APEX

Hi,
i have been out of touch from APEX for a while now. what i am trying to achive might be simple. here is what i am looking for.

i have a page that has a region with several dropdowns(Items) for the user to filter. the default for all dropdowns is 'ALL'. when this page is loaded the dropdowns are defaulted to 'ALL' and my query is written such that it displayed results taking these default values. it is as good as no 'where condition' in the query. the user can make selection from the dropdowns and press a button called 'SELECT' to display the filtered results. all is good and works.

what i want is, when the page is loaded i dont want the query to run for 'ALL'. its a timeconsuming query and nobody cares for results with filters set to 'ALL'. i just want the filters to be shown on the page. the user can just click 'SELECT' to view all results or filter on the dropdowns and 'SELECT' to view filtered results.

any inputs how to achieve this are appreciated.

hope i am clear.

Thanks