Understanding Branches

A branch is an instruction to go to a specific page, procedure, or URL. For example, you can branch from page 1 to page 2 after page 1 is submitted.

You create a branch by running the Create Page Branch Wizard and specifying Branch Point and Branch Type. The Branch Type defines the type of branch you are creating. For more information about Branch Types, see online Help.

Topics:

Defining a Branch Point and Action
Branching Conditionally

Defining a Branch Point and Action

When you click a standard tab in an application, the Application Express engine sets session state, executes computations, and then links you to the target page. It does not run any processes or explicitly defined branches. In cases where the page is submitted without clicking a tab, the Application Express engine explicitly defines branches to direct users to a subsequent page.

You can control when a branch executes by making a selection from the Branch Point list. Available options include:

On Submit: Before Computation - Branching occurs before computations, validations, or processing. Use this option for buttons that do not need to invoke any processing (for example, a Cancel button).
On Submit: Before Validation - Branching occurs after computations, but before validations or processing. If a validation fails, page processing stops, a rollback is issued, and the page displays the error. Because of this default behavior, you do not need to create branches to accommodate validations. However, you may want to branch based on the result of a computation (for example, to a previous branch point).
On Submit: Before Processing - Branching occurs after computations and validations, but before processing. Use this option to branch based on a validated session state, but before performing any page processing.
On Submit: After Processing - Branching occurs after computations, validations, and processing. This option branches to a URL or page after performing computations, validations, and processing. When using this option, remember to sequence your branches if you have multiple branches for a given branch point.
On Load: Before Header - Branching occurs before a page is rendered. This option displays another page instead of the current page or redirects the user to another URL or procedure.

Depending upon the Branch Type you select, you can specify the following additional information in the Action attributes:

The page number of the page to which you want to branch
PL/SQL procedure which ultimately renders a branch target page
A URL address

Branching Conditionally

Like other controls, branches can be made conditional. To create a conditional branch, make a selection from the Condition Type list, and enter text in the expression fields to implement the condition type you choose.