Application Express 19.1

AskTOM moved to Application Express 19.1 without any major issues last weekend. That in itself is a nice endorsement for APEX, given that the AskTOM application dates back nearly 20 years to 2001, and predates even the existence of APEX.

The only fix that we had to make was that AskTOM uses the static CDN files that Joel Kallman blogged about to make it nice and snappy wherever in the world it is used. The reference to those files have a hard-coded version number so that needed to updated. For AskTOM, we have a plugin that uses some jQuery elements that went pear-shaped when referencing the old version 18 files, but after a quick fix to that reference all was well.

Given that AskTOM is running on APEX 19 I figured I best upgrade my local PC installation as well. I find the standard documentation a little bit cryptic when I want to perform an upgrade because the docs have to cover all of the possible scenarios (CDB vs non-CDB, web listener vs EPG, etc), and as such when you click on the section on Upgrading, you don’t appear to the get a step by step guide on what to do.

But the secret is in the second paragraph:

“following any of the installations scenarios in the guide upgrades your Oracle Application Express instance…”

so here’s what I did to upgrade my local installation which is installed within a pluggable database, and running with a standalone ORDS listener.  (I stress, always consult the standard documentation set before commencing your upgrade).

• Downloaded APEX and unzipped into an appropriate location
• Connected as SYSDBA in the pluggable database where APEX is installed
• Ran the standard installation script (which will automatically detected this be an upgrade)

@apexins.sql SYSAUX SYSAUX TEMP /i/

• Let ORDS know that an upgrade had been done.

java -jar ords.war validate

• And the reset the REST services component post-upgrade

@apex_rest_config.sql

and I was done! No dramas encountered and APEX on my PC is now on 19.1

Note: I moved my original APEX installation to a backup area, and placed the new version 19 installation in place of the old location, so I did not have to move or copy any images and static files around. Your approach may be different, so just to reiterate – consult the standard docs before diving into your upgrade.

Of course, all the dark mode fan bois will be telling me to switch to Dark Mode

but for me, I think it would be wrong to maintain a classic 2000’s application such as AskTOM in anything but brilliant white