Configuring the Application Definition

You use the attributes on the Edit Definition page to control the application name and availability and to define static substitution strings. Additionally, the Edit Definition page displays defined build options, the associated theme, template defaults, and component defaults. Required values are marked with a red asterisk (*).

Topics:

Accessing the Edit Definition Page
About the Edit Definition Page

Accessing the Edit Definition Page

To edit the application definition:

On the Workspace home page, click the Application Builder icon.
Select an application.
Click Shared Components.

The Shared Components page appears.
Under Application, click Definition.

The Edit Definition page appears.

Tip:
You can also access the Edit Definition page by clicking the application name at the top of the Application home page.

About Navigation Alternatives

The Edit Definition page is divided into the following sections: Name, Availability, Global Notification, Substitutions, Logo, Build Options, Theme, Template Defaults, and Component Defaults. You can access these sections by scrolling down the page, or by clicking a navigation button at the top of the page.

Description of app_attribute_tabs.gif follows

Description of the illustration app_attribute_tabs.gif

When you select a button at the top of the page, the selected section appears and all other sections are temporarily hidden. To view all sections of the page, click Show All.

About the Edit Definition Page

The following sections describe the attributes available on the Edit Definition page.

Topics:

Name
Availability
Global Notifications
Substitutions
Logo
Build Options
Theme
Template Defaults
Component Defaults

Name

Use Name to define basic characteristics of your application, including the application name, an optional alphanumeric alias, and a version number. Table: Application Definition Attributes describes all Name attributes.

Application Definition Attributes

Attribute	Description
Name	Provides a short descriptive name for the application to distinguish it from other applications in your development environment.
Application Alias	Assigns an alternate alphanumeric application identifier. You can use this identifier in place of the application ID.For example, suppose you create an alias of `myapp` for application 105. Using `f?p` syntax, you could call application 105 as either: `f?p=105:1` `f?p=myapp:1` See Also: "Using f?p Syntax to Link Pages"
Version	Includes the application's version number on a page. You can also automatically tie the version to the date of last modification using the following format masks: `YYYY.MM.DD` `MM.DD.YYYY` `DD.MM.YYYY` If your application version uses YYYY.MM.DD, then Application Builder replaces this format mask with the date of last modification of any application attribute.
Media Type	Enter the Internet Media Type. An Internet Media Type is two-part identifier for file formats on the Internet. A Media Type is composed of at least two parts: a type, a subtype, and one or more optional parameters. This Media Type is used in the Content-Type HTTP header when rendering the page. The page-level Media Type overrides the application-level Media Type. The default value for this attribute is `NULL`. If both the page-level and application-level values for Media Type are `NULL`, the Media Type `text/html` is used.
Image Prefix	Determines the virtual path the Web server uses to point to the images directory distributed with Application Builder. During installation, the virtual path is configured as `/i/`. When embedding an image in static text (for example, in page or region headers or footers), you can reference an image using the substitution string `#IMAGE_PREFIX#`. For example, to reference the image `go.gif`, you would use the following syntax: <img src="#IMAGE_PREFIX#go.gif"> See Also: "IMAGE_PREFIX", "Managing Images", and "Referencing Images"
Proxy Server	Use this field to specify a proxy server. For example, you may require a proxy server when using a region source type of URL. The URL region source embeds the results of the URL (that is, the page returned by navigating to the URL) as the region source. If you use a firewall and the target of a URL is outside the firewall relative to Application Builder, you may need to specify a proxy server. You can reference values entered into this field from PL/SQL using the PL/SQL package variable `APEX_APPLICATION.G_PROXY_SERVER`.
Logging	Determines whether user activity is recorded in the Oracle Application Express activity log. When set to Yes, every page view is logged, enabling an administrator to monitor user activity for each application. Disabling logging may be advisable for high volume applications.
Debugging	Controls debug mode for the current application. Available options include: Yes enables the application to run in a debug mode. No disables the application from running in debug mode. Running an application in debug mode is useful when an application is under development. However, for a production application, it is a good idea to disable debugging and thus prevent users from viewing application logic.
Parsing Schema	Specifies the schema that all SQL and PL/SQL in the application is parsed as. You may use the `#OWNER#` substitution string to reference this value in SQL queries and PL/SQL (for example, in a region or a process).
Exact Substitutions	Determines if exact substitutions are supported. Use exact substitutions. Non-exact substitutions is a deprecated feature. Exact substitutions use the following sytnax: &ITEM. Non-exact substitutions use the following sytnax: &ITEM
Application Group	Displays the application group currently associated with this application. To select another application group, make a selection from the list. To remove an application from an existing group, select Unassigned. See Also: "Creating Applications Groups"

Availability

Use Availability attributes to manage your application by defining an application status and build status. For example, if you select the status Restricted Access, you can specify which users have access and can run the application. Table: Application Availability Attributes describes these attributes.

Application Availability Attributes

Attribute	Description
Status	Specifies whether the application is available or unavailable for use. Options include: Available - Application is available with no restrictions. Available with Edit Links - Application is available for use. For developers, the Developer toolbar displays at the bottom of each page. Requires the developer to be logged in to the Application Builder in the same browser session. Available to Developers Only - Application is available to users having developer privileges. Restricted Access - Application is available to developers named in the Restrict to comma separated user list. Unavailable - Application cannot be run or edited. The message in Message for unavailable application displays when users attempt to access the application. Unavailable (Status Shown with PL/SQL) - Application cannot be run or edited. Unavailable (Redirect to URL) - Application cannot be run. The user is linked to the URL entered in Message for unavailable application. See Also: "Changing Build Status for Multiple Applications" in Oracle Application Express Administration Guide, "Changing Application Build Status Set During Deployment" in Oracle Application Express Administration Guide, and "Controlling Access to Applications, Pages, and Page Components",
Build Status	Identifies the build status of the current application. Options include: Run and Build Application - Developers and users can both run and develop the application. Run Application Only - Users can only run the application. This option is intended for applications in a production instance. See Also: "Changing Application Build Status Set During Deployment" in Oracle Application Express Administration Guide
Message for unavailable application	Use this attribute in conjunction with Status. If you set Status to Unavailable, Unavailable (Status Shown with PL/SQL), or Unavailable (Redirect to URL), the text you enter in this attribute displays. If you set Status to Available, the text you enter in this attribute does not display.
Restrict to comma separated user list (status must equal Restricted Access)	Use this attribute in conjunction with the Status Restricted Access. If you set Status to Restricted Access, only the users listed in this attribute can run the application. To use this attribute: From the Status list, select Restricted Access. Enter a comma-delimited list of users who can run the application in the field provided.

Global Notifications

You can use the Global Notifications attribute to communicate system status to application users. For example, you can use this attribute to notify users of scheduled downtime, or communicate other messages regarding application availability. If the page templates used in your application contain the #GLOBAL_NOTIFICATION# substitution string, the text entered here will display in that string's place.

To create a global notification:

Include the #GLOBAL_NOTIFICATION# substitution string in your page template.
Navigate to the Edit Definition page and enter a message in the Global Notifications attribute.
Click Apply Changes.

Substitution s

Use these fields to define static substitution strings for your application. You can use static substitution string for phrases or labels that occur in many places within an application. To create a substitution string, enter the string name in the Substitution String column and the string value in the Substitution Value column.

Defining static substitution strings centrally enables you to change text strings in multiple places in your application by making a single change to the Substitution Value defined on this page.

See Also:

"Understanding Substitution Strings"

Logo

Use Logo attributes to define an application logo. An application logo can be text-based or image-based. To use this feature, your page template must include the #LOGO# substitution string.

To define an application logo:

For Logo Type, select one of the following:
- Select Image to use an image for the application logo.
- Select Text to use text for the application logo.
In Logo, enter the following:
- For an image, enter the complete image name, including the filename extension. For example:
```
/i/oracle.gif
```
- For text, enter the full text string. For example:
```
Sample Application
```

In Logo Attributes, enter the appropriate attributes for the logo.

Image example:

width="100" height="20" alt="Company Logo"

Text example:

style="font-family:Arial; color:#000000; font-size:18; white-space:nowrap; font-weight:bold;"

Build Options

Displays existing build options. Most applications have a build option attribute. Build Options have two possible values: INCLUDE and EXCLUDE. If you specify an attribute to be included, then the Application Express engine considers it at run time. However, if you specify an attribute to be excluded, then the Application Express engine treats it as if it did not exist.

Do not specify a build option unless you plan to exclude that object from specific installations.

Theme

Displays the current theme applied to the application. Themes are collections of templates that can be used to define the layout and style of an entire application. Each theme provides a complete set of templates that accommodate every user interface pattern that may be needed in an application.

See Also:

"Managing Themes"

Template Defaults

Lists the default templates for this application. To specify a default template at the application level, you can either:

Select a new theme. See "Switching the Active Theme".
Select a new default page template on the Create/Edit Theme page. See "Changing the Default Templates in a Theme".

You can also override this default by making a selection from the Page Template list on the Page Attributes page.

Table: Application Template Defaults Attributes describes template defaults for the current application.

Application Template Defaults Attributes

Attribute Description

Attribute	Description
Default Page Template	Indicates the default page template to display pages. You can override this selection by making a selection from the Page Template list on the Page Attributes page. See Also: "Editing Page Attributes"
Print Mode Page Template	Identifies the template to be used when the Application Express engine is in printer friendly mode. When calling the Application Express engine to render a page, you have the option to specify whether the page should be displayed using the Print Mode Page Template specified. If you specify Yes, then the page displays using a printer friendly template. The Application Express engine displays all text within HTML Form Fields as text. The printer friendly template does not need to have the `#FORM_OPEN#` or `#FORM_CLOSE#` substitution string. See Also: "Optimizing a Page for Printing"
Error Page Template	Optional. Specifies a page template to use for errors that display on a separate page, as opposed to those that display inline.

Default Page Template

Indicates the default page template to display pages. You can override this selection by making a selection from the Page Template list on the Page Attributes page.

Component Defaults

Displays the default templates used when running wizards. You can override these settings on the attributes page for each control or component. Table: Component Defaults describes component defaults for the current application.

Component Defaults

Attribute	Description
Calendar	Default calendar template used when you create a calendar.
Label	Default label template used when you create page items.
Report	Default report template used when you create report.
List	Default template used when you create a list.
Breadcrumb	Default template used when you create a breadcrumb.
Button	Default template used when you create buttons that are template controlled.
Region	Default template used when you create a region.
Chart Region	Default region template used when you create a chart.
Form Region	Default region template used when you create a form.
Report Region	Default region template used when you create a report.
Tabular Form Region	Default region template used when you create a tabular form.
Wizard Region	Default region template used when you create a wizard component.
Breadcrumb Region	Default region template used when you create a breadcrumb.
List Region	Default region template used when you create a list.