Getting up to speed with Oracle Application Express (APEX)

Want to start developing web applications with Oracle Application Express? Make sure you don't reinvent the wheel and adapt good practises from industry experts right from the start.

Here are some tips for beginners:

1. If you don't already have APEX installed, don't install it yourself, but get a free workspace within minutes on apex.oracle.com to be used for demo purposes.
For production purposes, you can use the free tier on cloud.oracle.com with two databases up to 20 GB data without any cost.

2. Start making your first apps using our APEX tutorial (German) or from Oracle (English):
apex.mt-itsolutions.com/development (includes good practises!)
apex.oracle.com/en/learn/tutorials

Take note of some the shortcuts from Oracle: apex.oracle.com/shortcuts

3. Install and explore all prebuilt apps from the App Gallery in the APEX builder

4. Learn about how to build process-oriented apps using Flows for APEX

flowsforapex.org

5. Watch some great sessions about APEX:

apex.oracle.com/officehours
www.youtube.com/user/doagtv/search?query=APEX

6. Read some great books for in-depth information and for reference:
Oracle APEX: das umfassende Handbuch (German)
Oracle PL/SQL Programming
JavaScript & jQuery: The missing manual

7. Go through "some" presentations:
knowledgebase.mt-itsolutions.com
DOAG On-Demand tickets: en.shop.doag.org/events/ondemand/shop

8. Enroll in the free APEX course from Oracle and get your certification:
apex.oracle.com/go/foundations

apex.oracle.com/en/learn/training

9. Engage with the APEX community online:
apex.world
apex.oracle.com/forum
twitter.com/search?q=orclapex
Follow various blogs using your favorite RSS client

10. Meet APEX developers personally at regional conferences:
ODTUG Kscope (USA/Canada)
DOAG APEX Connect (Germany)
NLOUG APEX World (Benelux)
DOAG Conference (Germany)

11. Events to stay in touch with APEX developers between the conferences:
APEX Meetup Groups

12. Gain/share more best practises:
PL/SQL: github.com/doag

If you are starting with APEX, but don't have any clue about what a database is, I suggest you have a look here: allthingsoracle.com/oracle-for-absolute-beginners-part-1-databases