Quick tip: default only for new records

If you have an ordinary Oracle APEX form with the standard Automatic Row Fetch process, and the page has an optional item with a default value, APEX will set the default on new records automatically. However, if the user queries an existing record, Oracle APEX will also fill in a missing value with the default value. This might not be what is desired – if the user clears the value they would expect it will stay cleared.

If you only want the default to be applied for new records, change the attribute on the item so that the default is only applied to new records:

1. Set Default Value Type to PL/SQL Expression
2. Set Default value to something like:
   case when :P1_ID is null then 'xyzzy' end