Statement of Direction

Oracle continues to invest in the development and support of Oracle APEX. This page highlights the roadmap for the upcoming releases.

Short Term

The following list is our short term roadmap and outlines the general direction for upcoming releases.

  • Redwood UI

    The user interface of APEX and the App Builder will be refreshed to align better with Redwood, Oracle's new user experience design language.

  • Friendly URLs

    The URL syntax for pages and applications is being simplified to allow for friendlier URLs.

  • Faceted Search Enhancements

    Faceted Search will be expanded to allow for conditional facets and the ability to refresh chart regions, among other enhancements.

  • New Productivity Apps

    We will be adding two new Productivity apps to the App Gallery: Employee Directory and a Ticketing System.

  • Data Loading for Oracle Autonomous Database

    Data loading will be extended to support loading files from Oracle Cloud OCI Object Store, and also support file formats Parquet and Avro.

  • Mega Menus

    Navigation Menus in Universal Theme will be expanded to support a new mega menu user interface.

Long Term Roadmap

The following list is our long term roadmap that we plan to target for future releases.

  • Interactive Grid Improvements

    Interactive Grid will be extended to support URL-based filtering, a new PL/SQL API, and other enhancements.

  • Report Export and Printing

    Improvements include built-in PDF printing, native Excel export, and deeper integration with APEX Office Print.

  • Additional Oracle JET-based Components

    We plan to adopt additional Oracle JET components for items such as the Date and Time Picker, Color Picker, and others.

  • New Maps Component

    A new region type will be provided that will enable rendering a map component based on maps from Oracle or other map providers.

  • Improved Life Cycle Management

    We plan to introduce improved application export format, simplified patching, and more.

Release Plan and Naming Convention

Oracle APEX 18.1 was the first major release in calendar year 2018. The next release in the same calendar year was APEX 18.2. Oracle APEX will no longer provide patch set releases, such as APEX 18.1.1, instead only offering full releases. This same naming convention will be used in subsequent years, therefore, the first release in calendar year 2019 will be APEX 19.1.

Note: Patch set exceptions (PSEs) will still be delivered for major defects and generally communicated on the Oracle APEX Known Issues page. Some PSEs will be delivered in a PSE bundle, rather than individually. Be sure to read the solution provided and search for the bug number specified on the Oracle APEX Known Issues page. For PSE bundles review the readme to determine all of the bug fixes included in the bundle.

This change in release strategy is of significant benefit to both cloud and on-premises deployments of Oracle APEX. The primary advantage of this release strategy is reduced downtime when upgrading an existing Oracle APEX installation. The architecture also provides the ability to immediately rollback if necessary. Utilizing patch sets, instead of a full release, requires significantly more downtime and with no easy way to rollback the patch set installation. This change in release strategy also provides a vehicle for features to be introduced sooner to our customers.

THE PRECEDING IS INTENDED TO OUTLINE OUR GENERAL PRODUCT DIRECTION. IT IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY NOT BE INCORPORATED INTO ANY CONTRACT. IT IS NOT A COMMITMENT TO DELIVER ANY MATERIAL, CODE, OR FUNCTIONALITY, AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON IN MAKING PURCHASING DECISIONS. THE DEVELOPMENT, RELEASE, AND TIMING OF ANY FEATURES OR FUNCTIONALITY DESCRIBED FOR ORACLE'S PRODUCTS REMAINS AT THE SOLE DISCRETION OF ORACLE.