Thoughts about the APEX_UTIL package

The APEX_UTIL package in Oracle Application Express is a mixed bag of "miscellaneous" stuff.

From the documentation: "You can use the APEX_UTIL package to get and set session state, get files, check authorizations for users, reset different states for users, get and purge cache information and also to get and set preferences for users."

It's clear that, over time, a lot of stuff has been placed here that really belongs elsewhere, or in its own package. By splitting up this package, it should be easier for the developer to find the functions and procedures he is looking for.

Here are my thoughts on how the APEX_UTIL package could be refactored. I'm not saying remove all this from the package in the next APEX release, but move the code to new/other packages and just leave wrappers in the APEX_UTIL package that call the new package, so that old code continues to work. Mark these as deprecated in the docs, and maybe remove after a few more releases.

Move to a new APEX_CACHE package:

  CACHE_GET_DATE_OF_PAGE_CACHE Function
  CACHE_GET_DATE_OF_REGION_CACHE Function
  CACHE_PURGE_BY_APPLICATION Procedure
  CACHE_PURGE_BY_PAGE Procedure
  CACHE_PURGE_STALE Procedure
  CLEAR_APP_CACHE Procedure
  CLEAR_PAGE_CACHE Procedure
  CLEAR_USER_CACHE Procedure
  PURGE_REGIONS_BY_APP Procedure
  PURGE_REGIONS_BY_NAME Procedure
  PURGE_REGIONS_BY_PAGE Procedure
 
Move to a new APEX_USER package:

  CHANGE_CURRENT_USER_PW Procedure
  CHANGE_PASSWORD_ON_FIRST_USE Function
  CREATE_USER Procedure
  CREATE_USER_GROUP Procedure
  CURRENT_USER_IN_GROUP Function
  DELETE_USER_GROUP Procedure Signature 1
  DELETE_USER_GROUP Procedure Signature 2
  EDIT_USER Procedure
  END_USER_ACCOUNT_DAYS_LEFT Function
  EXPIRE_END_USER_ACCOUNT Procedure
  EXPIRE_WORKSPACE_ACCOUNT Procedure
  EXPORT_USERS Procedure
  FETCH_USER Procedure Signature 1
  FETCH_USER Procedure Signature 2
  FETCH_USER Procedure Signature 3
  GET_FIRST_NAME Function
  GET_LAST_NAME Function
  GET_USER_ID Function
  GET_USER_ROLES Function
  GET_USERNAME Function
  GET_EMAIL Function
  SET_USERNAME Procedure
  SET_EMAIL Procedure
  SET_FIRST_NAME Procedure
  SET_LAST_NAME Procedure
  LOCK_ACCOUNT Procedure
  PASSWORD_FIRST_USE_OCCURRED Function
  UNEXPIRE_END_USER_ACCOUNT Procedure
  UNEXPIRE_WORKSPACE_ACCOUNT Procedure
  UNLOCK_ACCOUNT Procedure
  WORKSPACE_ACCOUNT_DAYS_LEFT Function
  STRONG_PASSWORD_CHECK Procedure
  STRONG_PASSWORD_VALIDATION Function
  GET_ACCOUNT_LOCKED_STATUS Function
  REMOVE_USER Procedure
  RESET_AUTHORIZATIONS Procedure [DEPRECATED]
  PUBLIC_CHECK_AUTHORIZATION Function [DEPRECATED]
  RESET_PASSWORD Procedure
  RESET_PW Procedure
  GET_AUTHENTICATION_RESULT Function
  SET_AUTHENTICATION_RESULT Procedure
  SET_CUSTOM_AUTH_STATUS Procedure
  GET_GROUPS_USER_BELONGS_TO Function
  GET_GROUP_ID Function
  GET_GROUP_NAME Function
  SET_GROUP_GROUP_GRANTS Procedure
  SET_GROUP_USER_GRANTS Procedure
  IS_LOGIN_PASSWORD_VALID Function
  IS_USERNAME_UNIQUE Function
  GET_ATTRIBUTE Function
  SET_ATTRIBUTE Procedure
 
Move to a new APEX_PRINT package:

  DOWNLOAD_PRINT_DOCUMENT Procedure Signature 1
  DOWNLOAD_PRINT_DOCUMENT Procedure Signature 2
  DOWNLOAD_PRINT_DOCUMENT Procedure Signature 3
  DOWNLOAD_PRINT_DOCUMENT Procedure Signature 4
  GET_PRINT_DOCUMENT Function Signature 1
  GET_PRINT_DOCUMENT Function Signature 2
  GET_PRINT_DOCUMENT Function Signature 3
  GET_PRINT_DOCUMENT Function Signature 4
 
Move to APEX_IR package (this has already been done):

  IR_CLEAR Procedure [DEPRECATED]
  IR_DELETE_REPORT Procedure [DEPRECATED]
  IR_DELETE_SUBSCRIPTION Procedure [DEPRECATED]
  IR_FILTER Procedure [DEPRECATED]
  IR_RESET Procedure [DEPRECATED]

Move to APEX_SESSION package:

  GET_SESSION_LANG Function
  GET_SESSION_STATE Function
  GET_SESSION_TERRITORY Function
  GET_SESSION_TIME_ZONE Function
  SET_SESSION_HIGH_CONTRAST_OFF Procedure
  SET_SESSION_HIGH_CONTRAST_ON Procedure
  SET_SESSION_LANG Procedure
  SET_SESSION_LIFETIME_SECONDS Procedure
  SET_SESSION_MAX_IDLE_SECONDS Procedure
  SET_SESSION_SCREEN_READER_OFF Procedure
  SET_SESSION_SCREEN_READER_ON Procedure
  SET_SESSION_STATE Procedure
  SET_SESSION_TERRITORY Procedure
  SET_SESSION_TIME_ZONE Procedure
  GET_EDITION Function
  SET_EDITION Procedure
  SET_SECURITY_GROUP_ID Procedure
  FETCH_APP_ITEM Function
  GET_NUMERIC_SESSION_STATE Function
  GET_CURRENT_USER_ID Function
  IS_HIGH_CONTRAST_SESSION Function
  IS_HIGH_CONTRAST_SESSION_YN Function
  IS_SCREEN_READER_SESSION Function
  IS_SCREEN_READER_SESSION_YN Function
  SET_CURRENT_THEME_STYLE Procedure [DEPRECATED]
  GET_DEFAULT_SCHEMA Function
  SET_WORKSPACE_Procedure

Move to APEX_EXPORT package:

  GET_SUPPORTING_OBJECT_SCRIPT Function
  GET_SUPPORTING_OBJECT_SCRIPT Procedure
 
Move to APEX_PAGE package: 

  GET_HIGH_CONTRAST_MODE_TOGGLE Function
  GET_SCREEN_READER_MODE_TOGGLE Function
  SHOW_HIGH_CONTRAST_MODE_TOGGLE Procedure
  SHOW_SCREEN_READER_MODE_TOGGLE Procedure

Leave in APEX_UTIL (for now):

  CLOSE_OPEN_DB_LINKS Procedure
  COUNT_CLICK Procedure
  CUSTOM_CALENDAR Procedure
  INCREMENT_CALENDAR Procedure
  SUBMIT_FEEDBACK Procedure
  SUBMIT_FEEDBACK_FOLLOWUP Procedure
  GET_FEEDBACK_FOLLOW_UP Function
  STRING_TO_TABLE Function [DEPRECATED]
  TABLE_TO_STRING Function [DEPRECATED]
  SAVEKEY_NUM Function
  SAVEKEY_VC2 Function
  KEYVAL_NUM Function
  KEYVAL_VC2 Function
  HOST_URL Function
  URL_ENCODE Function
  REDIRECT_URL Procedure
  PREPARE_URL Function
  GET_HASH Function
  GET_SINCE Function
  GET_PREFERENCE Function
  SET_PREFERENCE Procedure
  REMOVE_PREFERENCE Procedure
  REMOVE_SORT_PREFERENCES Procedure
  GET_BUILD_OPTION_STATUS Function Signature 1
  GET_BUILD_OPTION_STATUS Function Signature 2
  SET_BUILD_OPTION_STATUS Procedure
  GET_BLOB_FILE_SRC Function
  GET_FILE Procedure
  GET_FILE_ID Function
  HTML_PCT_GRAPH_MASK Function
  FIND_SECURITY_GROUP_ID Function
  FIND_WORKSPACE Function
  GET_APPLICATION_STATUS Function
  GET_GLOBAL_NOTIFICATION Function
  SET_GLOBAL_NOTIFICATION Procedure
  SET_APP_BUILD_STATUS Procedure
  SET_APPLICATION_STATUS Procedure
 

These are just my suggestions, but I do hope the APEX developer team will do some kind of refactoring (even if not exactly as suggested above) in future releases of APEX.

If you would like to see it done differently, please leave feedback in the comment field below! :-)