Carl Backstrom's Blog

While APEX ships with some built in javascript functionality, and very nice javascript functionality if I say so myself ;). We are definitely not everything to everybody, which is on purpose.

There are so many very good 3rd javascript libraries , and we love our 3rd party javascript libraries , out there (extjs , YUI , DOJO and many more) that we don't want to be making that choice for developers since the proper choice can be different all the way from the image directory level to the workspace , application and even page by page level.

In fact sometimes I feel bad , well not that bad ;), for forcing even our library on developers. In 3.1 our library can be turned on and off on a page by page basis.

But I digress, if you have filesystem access integrating in a 3rd party library is as easy as any other web page you just include in your path.

But if you are in a hosted environment, you need to pick a library or build of a library that is all in one file.

jQuery is a good example of a 1 file library that can be easily integrated into APEX using #WORKSPACE_IMAGES# or #APP_IMAGES# . And I've created a very simple example here to show that it works , http://apex.oracle.com/pls/otn/f?p=11933:151

I'm going to be looking into different ways of including in other libraries that require a directory structure when you don't have file system access, I think XDB might be helpful here, but if someone has already solved this particular problem please comment or blog about it as it will be very helpful to quite a few people.

I'm a web developer first and foremost so this comment really hit home.

And it was found on a Slashdot article which makes it better/worse. It's the first comment down and I doubt it will move down from the top.

>>
I once joked with a colleague that Internet Explorer has probably wiped billions off pounds off the world economy. I laughed, paused for a moment, and realised it's probably completely true. What could the world have done with all those countless hours hacking their CSS to support the trash that is Internet Explorer?

Doesn't it make you depressed?

Simon
>>

Good job Simon I don't know who you are but that is spot on.


All this is in response to a Blog posting on the IE blog http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/default.aspx where they release the name of the next IE version.

Name??
Are you freaking kidding me?
What about standards compliance??
What about fixing layout bugs??

I have a real good name for Internet Explorer but I can't write it in this family friendly blog!


Of course fixing these things might impact Adobe's and Microsoft's little Air vs Silverlight war and who would want that?

PS: I hate IE and all the time of mine it has wasted, and to be fair I used to hate Netscape 4.5 just as much for the same reason.

LONG LIVE FIREFOX!!!!!!!!!!!

The plane - nothing
The automobile - chump change
The light bulb - don't make me laugh

Computers and Electricity only matter because you need them to run this invention.

And the best invention ever made is the Roomba.

I just won some ill gotten Vegas wealth. I rarely gamble ,you can't when you live here, but when you turn a little into alot in less than 10 min it's basically free money and deserves to get spent on something you don't normally get. So after a couple days of thinking about it I decided one of the things I always wanted was a robot and why not one that cleans.

I have an inside outside dog that sheds all the time, and after three days the Roomba has made a huge difference. It might not be for everyone or every house, especially if you have a dog that might think it's an expensive chew toy, mine just looks at it annoyed when it gets near. But for me it's great. If it lasts a couple weeks , just to make sure , I'm going to go buy another one for my upstairs.

Plus it's hackable with an optional serial interface.

Oh I've also named it "Mega Maid"!!! extra points for people that know where that name came from.

EDIT:
Well Doug Gault knew the answer it's from Spaceballs a very very funny Mel Brooks movie.

And just to show I'm not a complete hater , I loved webvan and it is still useful to me.

See it helps me store some of my sports gear, I lost my $15 dollar deposit on that one ;).



PS: it was the blog blog blog blog part that made me do this!