APEX applications that run without Javascript just got harder

Long ago in 2009 I wrote a blog post called Accessible APEX and in it there is a link to an application on apex.oracle.com that would work even when Javascript was disabled in the browser.  However, since APEX 5.1 changes the way page items are mapped, that old application no longer works when Javascript is disabled.

Oh dear , never mind, who cares?  Why would anyone in 2017 want to disabled Javascript in their browser?  Why should we care if they do?  And the APEX 4.2 Installation Guide states that: 

To run or develop Oracle Application Express applications, Web browsers must have JavaScript enabled.

(I can't find the equivalent statement for APEX 5.1 but it clearly still stands.)

Well, we have to build our applications for our customers, and believe it or not some customers even in 2017 insist that the application must work when Javascript is disabled.  For example, the UK's Government Digital Services (GDS), which controls any work built for UK government public-facing websites:

Make any new web page or feature usable from the start with only HTML - no images, CSS or JavaScript, just HTML.

...

Of course, some users turn off features in their browsers deliberately - you should respect their decision and make sure they can still use your service.

(In fact, GDS's rules preclude building in APEX for other reasons, such as it not being Open Source, but there is currently one GDS service running on APEX 4.2.5 and it works when Javascript is disabled!)

Prior to APEX 5.1 this wasn't too difficult to achieve: mainly it was a case of using a basic HTML submit button on forms rather than the default APEX buttons that use Javascript.  There was more to it than that to achieve a useful application, but that was the main difference.  When the page was submitted all the page items would still be passed to wwv_flow.accept via the p_vnn parameters.  But in APEX 5.1 these parameters are gone and all the page items and values are passed as a single JSON string - which is put together by APEX using Javascript.  If you disable Javascript, the JSON string is not generated and the page item values do not get updated in session state.

This is almost the final nail in the coffin of Javascript-disabled APEX applications - but not quite: you can still have Javascript-disabled APEX applications as long as you don't use page items!  The g_f01-g_f50 arrays used by legacy tabular forms (for example) still work, so you can use the apex_item package or your own equivalent to render HTML controls named "f01"-"f50" that get submitted via wwv_flow.accept whether Javascript is enabled or disabled.  To prove it I have created a new APEX 5.1 version of my 2009 application that works when Javascript is disabled.

It's not pretty, but it works...

If building a brand new application that had to run with Javascript disabled, APEX is probably not the ideal choice.  But at least it can be done if you really have to, and there is some kind of (difficult) upgrade path for pre-APEX 5.1 applications that are required to run with Javascript disabled.