My first introduction to Oracle was right at the beginning of my career in the early 90s. The company I was working for at the time was an Oracle version 6 shop and Oracle7 had been released and they said “get the new guy looking at the new version because the current staff is too busy looking after the version 6 production systems”. From that point forward, working with the Oracle database has been a major part of my career, and I’ve worked with every version since version 7.
Many (many) years ago I recognized the need for a ‘web’ based method of being able to access Oracle content so I started developing a CGI based framework that would allow me to generically interface with Oracle hosted content and present that to end-users. I built the first application using my framework which was released internally to our users and became a key part of driving efficiencies in their workflow.
Unbeknown to me, another group was working on creating a web-based framework that would provide access to the Oracle database and way back when (I can’t remember when exactly), I discovered the early versions of what would become Oracle Application Express. I quickly realized that Mike Hichwa and team at Oracle that were working on Web DB, Flows, HTML DB, and then APEX were far more talented than I was, so at the earliest opportunity (I think the first FLOWS install I did was version 2), I abandoned my CGI work and started working with what would ultimately become Oracle Application Express.
This site attempts to capture some of the things I’ve learned over the years. It’s going to be a ‘project’. I’ve got decades of notes, scripts, how-tos, and just general experience, so transferring it to this site will take time. My goal is to create a resource that is useful for myself (I want a repository that I can easily access when I work with new customers) but also something that might be useful for the larger community. There are some great other resources out there so my ramblings on this site are not going to be unique, but they will hopefully offer a different perspective and maybe, will be easy enough to follow to allow novice developers to leverage some of my experience to deliver innovative solutions to their clients.
If you have any suggestions for new content or just want to ask a question, feel free to reach out to me.
Paul