Supporting Objects

When deploying an application we may often need to create or modify data, tables, stored procedures, and other database objects necessary for our application to run correctly. One way to deploy database changes is through SQL script files. In the SQL script files we enter DML and DDL statements for all required database changes. These scripts can then be run against the destination database schema to make the required changes. The SQL script files are separate to our application and means that there is an additional step on top of deploying the application source.

Supporting Objects is a function in APEX that can be used to create a single file for deployment. This file includes the application source together with any database changes, data load scripts, or static files. This means that we have a single file to deploy in our entire application. Using this approach is similar to having an installer for our application and is referred to as a Packaged Application in APEX...