Zehoo’s approach, which uses simple language and a style easily decipherable by database and application creators, can be described as problem- or project-centered. If you are to resolve an issue in Oracle Application Express--or as technical people call it, APEX--using a rapid application development (RAD) approach, then chances are you will find it in this book. While other books on Oracle database topics [1,2] follow a traditional style that is quite straightforward and mundane, this author is quite gung ho, focusing on problems and examples. He goes straight to the solution without much fanfare, which most of the practitioners in the field may find interesting and absorbing.

In the opening chapter, the author, as one would expect, discusses some background information about APEX and how it works (that is, the deployment model in APEX--how to install it, set up a team-based approach, and manage the application development process). The rest of the chapters are devoted to specific problems ranging from data entry applications of various sorts to the APEX logic layer, in which the author discusses adding server-side validation scripts using a Web service and sending an email from a form. In the chapter “Customizing Look and Feel,” one is given a good hands-on tutorial on adding an image to one’s form, creating a new theme in the application, and so on. The chapter “Visualizing Your Data” covers various report types, adding charts, map data, and dashboards in an application.

We are part of a global economy, and different parts of the globe increasingly affect our daily lives. Aspects of the globalization of applications, such as language considerations and date and time zone issues, are covered quite well in a single chapter. Tips on improving application performance--for example, page-access frequency and how such analysis can be done--follow. The very important issue of securing one’s application is covered next, focusing on the issues of authentication, authorization, and vulnerabilities. Finally, the author covers the issue of deploying an application, including exporting and importing one.

Having received a thorough grounding in all aspects of application development and design, the reader should now be ready to develop and deploy an integrated mini-application--and that’s what the last chapter covers. The author does it brilliantly by using a simple application pertaining to a book catalog.