Had my adventures today. Most of the packages are compile and the XDB utility packages are in place (will come back on those in a later post). Apparently as said before, Mark has added some extra new functionality “Application Security” for use with APEX. This almost locked me out today after bringing into place all the packages, dependencies etc. While almost finished, my APEX “admin” account was locked out. I did a reset of the admin password but then I got the neat security message: “Access denied by Application security check. Application access restricted to internal workspace users.“. Oops.
Although…Its actually cool …
😉
Hacked my way in via amongst others resetting the admin password again and xdbconfig.xml content that controls the (as it is called in the APEX domain) PL/SQL Gateway (aka the XMLDB Protocol Server).
The looks…
I don’t think a lot has changed to the application since Carl and Mark worked on it, besides the now build-in Application Security part (Managing XML Content with Oracle XML DB and Oracle Application Express). I didn’t cross-reference it yet with the “original” from OOW 2008, checking it via my old pictures of the presentation in 2008
Anyway. So does it look like? Have a look at the following pictures.
You might have already seen the web page in my earlier post. It also enables you to login using a defined “Application Principle” account.
Click on the picture to enlarge
After you have entered a correct username and password or the correct security principle and password combination, the main page of the XFILES lightweight Content Management application is shown.
Click on the picture to enlarge
Via this page, you are able to create new directories (folders as they are called) and or new files (aka as resources). The definitions “folders” and “resources” are derived from the WebDAV environment and in principle the main page enables you to use a lot of the WebDAV enabled X(ML)DB Repository. The following picture gives you an impression of an upload menu page and some extra possibilities.
Click on the picture to enlarge
You can check files in, version them, secure them, lock them, etc, etc. If I am not mistaken then Carl created the (have to check/ask) Javascript based menu you see in the next pictures. It pops up if you would click the first “TYPE” icon in the file overview sub page.
Click on the picture to enlarge
After you have clicked on the “TYPE” icon, a menu pops up with all the additional options as mentioned. This menu gives you direct access to the XMLDB functionality: WebDAV, ACL Security, Versioning, Check-In and Check-Out options, enable/disable file locking mechanisms, etc. You also might notice in the screens the automatic MIME type / file recognition, file size and more in the main page. There is also a XFILES demo that supports automatic extraction of EXIF data (if available) from pictures and, for example, enhanced search options partially based on Oracle Text indexing and XMLIndex searching.
Click on the picture to enlarge
The last picture shows the file Check-In page where you can check in “resources”, the files, you would like to upload or alter. I am not yet sure what the “deep” option is used for. It could be that it has something to do with the possibility to set hard or soft file links in the XDB Repository. Just as on *Nix systems you can create soft links to files. But, as said, I am guessing here. Will have to check.
Click on the picture to enlarge
I hoped you liked this first small tour in the APEX XFiles application, you will probably see more during the follow up in this series. Whatever may come. Hereby a promise that I will release, in whatever form (I hope to write an set-up and installation guide before) the application before the Dutch Sinterklaas bank holiday (5 December), so you have something to fiddle around with during your bank holidays in December if you want…
😎
By the way, be very aware, that the ” Application Security” functionality is stated as / mentioned:
“The following 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.”
Related Content
Looks good so far 😉
It would be cool Dimitri, if you (or someone else), could come up with a proper APEX menu, although I am not sure if it is yet possible, due to the fact that even Carl generated the menu (I think/have to check) in Javascript.
…and by “menu”, I mean the “copy, move, check-in, etc” menu shown on this page.