Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2009 - (Page 31)

d02will_p1db 12/12/08 10:32 AM Page 31 an Oracle database to fulfill an HTTP request.” In other words, a DAD is used to call a stored procedure from a web browser. In this case, the procedure is show_video(). To set up the DAD: 1. Access the Oracle HTTP Server’s main page. Generally, the URL might be http://hostname:port. 2. Select the mod_plsql option by clicking the mod_plsql communication menu link. 3. Click on the Gateway Database Access Descriptor Settings Link. 4. Click the Add Default (blank configuration) link. 5. Enter the DAD name, username, password, and connect string of the database schema to be associated with this DAD. It isn’t required that usernames/passwords be entered; if left blank, users must enter them when accessing the videos. 6. Click OK at the top of the page. Invoking Stored Procedures In my form, I create a button and a when-button-pressed trigger for that button. Within this trigger, I added the URL to call the procedure and wrapped Web.Show_Document() around it. This URL was built from the previous sections. The URL without the Web.Show_Document() looks like this: http://hostname:port/mod_plsql _directory/data_name/procedure_name where mod_plsql_directory is the directory alias of the mod_plsql module of the HTTP Server (usually this is pls), dad_name is the name of the DAD created in step 5, of the section titled “Create a Database Access Descriptor (DAD).” The procedure_name is the name of the database procedure created to show the video on the Web using Oracle’s HTP package. Therefore, the URL looks like this: http://localhost:80/pls/video /show_video?p_file_number=1 where p_file_number is the name of the parameter that’s being passed to procedure show_video(). Now when I wrap the previous discussed URL with Web.Show_document() (Oracle’s Forms built-in package) it looks like: Web.Show_Document('http://localhost:80/pls/video/show _video?p_file_number=1','_blank'); where p_file_number=1 is the parameter that is passed to the procedure show_video() and _blank opens a new window to display the video. Conclusion It seems that you can do most anything with the Web.Show_Document() package. Besides being able to call a stored procedure by wrapping Web.Show_Document() around a URL, you can use it to call Oracle Reports and Java Server Pages (JSP) all from Oracle Forms. All in all, Oracle has made Forms 10g easier to work with Java than in past releases. DDJ February 2009 l www.ddj.com l Dr. Dobb’s Journal 31 http://www.imagix.com http://www.ddj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2009

Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2009 Contents Friday Night Fish Fry Alia Vox Developer Diaries Conversations Computing in the Clouds Software Development in the Cloud Videos and Oracle Forms 10g Parallel LINQ Decoupling C Header Files Effective Concurrency Disciplined Agility Swaine’s Flames

Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2009

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