Viscosity
logo-black
  • Data
    • Database Services
      • Performance Assessment
      • Proactive Healthcheck
      • Database Migration & Consolidation
      • Performance Tuning
    • Microsoft Services
      • Microsoft Azure Services
      • Microsoft SQL Server Services
      • Microsoft Gold Azure Partner
    • Oracle Services
      • Oracle Database 19c
      • RAC
      • GoldenGate
      • Data Guard
      • Oracle & SQL Database
    • Viscosity Remote Services
  • Apps
    • App Dev Services
    • Oracle APEX
    • Viscosity AMP
    • Viscosity-ai
    • Shane-ai
  • Cloud
    • Cloud Services
    • Hybrid Cloud
    • Viscosity Edge Cloud
    • Virtualization & Cloud Expertise
    • Microsoft Azure Services
  • Infrastructure
    • Infrastructure Services
    • Exadata
      • Exadata Resale & Services
    • Oracle Database Appliance
      • Oracle Database Appliance Resale & Services
      • ODA Health Checks
    • Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance
    • VMware to KVM Migration
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Virtual Training
    • 2025 Past Events
    • 2024 Past Events
    • 2023 Past Events
    • 2022 Past Events
  • About
    • About Us
    • News
    • Blogs
    • Publications
    • Contact
Hit enter to search or ESC to close
ENGAGE WITH US

Application Development , APEX , Oracle Development

Best Practices and Tips for APEX Development: Part I - Date and Number Formats

By Julio Flores
September 27, 2024

Welcome to part one of a series in which I’ll share some of my best practices and tips for Oracle APEX development that I presented during a recent Lunch and Learn session. Through this series, I hope to help fellow developers improve coding standards, streamline development processes, and make the most of APEX's customization capabilities. Today, I’ll focus on an essential yet often overlooked aspect: Date and Number Formats.

 

Date and Number Formats

Usually when developing an APEX application, many of us tend to rely on the Format Mask attribute, which is the fastest way to display data in a readable format. If you are a little bit more advanced in APEX, you might use the application date, date time, timestamp, and time zone format for the dates in Interactive grids, reports, or items. But what happens when you need different formats depending on the context or the information showing, or if it is a number or currency format?

 

Over the years, I've found that the best way to maintain consistency across an application is to centralize formats using application Substitutions. These can be used in most if not all, components and items and even inside PL/SQL code if needed. 

 

 

By centralizing formats in one place, you make future changes quick and easy. If a format needs updating, you don’t have to hunt through every component or page in the app. Instead, a single change to the Substitution can update the format everywhere it's used. It’s a significant time-saver that reduces the risk of missing components that rely on a specific format.

 

Here's an example of how Substitutions can be applied both in components and PL/SQL:

 

Components:

 

PL/SQL:

 

This approach has saved me countless hours of refactoring, especially when a simple format change is needed across a large application. I hope it helps streamline your development too.

 

This is just the beginning! Stay tuned for Part II of this series, where I’ll dive into component customization and how you can make your APEX applications more dynamic and user-friendly. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or insights you’d like to share.

 

All posts
About Author
Julio Flores

Julio Flores is a seasoned Full Stack Developer with over 12 years of experience and currently serves as a Software Engineer at Viscosity. He specializes in building solutions from the ground up using a wide range of technologies and platforms. An expert in Oracle APEX and PLSQL, Julio has delivered numerous internal and webinar presentations on these topics. Prior to his role at Viscosity, he also shared his expertise in Android development. Julio's commitment to continuous learning and his passion for sharing knowledge have made him a valuable asset in the developer community.

You might also like
SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT
logo for footer

Viscosity's core expertise includes:

Data Transformation, Emerging Technology, High Availability & Scalability Solutions, Cloud Migrations, Performance Tuning, Data Integrations, Machine Learning, APEX Development, and Custom Application Development.


Solutions

Resources

Partnerships

Careers

Clients

 

Contact
Email: sales@viscosityna.com

Telephone:
(469) 444-1380

Address:
3016 Communications Pkwy Suite 200, Plano, TX 75093

Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by Viscosity North America.