Monday, July 28, 2008

Hello world

Hi,

This is the first example of PLGMAPS. It will demonstrate how to integrate an "Hello World map" into an Oracle Application Express (APEX) application. You don't need to understand JavaScript or the Google Maps API to add maps to your APEX applications.

I take into consideration that you have read the following white paper of Oracle.
Integrating Oracle Application Express with Google Maps

1) Create a Substitution String to store your Google Maps API Key value.





2) 3 things to add on the Hello World Map page











3) Page attributes - HTML body attribute
This code will load/unload the map. For more technical information, read the "reducing browser memory leaks" from the Google Map API Concepts documentation.






4) PL/SQL Region - PLGMAPS code
This is where you will add the calls to PLGMAPS package to generate the JavaScript code.

















5) HTML Region - Hello World Map
This is where you set the width and height of your map.









6) Example










Wow! That was easy... more advanced features to come ;)

Kick Off

Hi,

During the past few weeks, I was testing many Google's services. My favorite, the Google Maps is the one that attract and retain my attention. I like the idea of maps in web applications for displaying locations, events, contacts, people, etc.

I read an Oracle White Paper of March 2008 called Integrating Oracle Application Express with Google Maps. After giving it a try, I decided to dynamically build the map using PL/SQL. The usage of the JavaScript API used by Google Maps requires knowledge of Oriented Object Programming and might be a show stopper for some developers.

I decided to build a PL/SQL package that can generate the JavaScript code needed to add Google Maps to your web applications.

I plan to release a version for the public in the future, when there's enough functionality and documentation.

To stay updated come back. :)