Loading Ext JS onto the Embedded PL/SQL Gateway

Before loading Ext JS, the EPG needs to be configured and enabled. To check this step has been done, attempt to log into APEX as the admin user from a browser using http://machine.domain:port/apex and substituting the appropriate values for machine, domain, and port (default is 8080). If this is unsuccessful, review the database installation documentation on Application Express post-install configuration steps before proceeding.

When using the EPG, the Application Builder images referenced by the alias /i/ are stored in the database within the Oracle XML DB repository. You can access these images using either WebDAV or FTP. I've found FTP to be more reliable, especially when doing bulk file transfers, hence the instructions will be for FTP.

The first thing to do is check whether FTP has been enabled, which is done using the following SQL code:

SQL> select dbms_xdb.getftpport from dual;
GETFTPPORT
----------
0

If the FTP port is set to 0, FTP is currently disabled.

To enable it, connect to SQL*PLUS as XDB or SYSTEM, or any account with DBA or XDBADMIN privileges, and issue the following commands:

SQL> exec dbms_xdb.setftpport('2100'); -- 1
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> alter system register; -- 2
System altered.
SQL> select dbms_xdb.getftpport from dual; -- 3
GETFTPPORT
----------
2100

You should now be able to log in via FTP. For the time being, it's easier to log in as SYSTEM. There are many FTP tools available, so it's just a matter of choosing one based on personal preference. In my case, I'm using the free FileZilla client, available from http://filezilla-project.org/, in both Windows and Linux versions.

If you're using XE, you should see something similar to what's shown in the following screenshot:

Create a new folder named /ux/ in the XML DB repository, and then upload the Ext JS files into this folder. Remember, you can either deploy all the files in the Ext SDK, or just the minimal set comprising the ext-all.js file and adapter and resources folders.

To verify the Ext JS library is now accessible on the web server, check whether you can successfully fetch one of the files. Substituting the appropriate host and port values, use your browser to verify you can now see the Ext JS assets:

http://host:port/ux/ext-3.3.1/resources/images/default/tree/drop-yes.gif should show a tick, as seen in the following screenshot:

If you decided to do the full Ext SDK install, now is a good time to bookmark the documentation and samples: