Despite the troubled times that we are living in these days because of the COVID-19 pandemic, lots of good and valuable news is coming to us from OATUG Forum Online, (which replaces the Collaborate 20 conference), as well as from announcements by the Oracle APEX team.
Certification of Oracle 19.3C database on Oracle E-Business Suite
The certification of the Oracle 19c (19.3) database on Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) is not “hot off the presses” news for most. But it is significant. Cliff Godwin, Senior Vice President of Applications Development at Oracle, was recently providing a wealth of information regarding EBS, including the database certifications on Oracle 19c for both release R12.2.x and R12.1.3, during the OATUG Forum Online session he hosted. But taking into consideration yesterday’s General Availability (GA) release of APEX release 20.1, I thought I would provide some critical information for organizations that entertain the idea of upgrading their EBS instances to the 19c version of the database.
Oracle APEX
For starters, it’s important to remember that APEX is a no-cost option of the database, and in that regards it is related to database version as opposed to the EBS release you are using. My Oracle Support (MOS) document Application Express (APEX) Database and Web Server Certification Reference (Doc ID 1344948.1) is always my faithful companion when it comes to make sure which database version plays nice with my APEX version.
If you have been upgrading the APEX version regularly, you are in good hands since the minimum APEX version supported for database 19.0.0.0 and later is APEX 18.2. If you are on APEX version 18.1 and earlier, you have a great opportunity to take that step and upgrade to the latest APEX release and take advantage of some of the great features that you have been missing out.
Recent APEX features
For me, the best new features that I have seen implemented lately are Faceted Search, API for Data Loading native Excel spreadsheets (using APEX_DATA_PARSER), and a brand-new Forms region which works very well and is easier to implement, to name just a few. These times might be a bit slower than usual in your organization, so upgrading your database version and APEX at the same time might be a good idea after all!
Just so you know, APEX 20.1 is the last release that will run on database 11.2.0.4 (according to the rumor!). If you want to stay supported from a database point of view, you’ll need to upgrade very soon anyway as extended support ends on December 31st, 2020.
With great new features like friendly URL, Mega Menus or Interactive Grid Editing with Control Breaks, APEX continues to be a solid development platform for both EBS organizations wanting to extend the ERP, or anyone wanted to develop serious applications. So, staying behind in your database version will eventually prevent you from moving forward in APEX version and take advantage of more exciting features to come.
More Details on APEX 20.1 from Joel Kallman
You can get more details on the general availability of APEX 20.1. in Joel Kallman’s blog
Remember that even during these times, Insum is always available to provide services to keep your organization running smooth. We are all working from home but just a click away…. Happy upgrading!
