Saturday, July 21, 2018

Five Minute Drills

  At KScope there is an APEX event.  "Open mic night"  if you have something to show you get up to 5 minutes to show it.  That isn't the only rule but it is an interesting challenge. 
  When I posted my last video on Relay Workflow I got a lot of really good feedback and a couple pieces of advice.  First, try to limit video time to 5 minutes.  Second, show us how it works not the extra details yet.
  So I ditched the slides and took the challenge to show off Relay in 5-minute Drills.  The first of which are up on youtube now.  This was less than easy.  The initial steps required to register, connect and integrate are pretty easy but still could not be contained to 5 minutes.  It was a good exercise though and really makes you think about process and delivery in more detail.


  I had to break it up into two Drills and the second ran over, but I wanted to complete the thought.  The new videos are located at the following links:
  So, the next installment is in, and I am one more step closer to releasing Relay for those that want to try it out on apex.oracle.com

  Til then, Cheers!


Sunday, July 01, 2018

It was a Labor of .... well it took a bit of work.

It has been a while. For a lot of things and for a lot of reasons.  Today I want to extend a greeting to all those serving in uniform no matter your country.  As the US celebrates its Independence Day, I recognize that those in uniform bear the brunt of diplomacy and its failings but the service you provide is invaluable to those that you serve.  I wish you all Peace now and in the future.

This latest post is to commemorate the first real showcase of a project that I have been working on for a while. It's origins go back as far as when I first began to use Application Express.  I had worked with several other systems that included a workflow component and almost immediately felt the absence of one in the APEX offerings. 
  I began with the idea, it matured into a design, then to code, and finally it got a name "Relay".   I originally thought that Domino might be better but IBM already had a product with that name, and I was uncomfortable with the idea that the perception of the name included a lot of work with one good show at the end.
  Over the years I worked, here, there; whenever I had some time in my life with my wife, (her patience with this should be notably appreciated), my two sons, and a full-time career.  Now, I have come to a point where I'd really like to show some of what it means to have workflow in your applications.  Today I uploaded a short (25min) video to youtube.com.  You can find the video here (https://youtu.be/N56G9VYbmtg) or by clicking the logo.
I am hoping that Relay will fill the gap I have seen for far too long in APEX and allow us to redefine some of how we create our applications in the future. 

There will be questions, I know this.  There will be comments, I know that too.  There will also be more videos and posts from me as I show more of what this has become.  Please tell me what you think.  As for release and a decision on commercial availability, I am leaving that as an open-ended topic for the moment but I am open to thoughts here as well.

Enjoy!