready for graphs.

Your data is secretly a graph. Yes, even that table. Oracle Database now speaks “graph,” and with PGQL plus Oracle APEX, you can finally visualize all those relationships your ERD has been gossiping about for years.
This session gently drags you out of the comfort zone of INNER JOINs and INTO the world of nodes, edges, properties, and pattern matching — all without mathematical trauma. You’ll learn how to build property graphs in the Oracle Database and how to give them a stylish front end in APEX.

Key Takeaways
- Graphs explained without tears — nodes, edges, and properties in plain human language.
- Why some problems are graph-shaped, even if your DBA insists they aren’t.
- How to build property graphs in Oracle Database, no PhD or beard required.
- PGQL tricks that make complex relationships surprisingly easy to query.
- How to integrate graph results into Oracle APEX, including pretty pictures for your manager.
- The moment you realize your schema has been a graph all along — and that’s okay.

Power Up Your Builder: What APEX Builder Extensions Can Really Do

APEX Builder Extensions open the door to deeply integrating third-party services directly into the APEX development experience. This session demonstrates how to seamlessly connect Jira with the APEX Builder to streamline development workflows, enforce governance, and improve team collaboration.

We’ll walk through the architecture of Builder Extensions and show how they can surface Jira data — such as issues, sprint details, comments, and workflow status — inside the APEX Builder itself. See how developers can create, update, and link Jira issues directly while editing pages, reviewing components, or validating applications.

The session covers authentication patterns, REST API integration, secure credential management, and practical UX patterns for embedding Jira panels, actions, and quality indicators into the Builder. Attendees will leave with concrete examples, reusable patterns, and everything needed to build their own productivity-boosting integration.

Learn how to bring Jira directly into the APEX Builder to create a seamless, efficient development workflow. This session shows how APEX Builder Extensions can expose, update, and link Jira issues without ever leaving the Builder—reducing context switching, improving governance, and boosting developer productivity.

Key Takeaways
- How APEX Builder Extensions work and how to build your own
- How to securely connect APEX to Jira using REST APIs and OAuth/API tokens
- Practical UI patterns for embedding Jira data inside the Builder
- How to link APEX component changes to Jira tickets for better governance
- Real-world examples of improving developer workflows and productivity

About the menu (a la carte or from the menu?)

APEX by default uses the "Navigation Menu", the "Navigation Bar" and "Breadcrumbs". However these options are not necessarily the most convenient when having to put the application in different environments. Since all mentioned menus are lists we have options to our disposal to change the menu behaviour significantly, without loosing any built-in functionality.
The session proposes ways in which you can have more in control on what happens in your menu and when.
Special attention will go to authorisation of menu-items using SQL, PL/SQL and the APEX built-in authorisation mechanism.

APEX 23.2 Working with Application Working Copies

Subtitle: Conduct your reports using template directives
Abstract: You do not need to be an HTML guru to be able to beautify your reports. You do not be an HTML master adjusting templates or even creating new ones.
We will start conducting our reports using tiny HTML snippets, add them to our reports and give that extra bit of user experience that will make your application stand out above others!
Template directives allow you to give that little extra pizzazz needed to grab the attention of your user. This session explains the use of template directives, when to use them and why.