Deploying an Application to a APEX 3.1.1 Runtime Environment

Question

Hello Everyone,
I'm trying to work out how to deploy an application from a development to runtime environment but am facing a few issues / uncertainty and would appreciate any input/help on this. To begin with here is my environment:
- Apex 3.1.1
- Two Oracle 9i (9.2.0.8) instances running on different hosts (development environment on host AA and runtime environment on host BB)
- Using the Oracle 9i HTTP Server with mod_plsql (on both hosts)
- DEVLWS workspace +(on development env)+
- DEVSCHEMA schema +(on development env)+
- USER01 - non-developer & non-admin user +(on development env)+
- DEV01 - developer and admin user +(on development env)+
I'm performing this test deployment with the downloaded application Timesheets from apex.oracle.com with the application ID of 111 (when imported into my development environment).
Situation:_
I have no issues on the development environment. I can import the Timesheet app into it and run it using either the USER01 or DEV01 ID as it was imported into the DEVSCHEMA schema. However, when I try to deploy over to my runtime environment, here is where things gets sketchy on this.
1) In order to get this application (Timesheets) to run properly on my runtime environment, I've to perform a Oracle9i EXP of my DEVSCHEMA objects and import this into my runtime environment using the IMP utility to get the proper workspace and associated objects over,
--> I tried exporting the workspace on the development env but even after running it on the runtime env, I was not able to get the application to run (missing workspace schema, users etc).
2) From my development environment, I export the Timesheet app with supporting objects option and on the runtime environment, I use SQL*Plus as such:
SQL> alter session set current_schema=FLOWS_030100;
SQL> @f111.sql
Once the script completes, I use the http://hostBB:7776/pls/apex/f?p=111.1 url and was able to get in to the application, however I found things like the images are missing and I've to manually export these again from the development env and run the generated SQL script file on my runtime env.
Is there a better (and documented step by step) way of doing this kind of deployment? The Apex User Guides talks about creating a packaged application but I didn't see this as a way to deploy specifically into a runtime environment as I followed it and still had missing images. When I did the export of the Timesheet application, I used the DEV01 id and made sure I selected the 'with supporting objects' option but yet I've to do most of the steps manually (i.e. build the schema, tablespace, application tables via exp/imp) and again the images were not included.
Is there a document / note available that discusses this in better detail (deploy from Development env to Runtime env) so that I can do cut down the manual steps and making sure that my developers can effectively deploy our apps with minimal fuss and headaches? Appreciate any input.

Answer 1

...I've to perform a Oracle9i EXP of my DEVSCHEMA objects and import this into my runtime environment using the IMP utility to get the proper workspace and associated objects over,...
EXP/IMP will not do workspaces. You can use the Application Express apex_admin application to export a workspace to a file. Then, in a runtime environment, you can install that workspace file using SQL*Plus. This way of
creating the workspace also ensures that it will have the same workspace ID as it did in the original database, making possible the installation of exported applications from application export files from the original
workspace into the new workspace having the same workspace ID and also where the installed applications are to have their original application IDs.
... and still had missing images. When I did the export of the Timesheet application, I used the DEV01 id and made sure I selected the 'with supporting objects' option but yet I've to do most of the steps manually (i.e. build the schema, tablespace, application tables via exp/imp) and again the images were not included.
Images aren't part of application exports. Exporting the images to a file and then installing them using that file and SQL*Plus is the way to do it.
As Patrick mentioned, running the application export file in SQL*Plus doesn't run the supporting objects script. It creates the script in the datbase. But in a runtime environment you can't run the script because the runtime environment lacks the Application Builder.
SQL> alter session set current_schema=FLOWS_030100;
SQL> @f111.sql
You can install applications by connecting as a less privileged schema. Any schema assigned to the workspace into which the application is to be installed will do. To install workspace export files (or applications), you can also use a schema that has been granted the role APEX_ADMINISTRATOR_ROLE.
Scott