Passing Values with Commas Between Pages Using the Link Builder in Oracle APEX

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In my first year as a developer, one issue that gave me a bit of a headache was needing to pass multiple item values from one page to another using a link. This had always worked reliably—until one day it started behaving strangely on a specific page. The only difference between that page and the others was that it was passing values that contained commas.

I started searching for solutions and found several options that, at the time, seemed a bit complex. I kept digging until I found something simple. Let’s jump straight to the solution and save you some time.

The problem:

Example:

Let’s say I have the content row below (this could also be a row from an Interactive Report, Grid, or any other component).

Notice that the title contains words separated with commas. The same applies to the progress bar, which also has a value with a comma.

In the actions button, I have a link to create a new row based on this one. This link takes the user to a form page, with fields pre-filled based on the current row content. Normally, we would configure the link like shown in the screenshot below—specifying the target page and passing the values directly.

However, if we do this, when clicking the link generated by the Link Builder, one of the following issues may occur:

• The page throws an error because one of the items is receiving an invalid value

• The page loads, but the values are mapped to the wrong fields

• The page loads, but the values containing commas are truncated after the comma

The solution:

The quickest and most practical way to handle this is by adding a backslash (\) before and after the value you’re passing via the Link Builder, like in the example below:

This happens because when we pass values through the Link Builder, Oracle APEX internally uses commas as separators between multiple values. That’s why it gets confused when a value itself contains a comma.

The \ works as if you were wrapping the value in quotes, telling the Link Builder that the comma belongs to the value and is not a separator.

Yep, it’s that simple. Try it and your headache will be gone. Once you've tested it, drop a comment below and let me know how it worked for you.