Diving into Java

Well I finally wrote my first professional Java program. It was professional in the sense that it did more than "Hello World" and was for work. There was data made available on an external Internet web page. To get the data the users had to: select from 4 drop down lists, press a button, copy the data out of MS Notepad, paste the data into Excel. The kicker was to get all the data they were going to have to do this process 3,591 times. My challenge was to automate the download of all this data off the web page directly into our Oracle database. This is the story of my two week "Dive into Java".

I first started looking at automated web page testing software to see if I could script the series of clicks. It became apparent quite quickly that I would be able to handle the clicks, but not the copy and paste of the data out of MS Notepad into Excel.

I then started looking at the external web page. I "inspected" the source code using Firebug to see all the values for the 4 drop down lists and got to thinking that if I could simulate these actions in Java maybe there would be a way of capturing the web page results to a text file that could be loaded into the database. So I started looking into Java. Keep in mind that I had read Mastering Java 2 5 years ago and only written HelloWorld.java. All of the people that got formal Java and J2EE training in our department have left the company, so I had "hack" my way through this.

I discussed the issue with a colleague of mine. He gave me a small snippet of Java code which connected to a web page and wrote the results to standard output. If I could take this code, loop through the permutations of the 4 drop down lists (arrays), and write the results out to a text file, I would have the data.

I first had to get into a Java IDE, Oracle JDeveloper. I was slightly familiar with it. I had used it for the Entity Relationship diagrammer. I had to get used to how projects mapped over to directories. That was not too bad.

My next challenge was that the Java program program was unable to get out through the our firewall at work. I could only run it at home where I had a direct connect to the Internet. Abstract class URLConnection (wow I sound like a Java developer) could not get through the firewall. I got to thinking, Java applications like JDeveloper connect out through the firewall by prompted for my firewall ID and password. So I did some searching on the Internet and found Authenticator.setDefault. With this I was able to get through the firewall out to the external web page, but I had to hard code an ID and password into the Java program. That had to change, so now I had to dig into "prompting" the user for the information.

So I did yet more Internet surfing (see a pattern here) and came up with DataExchangeTest.java from the Core Java 2 Fundamentals. I now was able to prompt for my firewall ID and password and got rid of all hard coding. (Trust me it is all gone.) This got me into Java Swing/AWT (more Java alphabet soup).

Now I could run the Java program from computer at work. The program created a text file on my computer which I had to FTP to my database server, SQL*Load the file into a database staging table, and run a data parsing database procedure to populate the final destination tables. Could I write the data into the staging table in the database, taking SQL*Load out of the picture, and "kick off" the data parsing procedure from Java? Here comes JDBC. More surfing gave me JDBC basics so I could "write" the data directly into the database and populate the destination table.

My next step is to run the Java as a regularly scheduled batch job. It could get the latest released data and publish what the differences are. This is not a user requirement yet. Maybe I will take that on in my "spare time".

Wow, what a two-week long struggle with no training, but I did it. I can now put Java on my resume, not yet.

Mike

Last day of "Spring Cleaning"

Tomorrow is my last day of spring cleaning at work. Since I received no suggestions as to what to do with the old Oracle software and documentation, I am going to through it away in the junk tomorrow.

Mike

More "Spring Cleaning"

Well I continued my "Spring Cleaning" at work. I dug into the Oracle software and documentation drawers. After having developed Oracle-based software since 1987, I get sentimental about older versions of software documentation that I spent a lot of time reading and working with. It is always nice to see where you have been so you can hopefully appreciate where are. (See my next blog entry for a complete list of Oracle software and documentation I found.)

Oracle used to actually publish bound documentation book sets. That was before CD ROMs and the Internet. I remember these were prized possessions. It was very expensive to buy extra sets, well expensive for the places that I have worked. So if you had a set of books for SQL*Forms for example, you were popular with all the other developers who were developing Forms applications.

Back in 1987 I started with SQL*Forms v2.0 and Oracle 5. Prior to v2.0 you had FastForms where to develop a screen you had to answer tons of questions. It was a question and answer session to develop a Form. I found SQL*Forms v2.0 documentation but known for Oracle 5. I did find Oracle 6 RDBMS manuals though. Here are some that I found that have sentimental value to me. Hopefully they bring back good memories for you.


SQL*Forms Designer Quick Reference from 1987


IBM DOS v3.30 docs and software 3.5" and 5.25" media from April 1987



IBM OS/2 v1.10 from 1988


Oracle Office Demo Disk from September 1993

Mike

Where does old Oracle software and documentation go?

As indicated in my previous post, I did more "spring" cleaning at work and got hold of some old Oracle software and documentation. Some old documentation like SQL*Forms v3.0 and Oracle7 (RDBMS) Server I actually had to leave in the cabinet because we still have production applications written in them believe it or not. They are running on an old DEC VAX/VMS.

So , where does all that old Oracle software and documentation go when it is superseded by a newer version? Is there an Oracle recycling center out at Redwood Shore? Is there an Oracle historical society or museum that would want this "stuff"?

What should I do with the software and documentation? Is it of use to anyone out there? Should I just throw it all out? Please post your serious and funny suggestions. Oh ya, let me know if you may want this "stuff", too.

Here is what I got hold of:

Oracle Software (all media is CD ROM except where noted)

• Oracle Office Demo Disk September 1993 (3.5" media)
  
• OTN IOUG-A Live 2000 Software Kit
• -Oracle WebDB v2.2 Linux
• -Oracle8i Enterprise Edition 8.1.5 Linux
• -Oracle8i Enterprice Ed. R2 MS Win NT/2000 V8.1.6
• -Oracle WebDB v2.2 MS Win NT
• -Oracle JDeveloper 3.1 MS Win NT
• Oracle Discover v4.1.27
• Oracle JDeveloper R3.2.3
• Oracle8i Lite v4.0.0.2.0
• Oracle Tools CD Pack MS Windows
• -Oracle Designer R6.0
• -Oracle8i Lite v4.0.0.2.0
• -Oracle8i Personal Edition v8.1.5
• -Oracle JDeveloper R3.2.3
• -Oracle Forms and Reports 6i R2
• -Oracle Discoverer 3i
• -Oracle JDeveloper R3.1
• -Oracle Application Server Enterprise Edition v4.0.8.1
• Oracle9i Application Server v1.0.2.2.2 CD Pack Sun SPARC Solaris
• Oracle OpenWorld 2000 Software Kit
• -Oracle Internet Application Server 8i Linux and MS Windows NT
• -Oracle Warehouse Builder v2.0.4.78.0 MS Windows NT
• -Oracle Workflow R2.5.1
• -Oracle WebDB v2.2 Linux and MS Windows NT
• -Oracle Internet File Server R1.0 MS Windows NT
• -Oracle8i Enterprise Edition R2 Linux and MS Windows NT
• -Oracle Portal-to-Go v1.0.2.1
• Oracle Database 8i R2 Sun SPARC Solaris
• -Oracle8i Standard Edition R2
• -Oracle8i Enterprise Edition R2
• -Oracle Internet File Server
• -Oracle Enterprise Manger
• -Oracle Workflow
• -Oracle eMail Server
• -Oracle Darwin Data Mining Suite
• -Oracle Express Server
• -Oracle Transparent Gateways (many)
• -Oracle Warehouse Builder
• -Oracle Geocode
• -Oracle Pure Name and Address
• -Oracle WebD v2.2
• Oracle9i Application Server R1 MS Windows NT
• ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2007 (4 copies)
• Oracle JDeveloper v2.0 (4 copies)
• Oracle Application Server v4.0.7 MS Windows NT
• Oracle Application Server v3.0.0 MS Windows NT
• Oracle Webserver v2.1.1 Sun SPARC Solaris
• Oracle Designer R6 MS Windows 95/98/NT
• Oracle Designer R2.1.2 MS Windows 95/98/NT
• Developer/2000 v2.0 MS Windows NT
• Oracle Developer v6.0 MS Windows 95/98/NT
• Oracle Developer/2000 R2.1 MS Windows NT
• Oracle Developer Server v2.0 MS Windows NT Patch 1 (2 copies)
• Oracle8 Personal Edition MS Windows NT
• Oracle Server Enterprise Edition v7.3.4.0.1 Sun SPARC Solaris
  

Oracle Documentation

• Oracle Procedure Builder
• Oracle Forms 4.5
• Oracle Reports 2.5
• Oracle Graphics 2.5
• Oracle Glue
  
• Oracle8 Personal Edition
• Oracle Designer Handbook
• Develop Oracle Forms Applications
• Oracle V6.0 SQL Reference Manual
• Oracle V6.0 Error Codes
• Oracle V6.0 DQC VAX/VMS Installation Guide
• Oracle V6.0 OCI
• Oracle7 Concepts
• Oracle7 User's Guide
• Oracle7 SQL Language (2 copies)
• Oracle7 Utility User's Guide
• Oracle7 Application Developer's Guide
• Oracle PL/SQL v2.0 User's Guide and Reference
• Oracle Call Interface Guide v7.0
• SQL*Forms v2.0 Designer's Quick Reference
• SQL*Forms v2.3 Designer's Quick Reference
• SQL*Forms v2.3 Operator's Quick Reference
• SQL*Plus v2.0 Quick Reference
• Oracle Keyboard Layout Templates for SQL*Forms Operator and Designer for the PC, VT100, ...
  

Mike

"Spring Cleaning" in the Summer

I started doing some "Spring Cleaning" at work. I am looking into my cabinets and drawers and checking to see what is needed and what is not. What an undertaking. I found some interesting older Oracle/database related things:

• A 1983 article that explains 5th Normal Form. It was ironic because just the other day I was talking with our team lead about application developers not knowing data normalization.
• Copies of Oracle 7.2 Server manuals (I started with Oracle 5)
  
• Oracle Forms (V4) training manuals (I started with Forms 2.0)
  
• PL/SQL (Version 2.0) training manuals
• Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 training manuals
• Developer/2000 Oracle Graphics 2.5 Reference Manual
• Oracle CDE2 Oracle Reports 2.5 manuals

Boy the days of getting the box sets of Oracle manuals is over. It is time to put these in the dumpster. The only thing that is useful now is the normalization document. I will still dump it because it is on the Internet.

Mike

Is Data Normalization and Modeling on the decrease?

Because of recent staff turnover in our department at work, we created a list of technical skills that we need to support our department's in-house developed database applications. These were skills like SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle Forms, J2EE, AJAX, Javascript, Unix shell scripting, ... Each person in our department assessed their individual level of expertise in each skill. We then assigned a weight as to which skills we needed to fill immediately and which skills we could wait on for a while.

After two passes of looking at the skills list and assigning weights, I noticed that there were no analysis and design skills like Data Modeling and Data Normalization or modeling tools or methodologies. We had completely forgot to include these, so I suggested adding them. All of us were thinking of application development skills and not analysis and design skills.

That led me the question of, "Is it just my particular situation or is it a general trend in the IT industry that Data Normalization and Data Modeling skills/methodologies like ER diagrams are not being used as much as they used to like back in the 1990's?" Or is Data Normalization such a common skill nowadays that people creating tables just automatically do it? Is it now being taught in college?

Mike

Check your iDS (Oracle Forms) version and support

Since I am now temporarily working in Oracle Forms, I looked at our version of the Forms Builder, 9.0.2.9.0. I found out it was just desupported by Oracle on 01-JUL-08 (Oracle Document ID: 283326.1). Ok I looked at the next version 9.0.4. Oracle is desupporting it on 31-DEC-08 (Oracle Document ID: 298788.1). Well I guess 10g R2 (10.1.2.2) is what we should go to. The company I work does not like to go to first releases of software. I am glad they do not do that for our in-house developed software.



Mike

Simulate set_item_property('Block.item', intial_value, 'VALUE'); in Oracle Forms

Have you ever wanted to programmatically set and change the initial value of Oracle Form item at run time? Have you to do something like this in your Oracle Form?

set_item_property('Block.item', intial_value, 'VALUE')

and received the following error when you attempt to compile your form:

Error 201 at line .., column .. identifier 'INITIAL_VALUE' must be declared'

Well I have found a way to emulate having a dynamic value for the "Initial Value" property of an item.

1) Add a non-database item to your block. Call the item something like 'your_item_initial_value'

2) Set the "Copy Value from Item" property on your item to be your_block.your_item_initial_value

3) Whenever you want to change the initial value of your item just assign a value to the your_item_initial_value item.

4) Whenever you want to remove an initial value from your item just assign NULL to the your_item_initial_value item.

Note: I am using Oracle9iDS Release 2. Newer versions of iDS may permit you to programmatically change the initial value.

Mike

Multiple PL/SQL Editors Open in Oracle Forms Builder

This blog entry is for my own purpose. It is a little thing that I seem to frequently forget in Oracle Forms Builder. Nowadays I am still sporadicly working in Forms. Actually I am the only Forms developer left in our shop and we have quite a few production Forms applications. I actually love Oracle Forms, but our department has on its long term plan to move off of Forms to either J2EE or ApEx, but that is a topic for another future blog entry.

While getting back into the Forms Builder, I frequently want to have multiple PL/SQL Editor windows open editing different program units at the same time. A couple years ago I found out that if you hold the SHIFT key and double click on a program unit's icon in the Object Navigator pane, Forms Builder opens a new PL/SQL Editor window open while keeping all current PL/SQL Edit windows open!!

Mike

SP2-0552: Bind variable "..." not declared.

I was creating a SQL*Plus script for testing the results of a new report. The script prompted the me for some values and then ran some queries. I then was going to compare those query results with the results of the new report. Pretty basic. I have done this type of thing many, many times before.

The script issues the ACCEPT command to prompt and receive my test values. A SELECT statement runs to query the database. Here is a sample SQL*Plus script based on our friend the EMP table:

ACCEPT p_emp_no char PROMPT "Enter employee ID: "

select *
from emp
WHERE empno = &p_emp_no;

I would run the script in SQL*Plus (Oracle 9.2.0.4.0) and get:

SP2-0552: Bind variable "P_EMP_NO" not declared.

Ok, what the heck is going on? Well it ends up an hour or so earlier I had ran another SQL*Plus script which set SCAN off (SET SCAN OFF) because the prior script had an ampersand (&) in one of the remarks. Well with SCAN set OFF, SQL*Plus was somehow converting '= &p_emp_no" into "= :p_emp_no" and looking at p_emp_no as if it were an undefined bind variable. I discovered this when I finally exited SQL*Plus and reentered and reran the script and it worked. So I added SET SCAN ON to my script and it now works!!

Mike

Modeling in SQL Developer

I noticed on Lewis Cunningham's blog that at ODTUG Sue Harper said that SQL Developer will be getting modeling in its next version!! Sounds like Oracle is listening to users in the OTN Forums.

Mike

Locate New SQL Developer Features/Fixes

One thing that I found was an easy way to locate new features and fixes in SQL Developer. If you go to SQL Developer Exchange and sort it by "status" you can see a lot of the features and fixes for a particular version. Note that this is not a comprehensive list of the new features and fixes, but I have found some really neat new things I did not know that are in release 1.5

Mike

Tom Kyte and Steven Feuerstein Event in Cleveland, Ohio May 22nd and 23rd

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Northeast Ohio Oracle users group is having a 2-Day event with Tom Kyte and Steven Feuerstein.

Feel free to pass this information along.

Mike

I can't get away from Oracle, even on vacation.

My family and I went to Washington, DC for part of our Easter break in March. When we went to get on the subway (sorry I mean the "Metro"), low and behold what should I find but advertisements for Oracle on the walls and the ground.



Mike

OOW Envy Week

Well, this is the week that I am envious of all those attendees of Oracle Open World conference. I read all the blogs of attendees of the conferences and evening activities and wish I were there. I was unable to attend based on my work schedule and priorities, so reading the blogs is a great way to get some insight into what's new at Oracle.

This morning reading the OOW blogs caused me to recall that I have been to good number of Oracle-related conferences. I have not been to any Oracle Open Worlds but have been to one ODTUG conference and 10 IOUG conferences. I attended IOUG conferences when they were a combined effort between Oracle and the International Oracle User's Group (IOUG). Around 1995 the conference split into the Oracle Open World conference and the IOUG conference. I also did a couple presentations at the IOUG conference in 2000 in Anaheim.

So I dug out me list of Oracle conferences and here it is. It is not complete. It may not be completely correct. I do not have all the ODTUG conferences. I may add them at some point in time. I have a star in front of the ones that I attended.

Oracle Conferences

1985 IOUW San Diego, CA
1986 IOUW San Francisco, CA
1987 IOUW Washington, DC Oct
1988 IOUW Orlando, FL
*1989 IOUW Dallas, TX
1990 IOUW Anaheim, CA
*1991 IOUW Miami, FL
1992 IOUW San Francisco, CA
*1993 IOUW Orlando, FL Sep 26-Oct 1
1994 IOUW San Francisco, CA
*1995 IOUW Philadelphia, PA * Last conference with Oracle and IOUG combined
1996 IOUW Dallas, TX Sep 15-20 was cancelled
1996 OOW San Franciso, CA Nov 3-8
*1997 IOUG Dallas, TX Apr 27-May 2
1997 OOW Los Angles, CA Nov 14-18
*1998 IOUG Orlando, FL May
1998 OOW San Francisco, CA Nov 8-12
*1999 IOUG Denver, CO Apr 11-16
1999 OOW Los Angles, CA Nov 14-18
*2000 IOUG Anaheim, CA May 6-11 (I presented at this conference.)
2000 OOW San Franciso, CA Oct 2-5
*2001 IOUG Orlando, FL Apr 29-May 3
2001 OOW San Franciso, CA Oct 2-8
2002 IOUG San Diego, CA Apr 14-19
2002 OOW San Franciso, CA
2003 IOUG Orlando, FL Apr 28-May 1
2003 OOW San Franciso, CA Sep 8-11
*2004 IOUG Toronto, ON Apr 19-22
2004 OOW San Franciso, CA Dec 6-9
2005 IOUG Orlando, FL May 1-5
2005 OOW San Franciso, CA Sep 19-22
2006 IOUG Nashville, Tennessee Apr 23-27
2006 OOW San Franciso, CA Oct 21-24
2007 IOUG Las Vegas, NV Apr 16-19
* 2007 ODTUG Daytona, FL Jun 18-20
2007 OOW San Franciso, CA Nov 12-15

In ApEx, Upload/Dowload BLOB/CLOB stored in another database

Scenario: I have a database named BLOBS_DB which has a table (REPORTS) containing a primary key (PK) column, a BLOB column (BLOB_COL) , and a CLOB column (CLOB_COL). I have HTML DB (predecessor to Oracle Application Express) running in another database named APP_DB. (The names of the databases and objects have been changed to protect the innocent;) I want to be able to upload and download either LOB columns into the BLOBS_DB database from within an HTML DB application running on the APP_DB database.

Problem: For downloading you cannot issue a SELECT of a LOB column over a database link. You get the "ORA-22992: cannot use LOB locators selected from remote tables" error message.

The Trick: You can get LOBs over a database link using an INSERT statement.

Upload Trick: The HTML DB form inserts into a global temporary table (UPLOAD_REPORTS) in the APP_DB with an INSTEAD-OF trigger on it which moves a copy of the LOBs to the REPORT_DB database via a INSERT INTO/SELECT FROM statement:

INSERT INTO reports@BLOBS_DB
(pk, blob_col, clob_col)
VALUES
(:new.pk, :new.blob_col, :new.clob_col);


Download Work Around: When the user selects a LOB to download, I move a copy of the row in the BLOBS_DB database to the APP_DB database with an INSERT INTO/SELECT FROM statement:

INSERT INTO download_reports
SELECT * FROM reports@BLOBS_DB;

Since the UPLOAD_REPORTS and DOWNLOAD_REPORTS tables are a global temporary tables in the APP_DB database when the HTML DB access to the APP_DB database is finished, the global temporary tables are emptied.

Preserve Leading Zeros in ApEx CSV Export

I located a method of preserving leading zeros on values when exporting a report region to CSV in HTML DB (ApEx).

When Excel opens up a CSV file it defaults all cells to "General" formatting and attempts to "help the user" by removing leading zeros on cell values and converting them from strings to numbers. That can be a problem for values like product codes (SKUs) that begin with a zero.

The trick is to SELECT the value such that Excel will see it as a string and not a number. So prefix an equals sign and double quote on to the value and post fix a double quote. So

SELECT your_column
FROM your_table

becomes

SELECT '="'||your_column||'"'
FROM your_table

That is great except the users now see the additional characters in the report region. To get a round this use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT your_column, '="'||your_column||'"' quoted_column
FROM your_table

and put a "PL/SQL Express" condition (based on Sergio's blog entry) on each column. The conditional display express for YOUR_COLUMN would be:

INSTR(NVL(:REQUEST,'FOO'),'FLOW_EXCEL') = 0

The conditional display express for QUOTED_COLUMN would be:

INSTR(NVL(:REQUEST,'FOO'),'FLOW_EXCEL') != 0

To get even more customized CSV output look at Scott's blog entry.

SQL Developer's "SQL History"

I love the SQL History button (F8) in SQL Developer. Let me tell you what happened to me yesterday. I using SQL Developer to work on a difficult SELECT statement when the electricity at work went out on me. Poof my SELECT statement was gone, right? Not in SQL Developer. When everything came up I started SQL Developer, opened a SQL Worksheet, and clicked on the SQL History button . There was my SELECT statement.

Thanks Oracle for the button.

Table Rows to One String in SQL

I came across of very cool feature yesterday that I had not seen before. It was the ability to take values of a column in multiple rows and concatenate them into one string. This is useful for building a TO distribution list for an email. Here is an example of concatenating all the names of the employees in the EMP table:

SQL> SELECT *
2    FROM emp;

EMPNO ENAME      JOB             MGR  HIREDATE  SAL        COMM       DEPTNO
----- ---------- --------------- ---- --------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7839 KING        PRESIDENT            17-NOV-81       5000                    10
7698 BLAKE       MANAGER         7839 01-MAY-81       2850                    30
7782 CLARK       MANAGER         7839 09-JUN-81       2450                    10
7566 JONES       MANAGER         7839 02-APR-81       2975                    20
7788 SCOTT       ANALYST         7566 09-DEC-82       3000                    20
7902 FORD        ANALYST         7566 03-DEC-81       3000                    20
7369 SMITH       CLERK           7902 17-DEC-80        800                    20
7499 ALLEN       SALESMAN        7698 20-FEB-81       1600        300         30
7521 WARD        SALESMAN        7698 22-FEB-81       1250        500         30
7654 MARTIN      SALESMAN        7698 28-SEP-81       1250       1400         30
7844 TURNER      SALESMAN        7698 08-SEP-81       1500          0         30
7876 ADAMS       CLERK           7788 12-JAN-83       1100                    20
7900 JAMES       CLERK           7698 03-DEC-81        950                    30
7934 MILLER      CLERK           7782 23-JAN-82       1300                    10

14 rows selected.

SQL>
SQL> SELECT LTRIM(SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH(myvalues, ','),',') catvalues
2    FROM (SELECT myvalues, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY myvalues) rn, COUNT(*) OVER () cnt
3            FROM (SELECT ename myvalues
4                    FROM emp
5                 )
6         ) data
7   WHERE rn = cnt
8   START WITH rn = 1
9   CONNECT BY PRIOR rn = rn-1;

CATVALUES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADAMS,ALLEN,BLAKE,CLARK,FORD,JAMES,JONES,KING,MARTIN,MILLER,SCOTT,SMITH,TURNER,WARD

Here is the SELECT statement:

SELECT LTRIM(SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH(myvalues, ','),',') catvalues
FROM (SELECT myvalues, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY myvalues) rn, COUNT(*) OVER () cnt
FROM (SELECT ename myvalues
      FROM emp
   )
) data
WHERE rn = cnt
START WITH rn = 1
CONNECT BY PRIOR rn = rn-1;

To figure this out let us look at the inner SELECT:

SQL>
SQL> SELECT myvalues, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY myvalues) rn, COUNT(*) OVER () cnt
2    FROM (SELECT ename myvalues
3            FROM emp
4         );

MYVALUES           RN        CNT
---------- ---------- ----------
ADAMS               1         14
ALLEN               2         14
BLAKE               3         14
CLARK               4         14
FORD                5         14
JAMES               6         14
JONES               7         14
KING                8         14
MARTIN              9         14
MILLER             10         14
SCOTT              11         14
SMITH              12         14
TURNER             13         14
WARD               14         14

14 rows selected.

Oracle starts at the top where

rn = 1

which is ADAMS. It connects each node of the tree to the prior element where the prior's RN value is one less

rn = rn -1

until WARD. Now the SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH function in a CONNECT BY query takes the tree and concatenates the values together putting a comma ',' between the nodes in the tree.

Updated GUI Intensive ApEx Application post

I will keep adding issues to my GUI intensive ApEx Application blog as I encounter them. This will keep them all together in one place.