My Remarks!

The solution is based on the ability of oracle to use regular expressions within a SQL statement. In the first example we have comma seperated string, containing the most important crew members of the USS Enterprise:

SELECT regexp_substr(str, '[^,]+', 1, LEVEL) AS splitted_element,
           LEVEL AS element_no
      FROM (SELECT rownum AS id, 'Kirk,Spock,Scotty,McCoy,Uhura' str FROM dual)
    CONNECT BY instr(str, ',', 1, LEVEL - 1) > 0
           AND id = PRIOR id
           AND PRIOR dbms_random.value IS NOT null;

Stored Procedures with Java?

The most common language within the Oracle database is still PL/SQL. This is the prefered language to develop Stored Procedures, Packages or Triggers. In order to develop with Java, the Java sources must be uploaded into the database. From this, the classes are extracted and displayed in the Data Dictionary as a schema object. It allows Java sources (.java) and class files (.class) or archives (.jar, .zip) to be uploaded.

Preparation

In our case study we have two tables to store persons and their phone numbers. Both tables are connected through a foreign key. See the following script for the definition of the tables:

create table ex01_person_tb (
  id number,
  name varchar2(50)
);
insert into ex01_person_tb values (1, 'Roger Waters');
insert into ex01_person_tb values (2, 'David Gilmour');
create table ex01_phone_tb (
  id number,
  person_id number,
  phone_number varchar2(50)
);
insert into ex01_phone_tb values (1, 1, '543 454433');
insert into ex01_phone_tb values (2, 1, '512 4776443');
insert into ex01_phone_tb values (3, 1, '521 6454423');
insert into ex01_phone_tb values (4, 2, '212 8332464');
insert into ex01_phone_tb values (5, 2, '312 6736423');

Basics

Since version 4.0 it is possible to extend the functionality of APEX with the so-called "Plugins". The plugins are used in the APEX Application Builder like ordinary components (eg. items, buttons, forms, etc.). According to there use, Plugins are separated in the following types:

• Region Type Plugins
• Item Type Plugins
• Dynamic Action Plugins
• Process Type Plugins

Plugins are ideal tools to modularize and adapt APEX applications to individual needs. An APEX Plugin is characterized by the fact that all files and programs that are necessary for the plugin are managed together in one place. These are PL/SQL-Programs and/or JavaScript code as well as CSS and image files. This makes it possible to reuse a Plugin and so it is quite easy to install it in another APEX environment.

Sometimes, things which seems to be very simple, are in fact very complicated. One of those things are the custom ordering of Featured Articles in Joomla 3.3. It was quite tricky to figure out how it works but I found the key to solve the problem:

Step 1:

Choose the Menu Item which contains the Featured Articles. In the "Layout" Tab there is an item called "Article Order". In the drop down list, select the entry "Featured Articles Order". This was the obvious part of the problem. Now, the tricky thing is, that there exists an item called "Category Order" which contains the value "Use Global". This setting controls the order of the Featured Articles as well. So to make sure, that the ordering of the Featured Articles is as you like, you have to switch it to "No Order". (Figure 1)