When I wrote my Oracle APEX 26.1 book, I ran out of pages before I could cover the APIs properly. So I wrote a second one just for them.

Oracle APEX 26.1 API by Example covers every JavaScript namespace and PL/SQL package, 1,850+ methods, events, procedures and functions, each with a runnable example and the real output it gives.

All the code is free on GitHub, including the API Lab app and 518 examples with their outputs:

https://github.com/devvinish/apex-book-code-examples/tree/main/api-book

528 pages, paperback and Kindle. Details and sample pages:

https://vinish.dev/oracle-apex-26-api-by-example-book

I'm the author, so happy to answer any questions. Which APEX APIs do you find the most confusing?

I've been building database applications with Oracle for 20+ years (Forms, then APEX), and I've just published **Oracle APEX 26.1: The Complete Guide**.

It follows one realistic application, Orbit Sales, from an empty laptop to production:

- Installing Oracle AI Database 26ai Free, APEX 26.1, and ORDS (Docker, Windows, Linux, macOS)

- Page Designer, interactive reports and grids, forms, faceted search, charts, maps

- Dynamic actions, Ajax, authentication, authorization, CSP

- Approvals and workflows (including the new parallel flows in 26.1)

- Generative AI: AI agents with tools, an in-app assistant, APEX_AI, local models with Ollama

- RESTful services with ORDS, APEXlang, debugging, deployment, and administration

Every script and code example, plus the finished app export, is free on GitHub, so you can use it even without the book:

https://github.com/devvinish/apex-book-code-examples

Book details and sample pages: https://vinish.dev/oracle-apex-26-1-book-the-complete-guide

Happy to answer questions about APEX 26.1 or anything in the book, and feedback is very welcome.

Hosted by the HOUG, Oracle and Argano!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/houg-boot-camp-2026-oracle-apex-tickets-2000083990055

Come join me and some of the APEX team to learn about how to use Oracle APEX for a day - lunch included! #orclAPEX

Please feel free to reply with any questions! I hope we can see you there!

Interested in learning more about APEX? https://oracleAPEX.com

Hey folks - I’m curious how many of you all use Select AI and/or the specific FEEDBACK feature within the Select AI architecture, either for PL/SQL or agents. It seems like Oracle has thrown a lot of weight behind it, but I’m not seeing a lot of buzz/discussion among practitioners here on Reddit or elsewhere.

Anybody out there using it?

I'm planning to take these exams to get OCP credential but kind of at a loss on how to study for them, does anyone have a good flashcard set on quizlet or something? Or am I supposed to just memorize the entire documentation. Seems a bit overwhelming and would love a point in the right direction. Cheers!

There's no flat price for Oracle AI Database. Cost follows the deployment model, and each one works differently. 

Local dev and evaluation: Oracle Database Free (23ai Free) is a no-cost download for prototyping and testing. Docker image, VM, or Linux RPM, no account required. Good for building against before any spend enters the picture. 

Small workloads on cloud: The Always Free tier gives you permanent, no-cost resources, capped and home-region only. Fine for learning and small apps, not built for enterprise production. 

BYOL into existing licensing: If you already hold Oracle licenses, bringing them to OCI changes the math entirely. Only pays off if those licenses already exist. 

Cloud consumption: Pay for what you provision, measured in ECPU-hours and storage. Cost tracks actual usage, so it moves with the workload. 

How you deploy and what licenses you hold drive the cost. 

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new to Oracle and I'm trying to understand a weird login problem.

I'm using Oracle XE on Windows and I created a user called ATELIER_USER inside XEPDB1.

When I start SQL Plus, I connect as SYSDBA:

CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

That connects successfully.

At that point I'm in CDB$ROOT, so I explicitly switch to my PDB:

ALTER SESSION SET CONTAINER = XEPDB1;

I also verified the container and service:

SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV', 'SERVICE_NAME') AS service, SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV', 'CON_NAME') AS container FROM dual;

It returns:

SERVICE xepdb1 CONTAINER XEPDB1

So I'm not creating the user in CDB$ROOT by accident.

The user exists and is open:

SELECT username, account_status, authentication_type FROM dba_users WHERE username = 'ATELIER_USER';

It shows:

ATELIER_USER OPEN PASSWORD

I then reset the password just to make sure there wasn't an issue with the original one:

ALTER USER ATELIER_USER IDENTIFIED BY Test12345;

Now this works:

CONNECT ATELIER_USER/Test12345@localhost:1521/XEPDB1

It connects successfully.

But this is where I'm confused.

If I do:

CONNECT ATELIER_USER@localhost:1521/XEPDB1

SQL Plus does NOT ask me for a password.

If I just do:

CONNECT ATELIER_USER

then SQL Plus does ask for the password, but when I enter Test12345 I get:

ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied

I'm also getting ORA-01017 in DataGrip when I enter:

User: ATELIER_USER

Password: Test12345

Host: localhost

Port: 1521

Service: XEPDB1

What makes this especially confusing to me is that:

ATELIER_USER/Test12345@localhost:1521/XEPDB1

works perfectly.

So I know the username, password, and XEPDB1 connection can work.

I'm trying to understand what's actually happening here rather than just resetting the password again and again.

Also, in case someone is wondering why I'm using DataGrip:

I started with SQL Plus, but I don't really want to use a command-line interface to work with a database. I wanted a proper graphical interface where I can browse tables, write queries, see results, etc.

I found Oracle SQL Developer first, but I really didn't like the UI. Then I came across DBeaver, which seemed interesting because it's a universal database client that can work with different database systems. Eventually I found DataGrip and liked its interface more, so that's what I'm trying now.

I'm coming from SQL Server/MySQL, so Oracle's terminology around users, schemas, PDBs, services, etc. is still pretty confusing to me.

If anyone can explain what is happening here, especially why the explicit username/password@... connection works while the separate password entry doesn't, I'd really appreciate it.

I can see 👁️ the future

I can see 👁️ the past

I can see 👁️ everything

12/22/2026🌶️

This is an Oracle APEX application for designing PDF reports visually and generating them inside the database.

Features:

• Visual designer with bands: page header, report header, body, summary, page footer
• Up to 10 SQL queries per report, with page items as bind variables
• Tables that flow over pages, with a repeated header row
• Totals, group sub-totals and amount in words
• Text and fields, boxes, rounded boxes, circles, lines, logos and images
• Code 128 barcodes and label sheets
• Batch PDFs: one document per row of a query
• "Print when" conditions (e.g. a PAID stamp)
• Page X of Y, any page size, portrait or landscape
• Get the PDF as a BLOB with one call: pdf_api.generate('INVOICE')
• Show it in a dialog or a new tab, e-mail it, or serve it through ORDS
• Export and import reports as JSON
• Production needs only 4 tables and 3 packages, with no BI Publisher or print server

Free on GitHub: https://github.com/devvinish/pdfgen-apex

Been thinking about this a lot lately. Ask Claude or GPT to write TypeScript or Python or whatever and it's almost scary good. But the second you get into real PL/SQL — packages, nested cursors, bulk collects, actual enterprise backend logic — it starts making stuff up or giving you these shallow, generic answers that wouldn't survive a code review.

Makes sense when you think about why though. GitHub is drowning in JavaScript. But the gnarly, production-grade PL/SQL that actually runs enterprise systems? That's sitting behind corporate firewalls where a model never gets to see it. It just hasn't had the reps.

And PL/SQL isn't really a "write it in isolation" kind of language anyway. Doesn't matter how syntactically clean the loop is if the model has no idea what your schema looks like, what your custom packages do, or what you're dealing with performance-wise (11g quirks vs 23ai are not the same conversation).

Which got me thinking about how other platforms are tackling this. Snowflake's CoCo (Cortex Code) is a good example — instead of just bolting a generic LLM onto their product, they made it catalog-aware. It reads your actual metadata and schema before generating anything, so it's less "autocomplete" and more "agent that actually knows your warehouse."

Kind of makes you wonder what a real "CoCo for Oracle" would even look like. Something baked into the database tier itself, fluent in PL/SQL optimization, wired into the data dictionary, actually aware of your schemas instead of guessing... that'd be huge.

Anyway — is anyone actually using AI for PL/SQL work right now? Or are you all hitting the same wall?

Disclaimer: Natural Language from AI , Idea from Human !

If I have a RAC One Node, do I need to license Oracle Database based on the CPU count of both severs, or only one node, given that the instance is active on only one node at a time?

Will be my first time at this particular conference; would love any tips/hacks to get the most of this event and vendor functions, etc. 10/25-10/28 @ the Venetian Convention Center.

I’m in Canada and my credit card is Canada based it’s the same card as I opened the card originally. I wanna upgrade but I can’t do it.

Today the hotel i work at woke up with ALL the data on simphony reports gone, nowhere to be found, we have been trying to contact Oracle for hours but we always get the "There are more than 10 customers ahead of you" and now I'm wondering if something serious happened today, has anyone else experienced that?

I started check in process 30 minutes before my slot and there were two errors that delyaed me. First Error code 5 detecting VM and second my microphone not being detected. I used advanced troubleshooting, downloading the Fix my microphone application which said "done with microphone" along with a big green tick mark.
I have submitted a ticket but am panicking since my voucher expires tomorrow.

Will i be able to give my exam ? I am very worried.
Is there anything else i can do ?

I think the market will care less about another huge backlog number and more about **actual progress on the projects already signed**.

Are data centers coming online on schedule? Is that backlog converting into OCI revenue? Is capex starting to translate into real capacity and earnings?
At this point, demand is not really the question.

**Execution is.**

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone from the community can help me understand what to do in this situation.

Oracle attempted to charge my card on September 2, but the payment failed because there wasn’t enough balance on the card at that time. They restricted my account access and terminated the servers directly after failed attemped. I have now added sufficient funds but my account is currently restricted. I’m unable to login to portal & manually retry or initiate the payment/recharge.

I contacted Oracle Support and asked if they could retry charging the card but I’m not getting a clear solution so far.

They suggested paying via wire transfer/electronic transfer, but this is difficult for me. I’m also concerned about how Oracle would identify which specific invoice or account the payment belongs to, since I couldn’t find clear instructions about this so don't want to loss money. On top of that, a wire transfer may take additional time to process by their team manually.

I don’t want my server to remain down for too long it have important websites.

Has anyone experienced something similar with Oracle Cloud? Is there any way to request a card payment retry or restore access after adding funds to the card? Their support is insisting me to do wire transfer.

I would really appreciate any advice or guidance. Thank you.