After months of dedicated work and fine-tuning, I’m thrilled to introduce a major release of the United Codes Rich Text Editor Pro 23.2. While we quietly rolled out version 23.1 earlier this year (March) with fixes and groundwork for new features, version 23.2 is about taking your rich text editing experience in Oracle APEX to new heights.

With this release, I've packed a plethora of features and enhancements, each designed to revolutionize how you craft rich text documents in Oracle APEX.

CLOB Support Across Oracle APEX Versions

In November 2022, Oracle introduced a very important enhancement - CLOB handling in the APEX session state. The change was pending for a long time, and finally, CLOB values exceeding VARCHAR2 limitation can be processed using native components starting with APEX 22.2.

Of course, our Rich Text Editor Pro supports CLOB values starting with APEX 19.2 - with a little help from our supporting process plug-in.

Nevertheless, the new plug-in version uses the native CLOB support in APEX 22.2 and above. With that said, the plug-in can now seamlessly handle CLOB values across all APEX versions - with or without supporting plug-ins.

A New Image Upload Mechanism

Our revamped image upload mechanism makes adding and managing images a breeze. The new mechanism uploads all images simultaneously, in parallel requests to the plug-in RESTful service. Independently on the upload result, the end-user can inspect which images were uploaded and which failed. 

Parallel image upload is not the only enhancement! The plug-in upload mechanism is configurable to handle issues automatically or rely on the end-user decision. Also, based on customer requests, the supporting dynamic action plug-in allows you to start uploading images without submitting a page!

Complete Image Management

The plug-in session state already allowed you to handle uploaded images. I need to be frank; it wasn’t perfect. With the latest release, I fixed the gap, and the plug-in tracks images added by the end user better than before.

Processing recently uploaded images is simplified thanks to the new supporting process action iterating over uploaded images - no more iterating over plug-in collection. 

Now, a developer can specify custom PL/SQL code executed for uploaded images, just like when deleting uploaded images from the database. Combining these two processes, you can easily implement image handling on the database table level in the context of a rich text document saved in the database as CLOB value.

Third-Party Integrations

The Froala editor can be integrated with third-party solutions, helping end-users write rich text documents. With this release, your end-users can:

• Write Math and Chemistry formulas using Wirs Math Type.
• Experience live collaboration with CODOX.io
• Correct spelling and grammar mistakes using WProofReader WebSpellChecker
• Control and revise changes in rich text documents.

We are excited about giving your end-users an enhanced experience while preparing educational materials, working with other users on the same document, and controlling how the document changes!

In the following days, I will be covering these topics in detail. Still, I would like you to explore the new possibilities directly in the plug-in live demo sample application without waiting for my next blog post covering the plug-in features. You can read the 23.2 changelog here.

The New Sample Application

Our brand-new sample application showcases the plug-in's capabilities, making exploring and understanding the features easier than ever. Over the last six months, I've dedicated myself to enhancing the plug-in and how we introduce it to you – our valued customers and potential new users.

Because I wasn’t satisfied with the previous design, the complexity, and the lack of clarity, the release 23.2 includes a remastered sample application. The new live demo is designed to be a hub of information about the plug-in features. 

Now, you can easily preview the APEX component configuration used for specific examples, jump directly to documentation, or just go to different examples utilizing the described feature. For your convenience, examples include two main sections: overview and live demo.

In the overview, you can learn more about component configuration, important links, or ideas on how to use the feature.

In the live demo section, you can start the guided tour - the assistance explaining the example -, test various predefined configurations, and test the plug-in!

Component Definition Preview

As mentioned above, you can preview the configuration used to implement an example page directly in the sample application. Clicking the component in the section overview results in opening a modal page presenting a component definition in the same way as the APEX page designer.

Navigation

You can use these three buttons in the breadcrumb region to easily navigate through all examples without returning to the examples list view when exploring example pages in supporting plug-ins or example use cases. 

The button in the middle allows fast navigation to any example in the current example group.

Guided Tours

I used our Guided Tour Pro plug-in to create assistance, explaining components used on most pages. These tours are mostly static, explaining the basics to test the plug-in feature. Tours are also interactive, prompting you to take action. 

If you think you are stuck at some point, don’t hesitate to click Start Guided Tour to learn more about the page.

Additional guided tours are available on some pages, especially for specific regions, for example, when expanding the home page live demo settings or on the example page showcasing how the plug-in tracks images in a rich text editor.

New Examples

Rich Text Editor Pro is a very advanced plug-in, allowing developers low-code and custom coding customizations - it’s impossible to transfer all the knowledge through the plug-in documentation only. 

Because of that, I implemented the new sample application with various examples - from simple showcasing plug-in features to more complex ideas on how the plug-in can be used.

In the new sample application, you can expect:

• 24 pages highlighting supporting dynamic action plug-in
• 7 pages highlighting supporting process plug-in
• 19 pages implementing different use cases

Conclusion

I hope you will like the new features I prepared for our amazing Rich Text Editor, and please stay tuned for the next blog post in which I will describe plug-in features in detail.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback. Your insights drive the innovation behind the United Codes Rich Text Editor Pro, and we're committed to improving your Oracle APEX experience with each release.

Feel free to explore the new possibilities directly in the plug-in live demo sample application without waiting for my next blog post covering the plug-in features.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need help with the Rich Text Editor Pro 23.2. We're here to help you make the most of this powerful tool.

Happy editing!