Amazon.co.uk Review
The seven Oracle employees who wrote this book have a vast wealth of experience between them and have poured it with a liberal hand into this timely tome. XML (eXtensible markup language) is very much the "next big thing" for database administrators in an increasingly Internet-aware business world.
HTML (hypertext markup language) has been the language of Web page descriptions for some while, handling relatively small amounts of text with lots of information about how that text is displayed by a browser. However, HTML is poor at handling data with a more formal structure such as that used by relational database engines. This is just the sort of information that businesses have an increasing need to exchange--so-called B2B transactions. The Internet is the ideal conduit and XML is gaining popularity as the medium for the exchange because it can encapsulate both the data and its structure.
This book is not a general purpose XML primer for the beginner, it's highly geared towards Oracle's XML implementation. At present, possibly because so much of it is new, XML feels very much like a series of bolt-ons to the main Oracle product rather than a fully integrated part of the package. Precisely because of this, the XML Handbook is so useful because it pulls together all the disparate elements and covers the whole Oracle approach.
Among expected topics like the XML Developer's Kit (XDK), Java tools and development for Oracle8i and Oracle Application Server come surprising but welcome chapters on the Internet File Server (IFS) and on future trends. These inclusions surprise as they aren't directly relevant to XML but, coming from people in the thick of Oracle development, they make interesting reading.
For Oracle users who need to get into Oracle-style XML, this is a great resource; if you don't need the Oracle slant, however, look elsewhere for a guide to XML. --Mark Whitehorn
Amazon.co.uk Review
Oracle Corporation has made XML a key component of their overall strategy and product architectures. Unfortunately, like most Oracle technologies, it is multi-faceted and adorned with numerous names and acronyms. The Oracle XML Handbook is a small title with a big mission: to put XML in perspective as it exists in the Oracle universe.
The book follows the familiar style of other Oracle Press documentation, presenting the "big picture", followed by chapters devoted to the various individual products and technologies involved. This title is meant for those already familiar with Oracle and would be confusing for readers simply looking for an overview of Oracle's XML capabilities.
This isn't a tutorial per se, but there are plenty of small code examples that illustrate the basic techniques involved. For example, in the discussion of the Simple API for XML (SAX), the authors include some Java code that illustrates how to use SAX to pluck information from an XML document. The higher-level topics such as development for Oracle8i databases with the XSQL Servlet are accompanied well by flow and architectural documents.
One of the most useful sections of this book is the "Oracle and XML in Action" chapter that presents some real-world examples. An accompanying CD includes Oracle's XDK for Java components, as well as trial versions of Oracle8i and JDeveloper. Oracle developers--especially those working on the Web--should make a little room on their bookshelves for this handbook. --Stephen W. Plain, amazon.com
Topics covered: XML Parser for Java; Java Class Generator; XML related beans; XML Parser for PL/SQL, XML Parser for C; XML development with Oracle8I; development with Oracle Application Server; Oracle Internet File System (iFS),XML and interMedia text; and XML on the Oracle Technology Network.
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