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Lesson 6 Other ways to integrate Oracle and the Internet
ObjectiveList other tools and features that help Oracle function well for Internet applications.

Other ways to integrate Oracle and the Internet

We have only scraped the surface of all the tools available to you when you are developing Web-database applications. The primary features (ones you should know for the Certification exam) have all been covered. The table below lists some of the other tools and technologies you will very likely want to look over when you start combining your Oracle database with the Internet.
Tool or technology Description
WebDB This fully Web-based tool that allows you to design and deploy Web pages that access your database. Start with simple pages that display the results of an SQL query. Advance to creating and managing a Web site that supports user-submitted news releases and dynamically built pages to update your data.
JDeveloper This is one of Oracle's hottest new tool suites, surpassing Developer 6.0 in popularity (judging from the number of downloads on Oracle's Technet site). Create Java applications, applets, servlets, and more using the JDeveloper suite.
Discoverer This tool is in its third release and has been fully integrated with the Internet to deliver Web pages base on ad hoc queries of the database. This end-user tool requires no knowledge of SQL.
Designer/Developer This legacy application design tool suite has been used for years to create database designs and application programs from start to finish. It now supports the Internet by seamlessly converting Client/Server applications into Java applets or Java applications.
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The next lesson wraps up the module.

WebDB

WebDB is an Oracle product that is used to create Web sites and applications. The core data for the sites and applications is stored in Oracle tables. When a client accesses the site, the client's request is handled by a Web listener, such as the Oracle Application Server (OAS). The Web listener executes PL/SQL functions stored within the database. Those functions return the requested data embedded within HTML tags. The listener then returns that data to the client, and the site is displayed within the client's browser.
To display the WEATHER table in a client browser, you could create a WebDB application. The WEATHER table will reside within the database on the database server. To display the data in tabular format, the query by the application server will embed HTML table formatting tags in the output. The result is an HTML file that contains the embedded HTML table formatting tags along with the data from the WEATHER table's rows.
WebDB is rapidly changing as new versions are introduced. You can presently use WebDB for a variety of purposes:
  1. Web site development
  2. Web application development
  3. Ad hoc querying of the data dictionary
  4. Ad hoc querying of application tables
  5. Database administration
You can use WebDB for many purposes, but you should consider your desired outcomes before implementing it. As WebDB requires a three-tier architecture, you need to make sure this architecture fits your environment and your processing capabilities.