APEX_APPLICATION.G_PRINT_SUCCESS_MESSAGE (or Donny From The Block)

There are known knowns
These are things that we know that we know
There are known unknowns
That is, there are things we now know we don't know
But there are also unknown unknowns
These are things we do not know we do not know.

Am I the only one that can see that there's a sort of rough meter to Donald Rumsfeld's famous words? Why hasn't anyone sampled it and laid it over a slammin' dance or hiphop beat yet? There's a chart number one in there somewhere - and I'm giving it to you for free.

Every day I bump into the unknown unknowns of Application Express, discovering - often by happy serendipity - cool things that it is capable of. It's almost like Apex is a character in Heroes, and I'm not yet aware of its superpowers. (Don't believe me? Set the boolean apex_application.g_read_users_bloody_minds to TRUE and watch your app fly!)

Last week I needed to dynamically output a success message to the screen. Yes, I know that whilst creating my processes, validations etc, I can specify the messages that I would like to send to the user - but how can I dynamically control that #SUCCESS_MESSAGE# region?

After a lot of searching I chanced upon this variable: apex_application.g_print_success_message. This is the variable that holds the success message that is output to the screen and it can be set programmatically.

APEX_APPLICAITON (which is the synonym for the FLOWS_03000.WWV_FLOW package) is a veritable chocolate box of useful stuff - chances are that you've used some of it in the past, but perhaps, like me, you are unaware of exactly how much it contains. When I get a spare afternoon (like that'll ever happen!) I intend to sit down and study it.

If only - and I know I sound like a broken record here - Oracle would deign to give us more than the for dummies documentation that is currently available! (I'm currently considering whether to go on this Advanced Apex course but I'm hesitant because I don't know how advanced it'll actually be: has anyone out there been on it?)

Talking about records I'm already working on my second single with Donald Rumsfeld:

Don't be fooled by the rockets that I've got
I'm still, I'm still Donny from the block.
Used to have a little, now I've got Iraq
I'm still, I'm still Donny from the block.

See you at number 1!