PLEX was created to be able to quickstart version control for existing (APEX) apps and has currently two main functions called BackApp and Queries_to_CSV. Queries_to_CSV is used by BackApp as a helper function, but its functionality is also useful standalone.

See also this resources for more information:

PLEX project page on GitHub
Blog post on how to getting started

Feedback is welcome.

STANDARDS

All main functions returning a file collection of type apex_t_export_files
All main functions setting the session module and action infos while processing their work

DEPENDENCIES

APEX 5.1.4 because we use the packages APEX_EXPORT and APEX_ZIP

SIGNATURE

PACKAGE PLEX AUTHID current_user IS
c_plex_name        CONSTANT VARCHAR2(30 CHAR) := 'PLEX - PL/SQL Export Utilities';
c_plex_version     CONSTANT VARCHAR2(10 CHAR) := '1.2.1';
c_plex_url         CONSTANT VARCHAR2(40 CHAR) := 'https://github.com/ogobrecht/plex';
c_plex_license     CONSTANT VARCHAR2(10 CHAR) := 'MIT';
c_plex_license_url CONSTANT VARCHAR2(60 CHAR) := 'https://github.com/ogobrecht/plex/blob/master/LICENSE.txt';
c_plex_author      CONSTANT VARCHAR2(20 CHAR) := 'Ottmar Gobrecht';

Function backapp

Get a file collection of an APEX application (or the current user/schema only) including:

The app export SQL files splitted ready to use for version control and deployment
Optional the DDL scripts for all objects and grants
Optional the data in CSV files (this option was implemented to track catalog tables, can be used as logical backup, has the typical CSV limitations...)
Everything in a (hopefully) nice directory structure

EXAMPLE

DECLARE
  l_file_collection apex_t_export_files;
BEGIN
  l_file_collection := plex.backapp(
    p_app_id             => 100,
    p_include_object_ddl => false,
    p_include_data       => false
  );

  -- do something with the file collection
  FOR i IN 1..l_file_collection.count LOOP
    dbms_output.put_line(
         i 
      || ' | ' 
      || lpad(round(length(l_file_collection(i).contents) / 1024), 3) || ' kB' 
      || ' | '
      || l_file_collection(i).name 
      );
  END LOOP;
END;

SIGNATURE

FUNCTION backapp (
  -- App related options:
  p_app_id                    IN NUMBER   DEFAULT null,  -- If null, we simply skip the APEX app export.
  p_app_date                  IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true,  -- If true, include export date and time in the result.
  p_app_public_reports        IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true,  -- If true, include public reports that a user saved.
  p_app_private_reports       IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, include private reports that a user saved.
  p_app_notifications         IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, include report notifications.
  p_app_translations          IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true,  -- If true, include application translation mappings and all text from the translation repository.
  p_app_pkg_app_mapping       IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, export installed packaged applications with references to the packaged application definition. If FALSE, export them as normal applications.
  p_app_original_ids          IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, export with the IDs as they were when the application was imported.
  p_app_subscriptions         IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true,  -- If true, components contain subscription references.
  p_app_comments              IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true,  -- If true, include developer comments.
  p_app_supporting_objects    IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT null,  -- If 'Y', export supporting objects. If 'I', automatically install on import. If 'N', do not export supporting objects. If null, the application's include in export deployment value is used.
  p_app_include_single_file   IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, the single sql install file is also included beside the splitted files.
  p_app_build_status_run_only IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, the build status of the app will be overwritten to RUN_ONLY.
  -- Object related options:
  p_include_object_ddl        IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, include DDL of current user/schema and all its objects.
  p_object_name_like          IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT null,  -- A comma separated list of like expressions to filter the objects - example: 'EMP%,DEPT%' will be translated to: where ... and (object_name like 'EMP%' escape '\' or object_name like 'DEPT%' escape '\').
  p_object_name_not_like      IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT null,  -- A comma separated list of not like expressions to filter the objects - example: 'EMP%,DEPT%' will be translated to: where ... and (object_name not like 'EMP%' escape '\' and object_name not like 'DEPT%' escape '\').
  -- Data related options:
  p_include_data              IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT false, -- If true, include CSV data of each table.
  p_data_as_of_minutes_ago    IN NUMBER   DEFAULT 0,     -- Read consistent data with the resulting timestamp(SCN).
  p_data_max_rows             IN NUMBER   DEFAULT 1000,  -- Maximum number of rows per table.
  p_data_table_name_like      IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT null,  -- A comma separated list of like expressions to filter the tables - example: 'EMP%,DEPT%' will be translated to: where ... and (table_name like 'EMP%' escape '\' or table_name like 'DEPT%' escape '\').
  p_data_table_name_not_like  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT null,  -- A comma separated list of not like expressions to filter the tables - example: 'EMP%,DEPT%' will be translated to: where ... and (table_name not like 'EMP%' escape '\' and table_name not like 'DEPT%' escape '\').
  -- Miscellaneous options:
  p_include_templates         IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true,  -- If true, include templates for README.md, export and install scripts.
  p_include_runtime_log       IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true   -- If true, generate file plex_backapp_log.md with runtime statistics.
) RETURN apex_t_export_files;

Procedure add_query

Add a query to be processed by the method queries_to_csv. You can add as many queries as you like.

EXAMPLE

BEGIN
  plex.add_query(
    p_query     => 'select * from user_tables',
    p_file_name => 'user_tables'
  );
END;

SIGNATURE

PROCEDURE add_query (
  p_query     IN VARCHAR2,             -- The query itself
  p_file_name IN VARCHAR2,             -- File name like 'Path/to/your/file-name-without-extension'.
  p_max_rows  IN NUMBER   DEFAULT 1000 -- The maximum number of rows to be included in your file.
);

Function queries_to_csv

Export one or more queries as CSV data within a file collection.

EXAMPLE

DECLARE
  l_file_collection apex_t_export_files;
BEGIN

  --fill the queries array
  plex.add_query(
    p_query     => 'select * from user_tables',
    p_file_name => 'user_tables'
  );
  plex.add_query(
    p_query     => 'select * from user_tab_columns',
    p_file_name => 'user_tab_columns',
    p_max_rows  => 10000
  );

  -- process the queries
  l_file_collection := plex.queries_to_csv;

  -- do something with the file collection
  FOR i IN 1..l_file_collection.count LOOP
    dbms_output.put_line(
         i 
      || ' | ' 
      || lpad(round(length(l_file_collection(i).contents) / 1024), 3) || ' kB' 
      || ' | '
      || l_file_collection(i).name 
      );
  END LOOP;
END;

SIGNATURE

FUNCTION queries_to_csv (
  p_delimiter                 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT ',',   -- The column delimiter.
  p_quote_mark                IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT '"',   -- Used when the data contains the delimiter character.
  p_header_prefix             IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,  -- Prefix the header line with this text.
  p_include_runtime_log       IN BOOLEAN  DEFAULT true   -- If true, generate file plex_queries_to_csv_log.md with runtime statistics.
) RETURN apex_t_export_files;

Function to_zip

Convert a file collection to a zip file.

EXAMPLE

DECLARE
  l_zip BLOB;
BEGIN
    l_zip := plex.to_zip(plex.backapp(
      p_app_id             => 100,
      p_include_object_ddl => true
    ));

  -- do something with the zip file...
END;

SIGNATURE

FUNCTION to_zip (
  p_file_collection IN apex_t_export_files -- The file collection to process with APEX_ZIP.
) RETURN BLOB;

Function view_runtime_log

View the log from the last plex run. The internal array for the runtime log is cleared after each call of BackApp or Queries_to_CSV.

EXAMPLE

SELECT * FROM TABLE(plex.view_runtime_log);

SIGNATURE

FUNCTION view_runtime_log RETURN tab_runtime_log PIPELINED;