How Do I Make the Map’s Tooltip Display a Detail Page in Oracle APEX

Map regions in Oracle APEX allow for rich visual representation of spatial data, and tooltips can be extended to do more than show information — they can also become a powerful navigation tool. By configuring map tooltips to act as links, you can guide users from a spatial marker directly to a detail page, improving the user experience and creating a more intuitive, interactive application.

How to Configure a Map Tooltip to Navigate to a Detail Page

1. Create or Identify the Detail Page

   • In your APEX application, create a Detail Page using the Form or Report + Form wizard, or use an existing one.

   • The page should have a primary key item (e.g., P5_ID) used to fetch the appropriate record.

2. Prepare Your Map Region's SQL Query

   • Your map SQL query must include the primary key and any relevant fields you want to pass to the detail page.

   • Example:

     SELECT store_id,
            store_name,
            region,
            '{ "type": "Point", "coordinates": [' || longitude || ',' || latitude || '] }' AS geometry,
            '<a href="' || APEX_UTIL.PREPARE_URL('f?p=&APP_ID.:5:&SESSION.::NO:5:P5_ID:' || store_id) || '">' || store_name || '</a>' AS tooltip_html
     FROM stores
     

3. Set the Tooltip Column to Use HTML

   • In Page Designer, select the Map region.

   • Under the Attributes section:

     • Set Tooltip Column to the tooltip_html column.

     • Enable Escape Special Characters = No (to allow HTML rendering).

   • This configuration ensures that when the user hovers over a map marker, the tooltip contains a clickable link to the detail page.

4. Alternative: Use Dynamic Actions for Navigation

   • Instead of hyperlinking in the tooltip, you can respond to click events on map features.

   • Create a Dynamic Action on the map region.

     • Event: Custom Event (e.g., mapShapeClick)

     • True Action: Redirect to Page in this Application

     • Set Page: your Detail Page (e.g., 5)

     • Set Items: map your shape's primary key to P5_ID using the &DATA.STORE_ID. syntax.

   • You will need to emit the shape’s ID as part of the feature’s data attributes using the map region’s SQL.

Example Use Case

A store location map with clickable tooltips:

• Marker: Each store is shown as a pin.

• Tooltip: "View Store Details" link.

• Clicking opens Page 5 with full details like sales, hours, and contact info.

Best Practices

• Always use APEX_UTIL.PREPARE_URL for secure and session-aware URL generation.

• Use meaningful labels for the tooltip links (e.g., "View Details" instead of a raw ID).

• Minimize the amount of text in the tooltip; keep it focused on navigation.

• Use CSS if needed to style the link inside the tooltip to look like a button or clean hyperlink.

• Test navigation for various screen sizes to ensure tooltips remain accessible and clickable.

Example:

In this example we are going to make the tool tip “clickable and display a pre-existing detail page.

Step 1 – Go to the layer that displays the tooltip.

 

Step 2- Go to the Link area and select the type of redirect that you want

 

Step 3 – Set the link

 

Step 4 -  Select

• Type- In this case “Page in this application”

• Page – This is the application page number. In this case is page #5.

• Set Items

• Name: The name of the control IN THE DESTINATION page

• Value: The value you are passing TO the destination screen. We are passing the Identity column value.

Save your changes and browse. In this example we open a “drawer” form of the location.

Oracle APEX Documentation

Explore the official documentation for Map regions and navigation techniques:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/apex/
Search for: “Map Region”, “Tooltip Column”, “Dynamic Actions”, “APEX_UTIL.PREPARE_URL”.

Conclusion

Transforming your APEX map tooltips into interactive navigation tools provides a seamless and spatially intuitive way to guide users through your application. By embedding detail page links directly into the tooltips, you create a more dynamic and efficient user experience. With the right SQL, a prepared URL, and proper APEX configuration, this powerful feature is easy to implement and offers a professional enhancement to any map-enabled APEX project.