Oracle Application Express (APEX) Reviews

The only feature which is useful is that it makes it easier to quickly create publicly accessible applications. We were using it to make these applications.  

We used it in addition to Forms and Report Services because Forms and Report Services at that time were client-server applications. It used to be an addition to the Oracle development environment.  

Right now I am working on two projects. One of them is using Oracle Forms and APEX.  

The valuable feature is the basic use case: it makes the process of creating publicly accessible applications easier.  

The first thing I can think of that needs to be improved with this product is that there is a problem with security. In all of the applications I saw, they stored the passwords in the configuration files. I think this is a big issue. The security module is supposed to be included in the APEX connection component, but people connect to the Oracle HTTP Server and the password goes to the HTTP server. It is using the HTTP server for the security part. We did some analysis and we figured out that we had to move to another product.  

Because security is not satisfactory, we created our own connection mechanism in ORDS. It was a better way to keep the passwords encrypted and to make access to the APEX applications a little bit more secure. But the way APEX causes applications to store the security information is a big issue and a security vulnerability. ORDS is pretty straightforward and Oracle WebLogic Server is very flexible and a very nice feature.  

Also, the Oracle application page is supposed to be able to cancel access to the application. From what we found, this is not done properly. The connection is hanging and sometimes different people who connect to the application use the same ID. This can seriously interfere with users who are already connected. These are both very bad security issues.  

There is also a disadvantage in that it is pretty hard to fix bugs in APEX. It is very tricky. Basically, the Oracle objects generate the HTML code and cast it to the HTTP server. You have to be very careful with the HTTP Syntax for the sake of compatibility. Some browsers accept the code that gets generated and some browsers not. It is very hard to debug these coding issues.  

We have been using Oracle Application Express (APEX) since 2015.  

Applications are usually accessible by thousands of users at a time without stability issues.  

You can use multiple servers and the scalability of APEX is really pretty good from an end-user standpoint.  

I do not think there is really much of a limitation on how many people can use the generated applications. This is one thing it is good at.  

I used to work with other Oracle products like Fusion Middleware, Forms, and Reports. Since 2016, I worked less with APEX because there are other solutions that I prefer. My experience with APEX is that it is a little limited right now. Because of that we actually moved most application development to ORDS (Oracle REST [Representational State Transfer] Data Services).  

ORDS is more efficient and easier to use. APEX is compatible with ORDS as well. The problem with APEX is mostly that I do not like to use different vendors for HTTP server and Oracle WebLogic Server. ORDS is supposed to be more of a native, all-in-one solution. So we try to use ORDS for development projects because Oracle HTTP Server is not supported anymore by Oracle and this is a problem for APEX security. You have to use a Tomcat server or something else with APEX.  

I worked with APEX to do the initial setup and I have never set up the environment fully on my own. It is complex enough that I do not think I would want to do it without their help.  

APEX is a pretty old application and a pretty old environment. Most people are usually trying to get rid of it rather than bringing it onboard. For anyone still considering it, I strongly suggest going to the cloud application because the general strategy of Oracle Corporation is to support applications on the cloud. There are multiple other solutions to consider from Oracle or other vendors as well.  

On a scale of one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Oracle Application Express depending on the task. For some tasks, it is just perfect. You can say it would be an eight or nine-out-of-ten for quickly creating an application that does not need strong security. But for some tasks, like when you try enhancing an application, the score is pretty low. In that case, I would give the product a three or a four.  

Our primary use case is for human resources. We use it as an application for human resources for the Ministry of Electricity. We also use it for the complaint management system, for collecting the complaints from customers about electricity, and tracking these kinds of requests.

One of the most valuable features is that we can develop everything locally and deploy it for different kinds of operators in different locations, so we can do our job in one piece. The benefit of that is that others can use these applications. They connect to the internet to do these kinds of applications based on the permissions for those users.

Developing based on a web-based application with APEX or another language is more simple and costly.

Connecting with Oracle and the relation with Oracle at the database as a procedure needs improvement. 

The front-end development that's looking for HTML, Java, C++, etc also needs improvement. In order to get more out of APEX, there should be more training courses to help beginners start from A to Z. When I started with APEX, I focused on the first part, the relation between database procedure, and later I found I needed more learning courses for the HTML. There should be more training or books looking at the relationship between APEX and Oracle, not between APEX and HTML, CSL, or JavaScript. In order to go more and more with APEX, it needs to start with HTML, CSL, JavaScript, and web development.

The main drawback is that APEX doesn't talk with other databases. It would be great for the tool if you could combine it with different open-source databases. 

I have been working with Oracle for around ten years. 

It's stable but I experience instability with it when I shifted from version 3.2 to 4.2. There were some errors in the database. I couldn't understand why but after searching I found a solution. But it works now. 

Stability has been for seven or eight years. 

We have three to five developers using this solution.

I worked with Java and before Java, Visual Basic from Microsoft. The other person in the Ministry of Electricity is still using Access for Microsoft, Visual Basic, .NET or C#, SQL Server as the database, and PHP. Different people in my company work with different solutions.

The initial setup wasn't easy or complex, it was somewhere in the middle. We deployed it ourselves.

I purchased the database when we started the project with Oracle. I supported the analysis for one year, but after one year we couldn't pay more for the support. We haven't had an issue with maintenance. 

APEX is an open-source platform. I'm busy with the application. It is easy to maintain the application in order to go further with more versions of APEX. It has a different kind of database. Data Point 2.1, is the version that I got from Oracle.

Oracle one of the most expensive databases in the world.

In order to go with APEX, you need to know everything about Oracle as a database, starting from a secure fundamental as the beginning, PL/SQL, and administration of the database. You have to know about HTML5, JavaScript query, and jQuery.

I would rate APEX a seven out of ten. The drawback of APEX is the relation between APEX and Oracle, there is no relation between APEX and other databases. It's very good for learning APEX and it is stable. 

Your company has to understand how to invest in it. It is a wonderful database. If it's Oracle, it is the best one in the world. So when we invest in people, invest in Oracle, we will get our results. Everything is available and everything can be developed with any applications. 

I would call them small supporting applications, so we use them when we need a web UI for certain users to show data from our environment, mainly in operations.

One of the most valuable features is the ability to build very fast data-driven UIs. Also, those UIs are web-based and don't require any deployment on the user side. We try to avoid complex add-ons or additions, so we stick to the standard features that APEX provides. We also use it for some workflows and to present data out of services or databases.

I think version control can be improved, meaning the ability to track what has changed from the previous version of the application and to see it in standard tools like the code repository. I know in the last versions they were working on it, but I haven't seen it yet. 

The product deployment could be easier. 

In the past, I've thought about dockerization, or the ability to deliver the application as a docker container, and establish the production environment in a job. 

What I would love to see is more integration. I would like to see easier integration into active directory authentication. Also, maybe integration of JavaScript frameworks would resolve some issues.

We have been using APEX for at least eight to ten years.

The solution is highly stable and we have had no issues with it. On a scale of one to five, where one is highly stable and five is not, I would rate it as a one. 

The scalability could be improved. It depends on the use cases. We will never use this solution for a productive environment with 500 to 1000 users because this would be a bit difficult in my opinion. I would say that the scalability for small applications is good, but the scalability for big applications is bad.

About 100 to 150 people are currently using the solution at my company.
We are continuously building small applications, but we don't plan to use this solution to make big applications. It's very use case driven. When we get a use case that is not big and it's easy to create a web-based application, then we use this solution. So we may extend our use of the solution, but we do not plan to migrate anything directly to it.

On a scale of one to five, where one is easy and five is complicated, I would rate the initial setup as a four.

We always lose a lot of time with our outsourcing partner because we don't host the service on our own. This takes some time, so to create the concept for us between the different environments and to do implement it, I would say it takes a minimum of five days.

When you have a licensed database in an Oracle environment, APEX is free.

I would tell those considering this tool that if you have an Oracle environment, it's worth taking a look at. If you don't have an Oracle environment in place, it's the wrong tool. Also, I would tell them to stick to the standard functionalities of APEX and not try to extend it with custom code. We learned that if you stick to the standards the application gives you, it's easy to maintain and it's easy to transfer from one developer to another. If you start to create custom code in hidden areas, it's very hard for the next developer to find the code.

I would rate this solution as an eight out of ten.

With APEX, I developed a web portal for an insurance company. With this portal, every agency can look at its customer's personal data, their claims, policies, coverage, and collections.

I am using this solution and I am developing software for my customers.

For three years, we have done the same application with more than 10 people.

With APEX, we can reduce our costs by reducing the size of our teams.

Before APEX, we were using Oracle Forms. This required larger teams.

With small teams of four to six, with a maximum of 10 people, you can build every kind of product.

APEX will also benefit enterprise companies.

Developing in a web environment is very easy with just one browser. With a username and password, I can develop this product very easily. With this product, it is very easy to develop. Many sample applications have been created by Apex in the Applications Gallery.

You can built multilingual applications, each user can interact the application with their own depending localization parameter.

Apex supports Restful Service in JSON format. It is very easy to create a web service for Apex Environment.

It's suitable for team development.

It would be my dream to merge two products into one. Visual Builder and APEX should meld in one product. 

Each has different strengths. Visual Builder is very strong in Java, and you can build HTML applications very easily with low code. APEX is very important to have a direct connection to the Oracle database.

If these two products would meld into one in the future, it would be very nice. 

In the future of APEX, I would expect features more like Visual Builder. Also being able to use HTML codes directly. Visual Builder produces HTML codes and source codes.

APEX does not have source code, it runs from the database. We can export our objects, our source, and import them in different environments and different hardware, but it's not readable in HTML codes. 

I have been using this solution for three years.

We are using the latest version and will be upgrading to 20.2

It's a stable solution.

Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a scalable product.

We have four users in our organization.

We don't need direct support from Oracle. We are using Oracle Websites.

It's very easy to install and easy to deploy.

The first time, I spend six weeks, but now it can be done in a few hours.

We need only one person to maintain this solution.

We completed the implementation of it ourselves.

This is a built-in license with data.

When buying the data license, APEX is included.

Currently, I am doing some research on Visual Builder. I saw a demo.

It's an application that is ready for the cloud. You cannot use it on-premises or on your local machine. It's just for the cloud.

They have very nice features.

You can easily build your applications at a very low cost, and it is very powerful with JavaScript.

We are a consultancy firm for IT purposes, software. Especially, we are engaged in the insurance and banking finance sector. 

We have a very large and deep knowledge of accounting software. Our team is very experienced, senior developers, and business analysts.

We are migrating our Oracle Forms to APEX. In the future, we will continue to use APEX.

I would highly recommend this product to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

The primary use case of this solution is for developing applications to help with the daily work, customer support, and for production in small to medium-sized businesses.

It's a large organization producing energy. APEX is a platform that helps in the daily works of many parts of the organization. It is not producing any energy, although it is helping us to save energy that is is the result of friction between the different areas of the enterprise.

The most valuable features are security, stability, and ease of implementation. 

You can concentrate on the solution. You don't have to worry about the environment, the security, the servers, or the access. It is all there automatically.

Communication and solutions are easier to use.

The collaboration and the workflow engine could use some improvement. If you have a larger team working with APEX, it is not that easy to synchronize the team. It is easier with a code-rich application because of the tools. It is not that easy in a low-code environment.

In the next release, I would like to see a better workflow tool.

I have been using this solution since 2005.

This solution is very stable. We have never experienced any issues.

This solution is scalable. We have not come anywhere near the maximum with our engines. 

We have never experienced any performance issues or performance warnings in our company.

We have 3000 users in our company, but not all of them are using the same application at the same time.

We have many applications with many departments and it's used every day. They are using applications with APEX. They are not developing in APEX, but they are using APEX solutions to launch, for feedback, for security, and monitoring.

The technical support is excellent.

Previously, we did not use another solution. We used a different form of Oracle. There haven't been that many solutions available or programming platforms. APEX was the first local solution.

It was the only solution at the time.

The initial setup is quite straightforward and very easy.

With one person, it took half an hour to install and get running.

We have two people to maintain this solution.

This solution was implemented 15 years ago with the help of our team.

There are zero costs. It's a free solution with no additional costs.

We are using a point system, but it's only being used with a few applications at the moment.

Once you start to develop with APEX, you will be hated by programmers and coders. They will want to show you that they can do the same as you can do. 

My advice would be to just use this solution.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

Oracle Application Express (APEX) can be used for anything which requires quick creation of a user interface with user interaction with a database. Sometimes it's used more for reporting, but in many cases, it's for interactive reporting or interactions with the tool to record dates in the database. For example, it can be used for internal use within the company for the testing team to conveniently add test cases. Additionally, it can be used for comprehensive reporting for the financial teams, they can perform some work related to revenue recognition. 

I didn't work with big projects exposed to the public, the use cases were mostly internal platform projects.

The most valuable features of Oracle Application Express (APEX) are the ease and speed of development. Instead of engaging a large team of middleware, front-end, and database engineers, we can have professional look at the front end and have the user interface up and running in a matter of days. However, if you want to go far and implement very custom features, it doesn't require a lot of knowledge of front-end development, such as HTML, JavaScript, or other aspects.

I have been using Oracle Application Express (APEX) for approximately 10 years.

The stability of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 100 percent. It is highly stable.

Oracle Application Express (APEX) is highly scalable and can serve up to a required number of users. However, I do not have experience with serving more than approximately100 users. I'm always advertising this tool as being scalable. Bring in the shop.oracle.com as an example, because that site is running on Oracle Application Express (APEX), and you can imagine it can serve up to an unlimited number of users. With good hardware behind the solution, it's scalable, but since I don't have direct experience, I'm pretty sure it's scalable to any possible level. My confidence level in that is 90 percent scalable.

I have not had the need to contact technical support because of the number of resources and amount of information available with only a couple of mouse clicks, such as documentation, Q&A, and FAQ, they have a lot of material available. I know that browsing those websites people sometimes face some issues with not having their issue resolved, but this has not been my experience.

Oracle Application Express (APEX) comes with Oracle. The Oracle price itself. I do not know the exact cost. Oracle is flexible on its price. If you overspend on your hardware, then I don't think you will overpay. I heard that Oracle is more expensive than other databases, but when you consider Oracle is the best traditional relational database out there. You get what you pay for.

I rate Oracle Application Express (APEX) a nine out of ten.

Our business applications include healthcare, administrative, and planning tools. The environment consists of on-premise databases with an Oracle ORDS Tomcat stack and other JavaScript utilities on top of Linux Virtual Machines. There are legacy solutions, such as Oracle 11 with APEX 5.1 and Oracle 19 with APEX 20. These solutions have proven to be quite stable, but you need to do proper planning and profiling of heavy database transactions for more significant queries and heavy transaction processing.

Oracle APEX has proven to be a solid "low-code" solution that works quite well for simple and complex scenarios of data-intensive applications. Integrating the tool with the robust underlying Oracle Database allows a team to quickly create and deploy functionality iteratively. Running the tool on top of Linux-based virtual machines can slow things down, but the work gets done, and using the Oracle XE editions for some clients has been an adequate solution for POCs or even small non-critical production apps.

Oracle APEX's reporting features are simple yet powerful. The ability to quickly create CRUD screens has simplified many RAD discovery processes, while the APEX environment allows the product owners and dev teams to quickly understand the complex solutions and employ usage statistics to identify areas requiring improvement. The option to add external JavaScript tools in screen development enables the development of complicated mobile or web usage scenarios in rare cases where the APEX UX  is not enough.

Oracle should implement vertical and horizontal data segmentation in APEX's security framework, so Dev teams don't need to do any heavy lifting in the APEX screens. This is a common issue in enterprise apps. It would be nice to seamlessly integrate Git repositories into the development process since the current solution can result in overlapping work or an eventual overwrite. The provided example apps are great, but they could benefit from some added documentation in the "explanation screens".

I've been using Oracle APEX since 2006.

Oracle Apex is stable.

Oracle Apex scales well, but you need a good admin who knows how to work with DBA and Linux.

Oracle support has room for improvement.

Neutral

Setting up APEX requires Oracle and Linux admin experience.

We implemented APEX with an in-house team.

APEX is free, but Oracle Database is not.

I rate Oracle APEX eight out of 10. It's a good tool that needs more promotion, particularly the cloud solution.

We primarily want to use the solution for rapid development.

The solution's most valuable aspect is its Graphics Form Design.

The initial setup is quite simple. I was able to handle it myself.

The product can scale if you need it to.

The solution does not offer everything under one umbrella solution.

In terms of the VPNs and process management, Oracle can make it better. It's an area that definitely could be improved upon. They really don't have anything going on there.

The solution has some stability problems that need to be resolved.

The product should add a separate site with a development language supporting Java, or other languages such as this.

I've been using the solution for about three months or so. It's quite a new solution for us. We're still in the testing phase.

The software seems to have stability issues. It can crash or the software can shut down and sometimes it doesn't return. I'm not sure what causes these issues.

The product has inside solutions for scalability. You can expand using a talented application server. We tend to have loads of balance there and we find it to be scalable.

We're currently in evaluation mode, and therefore have a limited amount of users on the solution currently. It's not fully rolled out.

We haven't been in touch with technical support per se. We have referenced documentation and other materials to assist us. I can't speak to the effectiveness or knowledgeability of their services.

We didn't use any previous solution. 

The initial setup was not complex at all. It was very easy and quite straightforward. A company shouldn't have trouble with the implementation.

I handled the initial setup myself. I did not need the assistance of a consultant or integrator.

We also looked at other options. We thought about doing a combination of two solutions due to the fact that the process management was very weak.

We are just customers and end-users of the product.

We are still running a test, or a POC, to see if we like how the system operates for our organization.

I would rate the solution at a six out of ten. If it had VPN process management, I would likely rate it higher.

While I would recommend the solution, it would depend on an organization's requirements.