Preface

The Preface has the following sections:

• About this Guide

• Intended Audience

• Prerequisite Knowledge

• Related Manuals

• Feature Coverage and Availability

• How this Book is Organized

• Conventions Used in this Guide

• Acronym List

• How to Order this Manual

About this Guide

This manual introduces you to Oracle XML technology and presents several ways of implementing the technology. It includes case studies, numerous examples and sample applications. The case studies are presented according to their main function, namely, whether they are primarily used for either of the following:

• Content or Document Management

• Data Exchange and Business--to-Business purposes.

After introducing you to the main criteria to consider when designing your database-based application using the Oracle XML components, the manual then suggests some application scenarios and describes how to use the XML components together.

Examples and Sample Code

Many examples in the manual are provided with your software in the $ORACLE_HOME/xdk/java/demo/ or sample/ directory, or the rdbms/demo directory.

One detailed application is described in Chapter 13, "B2B XML Application: Step by Step". This application illustrates how to implement an XML data exchange and customized presentation application.

Pre-Authored XML or Generated XML

XML documents are processed in one of two ways:

• Pre-Authored XML stored in LOBs

• Generated XML stored in relational tables with XML tags mapped to the respective columns in tables

XML Components

The Oracle XML components are available for four language implementations:

• Java, with the XDK for Java and XML-SQL Utility for Java

• PL/SQL, with the XDK for PL/SQL and XML-SQL Utility for PL/SQL

• C, with the XDK for C

• C++, with the XDK for C++

How to use each XML component is described in Chapter 4, "Using XML-SQL Utility (XSU)" and in Parts VI through IX.

Intended Audience

This guide is intended for developers building XML applications on Oracle8i.

Prerequisite Knowledge

An understanding of XML and XSL is helpful but not essential to using this manual. For your convenience, an XML primer is included in the appendix.

Many examples provided here are in either Java, PL/SQL, SQL, C, or C++, hence a working knowledge of one or more of these languages is presumed.

Related Manuals

Refer to the following manuals for more information:

• Getting to Know Oracle8i for information about the differences between Oracle8i and the Oracle8i Enterprise Edition and the available features and options. That book also describes all the features that are new in Oracle8i.

• Oracle8i JDeveloper's Guide and Reference

• Oracle8i Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals

• Oracle8i Application Developer's Guide - Advanced Queuing

• Oracle Integration Server Overview

• Oracle8i XML Reference

Feature Coverage and Availability

Information in this manual represents a snapshot of information on Oracle XML technology components. These are changing rapidly. In order to view the latest information, refer to Oracle Technology Network (OTN) site: http://technet.oracle.com/tech/xml

How this Book is Organized

The book is organized into 9 parts, 24 chapters, and 7 appendixes. It includes an index and glossary.

Part I Introducing Oracle XML

• Chapter 1, "Introduction to Oracle XML", introduces you to the Oracle XML components, tools used to build XML applications, interMedia Text. It also describes and the issues for building XML applications on Oracle8i. This chapter includes a 'roadmap' to the information presented in this manual.

• Chapter 2, "Business Solutions Using Oracle XML", briefly describes how Oracle XML components can be used in typical content/document management and business-to-business messaging applications.

• Chapter 3, "Oracle XML Components and General FAQs", introduces you to the Oracle XML components, the XML Development Kits and XML-SQL Utility. It also summarizes the different ways you can generate XML documents for each language, Java, C, C++, and PL/SQL. It also provides Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that include a variety of general questions about Oracle XML.

Part II XML-SQL Utility (XSU)

• Chapter 4, "Using XML-SQL Utility (XSU)", describes how to use XML-SQL Utility Java and PL/SQL versions to generate and 'store' XML documents, how to INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE XML documents in the database, use the command line tool, map elements to columns. Examples in this chapter are available from $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/demo/xsu. This chapter also provides Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Part III Managing Content and Document with XML

• Chapter 5, "Using interMedia Text to Search and Retrieve Data from XML Documents", introduces you to interMedia Text, using the CONTAINS operator, how to create an interMedia Text index, how to build a query, and text query expressions. It also describes some basics about using the PL/SQL supplied package, CTX_DDL and the XML_SECTION_GROUP and its attributes, and the AUTO_SECTION_GROUP. This chapter also provides Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

• Chapter 6, "Customizing Content with XML: Dynamic News Application", describes the Dynamic News application, the three servlets used in the application, how XML-SQL Utility is used to access news data from Oracle8i, the three levels of user customization -- static, semi-dynamic, and dynamic. This chapter also includes details about customizing data presentation.

• Chapter 7, "Personalizing Data Display With XML: Portal-to-Go", describes the portal-to-go components and how they are used to extract content from a browser web site, convet this to XML, and transform this for display on a variety of devices.

• Chapter 8, "Customizing Presentation with XML and XSQL: Flight Finder", describes how Flight Finder generates XML to and from the database and uses XSQL Servlet to process queries and output the results as XML. It also discusses how Flight Finder formats XML data using stylesheets. This demo and application is available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

Part IV Data Exchange Using XML

• Chapter 9, "Using Oracle Advanced Queuing (AQ) in XML Data Exchange", introduces you to some Advanced Queueing concepts and describes how AQ and XML complement each other. It includes one Java AQ example and one PL/SQL AQ example. This chapter also provides several FAQs.

• Chapter 10, "B2B: How iProcurement Uses XML to Offer Multiple Catalog Products to Users", describes the main components of iProcurement and how iProcurement uses XML Parser for Java to parser and check incoming 3rd party catalogs and generally provide catalog content management. The DTD used by iProcurement is described in detail. The "unified" catalog is extracted form the database, loaded, and sent to Oracle Applications using a PL/SQL program.

• Chapter 11, "Customizing Discoverer 3i Viewer with XSL", describes how Discoverer 3i Viewer is used to customize web applications and customize presentation using stylehseets. It includes several FAQs.

• Chapter 12, "Phone Number Portability Using XML Messaging", introduces you the Phone Number Portability application and summarizes how XML messaging is used in iMessage Studio, Event Manager, and Adapters.

Part V Developing Applications Using Oracle XML

• Chapter 13, "B2B XML Application: Step by Step", describes in detail how to build and implement a B2B XML application using XSQL servlet and transform the XML message according to different user devices. This application also uses simple AQ messaging.

• Chapter 14, "Using JDeveloper to Build Oracle XML Applications", introduces you using JDeveloper for building XML applications, using XSQL servlet from JDeveloper, and steps to take when about building a Mobile application with JDeveloper. This chapter includes FAQs.

• Chapter 15, "Using Internet File System (iFS) to Build XML Applications", introduces you to Internet File System (iFS) and its XML features.

• Chapter 16, "Building n-Tier Architectures for Media-Rich Management using XML: ArtesiaTech", describes an advanced multi-tier XML messaging architecture for managing digital assets, such as video clips. It discusses object-oriented messaging with XML and compares XML and IDL.

Part VI XDK for Java

• Chapter 17, "Using XML Parser for Java", describes ways of using XML Parser for Java and XSLT Processor. It lists the examples provided with the software. This chapter includes FAQs.

• Chapter 18, "Using XML Java Class Generator", describes ways of using XML Java C;ass Generator. It lists the examples provided with the software. This chapter includes FAQs.

• Chapter 19, "Using XSQL Servlet", provides some insite on using XSQL Servlet. It includes diagrams that explain how the XSQL Page Processor works.This chapter includes FAQs.

• Chapter 20, "Using XML Transviewer Beans", discusses the XML Transviewer Beans and how to use them. It lists the examples provided with the software.

Part VII XDK for C

• Chapter 21, "Using XML Parser for C", describes ways of using XML Parser for C and XSLT Processor. It lists the examples provided with the software.

Part VIII XDK for C++

• Chapter 22, "Using XML Parser for C++", describes ways of using XML Parser for C++ and XSLT Processor. It lists the examples provided with the software.

• Chapter 23, "Using XML C++ Class Generator", describes ways of using XML C++ Class Generator. It lists the examples provided with the software.

Part IX XDK for PL/SQL

• Chapter 24, "Using XML Parser for PL/SQL", describes ways of using XML Parser for PL/SQL and XSLT Processor. It lists the examples provided with the software. This chapter includes FAQs.

Appendix A, "An XML Primer", introduces you to some basic and background information about XML.

Appendix B, "Comparing Oracle XML Parsers and Class Generators by Language", compares the Oracle XML Parsers and Class Generators according to implementation language.

Appendix C, "XDK for Java: Specifications and Cheat Sheets", describes the XDK for Java component specifications. Includes several top level class and method listings.

Appendix D, "XDK for C: Specifications and Cheat Sheets", describes the XDK for C specifications. Includes top level function listings.

Appendix E, "XDK for C++: Specifications and Cheat Sheet", describes the XDK for C++ component specifications. Includes several top level class and method listings.

Appendix F, "XDK for PL/SQL: Specifications and Cheat Sheets", describes the XDK for PL/SQL specifications. Includes several top level function listings.

Appendix G, "XML-SQL Utility (XSU) Specifications and Cheat Sheets", describes the XML-SQL Utility (XSU) for Java and PL/SQL specifications. Includes several top level method and function listings.

Conventions Used in this Guide

This section explains the conventions used in this book:

Text

The text in this reference adheres to the following conventions:

UPPERCASE	Uppercase text calls attention to SQL keywords, filenames, and initialization parameters.
italics	Italicized text calls attention to parameters of SQL statements.
boldface	Boldface text calls attention to definitions of terms.
names of methods, functions, executables, ...	monospaced font text callas attention to names of methods, functions, and other executables.

Acronym List

The following table lists acronyms used thoughout this manual. For further explanation of these terms refer to the "Glossary".

Acronym	Description
API	Application Program Interface
B2B	Business-to-Business applications
B2C	Business-to-Consumer applications
BC4J	Business Components for Java
CDF	Channel Definition Format. Provides a way to exchange information about channels on the internet.
CSS	Cascading Style Sheets
DDT	Document Type Definition
DOM	Document Object Model
EDI.	Electronic Data Interchange
HTML	Hypertext Markup Language
OAG	Open Applications Group
OAI	Oracle Applications Integrator
OE	Oracle Exchange.
PDA	Personal Digital Assistant
RDBMS	Relational Database Management System
RDF	Resource Definition Framework
SAX	Simple API for XML
SGML	Standard Generalized Mark Up Language
W3C	World Wide Web Consortium
WBEM	Web-Based Enterprise Management
XDK	Oracle XML Development Kit
XLink	XML Linking Language
XML	eXtensible Markup Language
XMLQuery	W3C effort to specify a query language for XML documents
XML Schema	W3C specification. XML Schema Processor automatically ensures validity of XML documents and data.
XPath	W3C recommendation specificying data model and grammar for navigating an XML document
XPointer	W3C recomendation that specifies the identification of individual entities or fragments within an XML document
XSL	(W3C) eXtensible Stylesheet Language
XSL Stylesheet	Specifies the presentation of a class of XML documents by describing how an instance of the class is transformed
XSL-T	XSL Transformation

How to Order this Manual

To order this manual, carry out these steps:

• If you are not an Oracle employee, go to the following site:

  http://store.oracle.com

  At the top of the home page, select Database > Documentation. Under Oracle8i Documentation, select Release 8.1.7 and scroll down to find this manual, "Application Developer's Guide-XML". Enter the quantity you need. Select "Buy". Follow the instructions.

• If you are an Oracle employee, to order this manual, go to the following site:

  http://store-inside.us.oracle.com

  At the top of the home page, select Database > Documentation. Under Oracle8i Documentation, select Release 8.1.7 and scroll down to find this manual, "Application Developer's Guide-XML". Enter the quantity you need. Select "Buy". Follow the instructions.