Oracle APEX plugin provides a means to build and deploy Oracle Application Express (APEX) applications, and export a workspace from App Builder with the intention of placing under source control.
In FlexDeploy 5.1.0.3 the Oracle APEX plugin has undergone a major overhaul, supporting a very rich set of use cases.
As a result the changes are not backward compatible, and will cause refactor of any existing workflows and projects. |
Development for Oracle APEX is performed on the database using Application Builder. So, this is different than traditional development environment where code is created on developer's workstation and checked into a Source Control System. You can take one of two approaches to automate promotion of APEX applications.
No matter the approach chosen, the build operation produces a zip file containing the application sql files, and the deploy operation deploys the application to the target APEX database.
The FlexDeploy Oracle APEX plugin has support for both the Full Deployment and Partial Deployment models. With the Full Deployment model, an entire APEX application is built and deployed together. This is suitable for smaller applications and smaller development teams when changes can be easily coordinated as a whole.
With the Partial Deployment model, developers can assemble individual pages and components into packages, and deploy subsets of the application. This model works well for larger applications and larger development teams when coordinated deployments of the entire application is just not feasible. Within this model there is also an option to build all files in the application, which in effect produces the same result as a Full Deployment. So in effect the Partial Deployment model provides a hybrid approach which allows teams to build and deploy subsets of the application or the entire application on-demand, which is why Flexagon promotes the use of the Partial Deployment model for all teams. As your application or team grows, you will have the ability to adjust your process without any reconfiguration.
With either model you can choose whether to source your application from a Source Control Management system or from Application Builder in a development environment directly.
Following best practices are captured from references shown below.
http://joelkallman.blogspot.com/2016/01/oracle-apex-development-and-multiple.html
http://www.explorer.uk.com/apex-version-control-team-working/
https://jeffkemponoracle.com/2014/01/parallel-development-in-apex/