Oracle APEX or ADF? From Requirements to Tool Choice

APEX or ADF? From

Requirements to Tool Choice

Sten [email protected] OpenWorld

October 2015

Safe Harbor

About Me• Sten Vesterli• Developer, consultant, trainer• 20 years of Oracle experience• Oracle ACE Director• Oracle UX Advocate• Day job: ADF Developer• Side gig: APEX Developer

Tiger

Bruce’s daughter’s cat

Scott

Bruce Scott(Oracle employee no.

4)

Who is Scott/Tiger?

Also an Oracle-focused consultancy based in Denmark…

Scott/Tiger customers

Use a Framework• Getting data from fields on the

screen to the database and back• Oracle offers three frameworks:

– Forms– APEX– ADF

Use a Framework• Getting data from fields on the

screen to the database and back• Oracle offers four frameworks:

– Forms– APEX– ADF– JET (doesn’t officially exist yet)

Yes, APEX uses PL/SQL • Developed in browser• PL/SQL

– and HTML, JavaScript, CSS• Runs in database

– No extra infrastructure– Only scales up

ADF is Java• Developed in JDeveloper• Java (JSF)

– and EL, Groovy, CSS• Programming by exception• Runs in application server

– Extra infrastructure– Scales both out and up

But with APEX, you could!• Focus on development speed• Set up one hosted instance inside the

firewall• Self-service provisioning

Oracle Internal APEX• 16,601 applications• Data for one week:

– 2,965,272 page views– 2,275 different active applications– 22,892 distinct users

ADF is Strategic• Focus on large development teams

– Modularity– Source Control– Team Productivity Center

• Oracle is building all new commercial applications in ADF

• 20,000 man years invested in Fusion Applications

Learning ADF• Forms developers

– Accept framework magic– Have to learn Java

• Java developers – Want to write code– Don’t like Oracle

Data-driven Applications• Design starts with the data• The user interface is derived from

the data structures• Wizards enable and encourage this

User Interface Driven • Design starts with workflow and

tasks• Build matching UI• Build matching business objects and

services• Base on well-designed relational

database

User Interface

Data

Data-driven

User Interface

Data

UI-driven

Technology Half-Life• Database: 10 years• Business Logic: 4 years

– Both PL/SQL and Java– Integrations are business logic

• User Interface: 18 months

Technology Half-Life

ADF Killer Feature: Modular Task Flows

• Visual page flow designer• Packaged into ADF Libraries• Can call other task flows• Allows you to build a big application

in a modular fashion

ADF Killer Feature: Components

ADF Killer Feature: Customization

• Changing the application the user sees– without changing the base application

• Customizations are stored in XML files• Customizations are upgrade-safe

– you can upgrade the base application, customizations still applied

• Multiple customization levels possible

APEX Killer Feature: Eats Excel• You can upload an Excel spreadsheet

and create matching table• Then create default application• Business user can do this• Application developer can fine-tune

APEX Killer Feature: Speed• Setup time: Zero

– You work in a browser• Deployment time: Zero

– You can work on a running server– Make the application available when

ready

ConclusionRequirement RecommendationIt has to run tomorrow APEXAdvanced UI requirements ADFCustomization required ADFLarge application ADF

My opinion on tools www.oratoolwatch.comMy blog: www.vesterli.comEmail: [email protected]: stenvesterli and oratoolwatch