Hello guys

Referenced documents:

https://matthiashoys.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/uninstallation-of-apex-from-a-default-oracle-11gr2-database/

https://www.oracledbwr.com/oracle-apex/oracle-application-express-18-1-installation/

Let us see how Oracle APEX (Which will eventually replace Oracle FORMS (regardless whether you like that fact or not) for small to medium applications) could be installed on your Windows 10/Server this time.

We’ll be trying the latest version of ORACLE APEX 18.2 & Windows 10 Pro running the latest version 1809 (as on date, fully patched) and Oracle database 11g R2 (11.2.0.4). Oracle depends upon VC++ components loads, so make sure your Windows box is fully patched.

Step #1

Download Oracle APEX installer from APEX repository. Please note, for APEX 18.x, you MUST have 11G R2 11.2.0.4 or later database. 11g R2 11.2.0.4 is only available for customers with valid support, hence if you are a student, freelancer, you best bet is 12c database, that is still freely available to download.

Step #2

Unzip the downloaded .zip file to a finely structured directory. For example, you can extract the zip file to D:\APEX, that will create another “apex” folder within “D:\APEX\”. Check the attached image

I usually keep all the Oracle Installers under a single folder, called “D:\Oracle_Installers”. So basically the rest of the instructions, I will be using the same directory structure. Please don’t get confused.

Step #3

Switch to the apex folder from an elevated command prompt, in my case to “D:\Oracle_Installers\apex_18.2\apex”. Source the database environment (eg: SET ORACLE_SID=ORCL) in case if you have multiple Oracle products installed in the same box

Step #4

Start SQLPLUS as sysdba

A default installation of 11g R2 installs APEX, which you should remove at this stage. If you are too eager to know which version is installed, you my run the following query

select version from dba_registry where comp_id='APEX';

If you haven’t removed the APEX installation, it should return you a row with installed version information of APEX

You should remove the existing APEX prior installing the 18.x version(s). To remove the installed version, please execute as following

@apxremov.sql

Wait for the uninstallation to complete, exit SQL and start SQLPLUS once again as sysdba (Mandatory)

Now we can start the installation of APEX 18.x. Prior starting the installation let us create a dedicated tablespace for APEX.

CREATE TABLESPACE APEX DATAFILE 'D:\ORADATA\ORCL\apex01.db' SIZE 1G;

Now execute the SQL for installing APEX 18.x

@apexins APEX APEX TEMP /i/

(Note the forward slash "/")

Wait for the installation to finish. My box has a SSD, hence the installation completes in few minutes time (3-5 minutes I believe). It may take bit more time, depending upon the hardware resources available.

Once the installation completes successfully, we have to configure the APEX. To configure execute “apex_epg_config.sql” that is available in the current path. Please note, here is the catch, as with the installation, Oracle expects forward slashes around the parent folder where you have the image files. So, I have extracted the installation files to “D:\Oracle_Installers\apex_18.2\” & this is the PARENT directory for apex installer. Hence we will call the EPG script as below (correct your path appropriately)

@apex_epg_config.sql D:/Oracle_Installers/apex_18.2/

(Note all back slashes are replaced with forward slashes)

Once the script finally exists after successfully copying the image files to APEX repositories, you need to unlock the following Oracle database schemas

ALTER USER anonymous ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
ALTER USER xdb ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
ALTER USER apex_public_user ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
ALTER USER flows_files ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

Now, go ahead with the last configuration by executing

@apxconf.sql

This script will ask for ADMIN user details, Select ADMIN as admin user and provide an email address. Please note, you must provide a punctuation symbol for the password and allowed punctuations are as below

(!"#$%&()``*+,-/:;?_).

That’s all folks. If there are no errors, you are all good to go. You may need to configure your database server for better performances, which we will discuss bit later.

Now try to access the APEX installation. Unless you have changed the ports, you should able to access the portal by visiting http://localhost:8080/apex/apex_admin

regards,

rajesh