Oracle Web Application Programming for PL/SQL Developers

The hands-on, rapid-mastery guide to Oracle PL/SQL Web development. bull; bull;Start building Oracle 9i PL/SQL Web applications-hands on bull;Covers the entire development lifecycle, from design to deployment bull;Provides instruction for PL/SQL Server PAGES, the PL/SQL Web Toolkit, and the Oracle 9i Application Server bull;Introduces Web basics-HTML, JavaScript, basic UNIX and FTP, and image handling bull;Reviews PL/SQL and SQL concepts bull;Includes practical tips and troubleshooting help Leverage your SQL and PL/SQL experience to build powerful data-driven Web and e-business applications-starting right now! In this book, a team of Columbia University PL/SQL instructors cover the core pieces of what you need to know, from preliminary configuration to deployment of dynamic, data-driven applications. You'll find practical examples, hands-on exercises, and dozens of practical tips and solutions designed to save you time, effort, and frustration. One step at a time, discover how to: bull; bull;Configure Oracle's Internet Application Server bull;Control Web applications and servers remotely bull;Build Oracle Web applications with PL/SQL bull;Create dynamic, data-driven PAGES bull;Test, debug, troubleshoot, and deploy your applications bull;Maintain and optimize running Web applications Whether you've been writing simple queries or complex PL/SQL code, this book takes your database development skills onto the Web-and into the future!

SUSAN BOARDMAN, Lead Software Engineer for IntraSphere Technologies, specializes in using PL/SQL to build intranet Web applications. She has extensive experience with retail systems, back-end processing, and university applications.

SOLOMON MORSE, Senior Consultant for Net Quotient Consulting Group in New York City, specializes in designing and developing database-integrated e-business Web applications. He has developed Web applications for cutting-edge e-journals as well as for Fortune 500 companies.

MELANIE CAFFREY is an Oracle consultant in New York City, providing front-end and back-end Oracle solutions to numerous clients. She is co-author of the Oracle DBA Interactive Workbook and Oracle Database Administration: The Complete Video Course.

BENJAMIN ROSENZWEIG is an Integration Specialist at IQ Financial Systems. Prior to that he was a principal consultant for 3 1/2 years at Oracle Corporation in the Custom Development Department. He has a wide range of computer experience from creating an electronic Tibetan-English Dictionary in Kathmandu, Nepal, to supporting presentations centers at Goldman Sachs and managing a trading system at TIAA-CREF.

The authors are all members of the faculty at Columbia University School of Continuing Education.

PrefaceOracle Web Application Programming for PL/SQL Developers gives PL/SQL programmers the knowledge necessary to build powerful applications on the Web.PL/SQL, together with the Oracle Internet Application Server (iAS), provides a programmer with the ability to truly develop an entire application, from control over complex data processing on the back end, to the creation of a standardized, professional look-and-feel on the front end.A programmer familiar with PL/SQL, but not necessarily familiar with the Web, can make the leap to building dynamic Web applications using this book. This book brings together the core pieces of the puzzle of PL/SQL Web development in one volume. In addition to reviewing a few basic PL/SQL concepts with examples, the practicalities of building a Web site are covered, including HTML and JavaScript. The essentials of how a computer connects to the Internet are explained, along with how a Web server handles requests for Web pages, Web browsers, image handling, FTP, and some of the basic UNIX commands you need to get started developing PL/SQL Web applications.As you read and complete the exercises, you apply what you learn by building an application of your own. You create Web pages, connect them to an Oracle database, and use the power of PL/SQL to create a dynamic, database-driven, Web front-end application. The application presented in this book includes PL/SQL procedures developed using both PL/SQL Web Toolkit and PSP approaches, so that you learn and evaluate different development strategies. This hands-on approach gives you the opportunity to address many of the day-to-day challenges that a PL/SQL Web developer faces. Once you create the application, you should find you are ready to apply your knowledge to other projects.Throughout the book you will analyze code in detail and are offered practical advice on writingand debuggingcomplex code. Anyone that has struggled with the realities of JavaScript validation when it is embedded in HTML and PL/SQL, or dealt with similar situations, can refer to this book for tips and examples.So many different elements work together to create a Web page that coordinating them can easily become the greatest challenge faced by the PL/SQL Web developer. This book focuses, in particular, on clarifying these issues. Many of the questions that a Web developer would ask are answered in this book. For example: There are references available on PL/SQL, HTML, and JavaScript individually, but how do these elements interact? In cases where they can accomplish the same task, how do they compare? What are the limits of each?Putting all these various elements together to make an Oracle Web Application is much like preparing tapas, a Spanish meal comprised of many different appetizer-sized dishes. The beauty of tapas is the way individual elements work together to create a complex and delicious meal. That complexity is also a characteristic of Web programming. To achieve the results you desire, you must combine your knowledge of many different areas, and how they interact. This can be a tricky and frustrating process, but ultimately very powerful, and ideally very satisfying as well. Who This Book Is ForThis book is intended for anyone who needs an introduction to Web application programming with Oracle's PL/SQL language.Readers are expected to be familiar with Oracle's SQL and PL/SQL languages. This book assumes you have the Oracle knowledge that can be obtained from the companion books in this series: Oracle SQL Interactive Workbook by Alice Rischert (Prentice Hall), and Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook by Ben Rosenzweig and Elena Silvestrova (Prentice Hall). The ideal readers are those with some experience with Oracle relational databases. This book reviews basic PL/SQL concepts, particularly those that are helpful in building the Web application you create by