Customer Reviews

Building Oracle XML Applications

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally!

You've heard the one about the IT manager and the CEO, the punch line reading something like "the information you've given me is technically accurate but totally useless"? This is exactly how I was beginning to feel about Oracle's XML documentation (primarily on TechNet) -- tons of what I needed, with no degree of coherency or focus to task.

I eventually gave up on wading through countless Oracle URLs and READMEs and simply decided to wait for the release of Steve Muench's book. I'm glad I did.

Steve takes us on a journey of well-documented *examples* that explain the "why" and "how" of the Oracle XML API, not just the "what". Especially good is Chapter 5, the PL/SQL XML API - great for long-time Oracle dweebs that have yet to polish up on Java.

I have few criticisms - I had hoped to see an electronic version of the examples on the included CD (any maybe they're there but they were not immediately apparent). I also recently purchased O'Reilly's XML Pocket Quick Reference - it does a bit better job at concisely explaining XML and XSL syntax. Rather than dis Muench's effort, I prefer to believe that the Quick Ref is an essential companion to this otherwise stellar find.

If you plan to "do XML" with Oracle, you MUST BUY THIS BOOK, period. 'Nuff said.

First, I must say, when I picked this book a few weeks ago, I already was working with XML/Oracle/Etc for almost a year. At the time the variety of books in the market was very limited (I had to learn XSLT from a site in the Czecz republic because no book offered a decent coverage!). So, I picked this book to see what I had missed, and what I was doing perhaps not in the best way. This book was everything that I expected and more. It covers *a lot* of material, XML, XML Storage (How to use Oracle Clobs, for example), XPATH, XSLT and more - the authors don't cut corners, they explain everything thoroughly, and that's why the book takes more than 700 pages. The examples are excellent - concise and right to the point. The material is written in a clear and comprehensive way. Usually programming books take a lot out of me - but not this one! I thought I knew a lot about XML, but I learned much I didn't know from this book. To summarize, this is how a programming book should be! Simply above and beyond the call of duty. I also think it would be useful for people which intend to use XML with databases other than Oracle.

Steve preaches words of wisdom and exhortation to the many would-be software development practitioners endeavoring to claim the promises of Java and XML. His book is second to none with regard to explaining Java-Oracle-XML because

(1) he provides deep and wide coverage of the concepts (2) he provides meaningful example code for nearly everything discussed in the book (3) he has a command of Java, PL/SQL and XML that enables him to speak fluently in any of these languages. Consequently he becomes an ambassador from any of these camps to any of the others.

The book shelves are crowded with XML, Java and Oracle books that dabble in the nexus of these technologies - applications. Where they all fall short of describing the intersection of these technologies in ways that are germane to business (Oracle XML Applications) OXA succeeds.

Especially noteworthy are the many examples of using LOBs to store, manipulate and retrieve XML documents and his treatment of XSLT in chapters 7 and 9. After taking great pains to explain the use of XPath he then goes to great lengths to show how it is used in XSLT to transform XML documents into HTML, XML or other document types. Pay special attention to the explanation of the operation on page 279.

Those who read his book will certainly benefit from its disclosures.

This is perhaps the best book on XML written so far. Stepping out from the stereotype model of writing a book in XML, the material provides deep insight into the Oracle XML capacities by providing real world examples and issues faced with reading/writing XML datagrams from databases through Oracle XML capacities and covers a wide gamut of issues (mostly performance) faced by application developers in using XML as the format for data exchange and solutions to counter most of these issues. The best part of the book are the chapters on XSLT and the numerous examples that shows the power of XSLT in rendering and transforming XML data. The book is highly recommended for both beginners and experienced programmers in XML(/Java). There is something for every level of reader interested in using XML for B2B applications.

A fine book, strongly recommended. No laborious explanations of the obvious, treats the reader as intelligent. Well chosen examples, all related to practical and real-life situations. If you work in an Oracle shop this is the one book you should read on XML.

Only criticisms are (i) the high level of XML awareness assumed by the book, (ii) it is a fairly comprehensive tutorial on XSLT, but isn't quite structured right as an XSLT tutorial (material is scattered through the book), and (iii) lack of discussion on scalability and performance of XML technologies. It would also have been nice to see some personal opinion on how Oracle's XML technolgies fit in the wider world, and where things are likely to head with 9i, given the author's position.

So you've made the decision to tackle your next big IT project with a powerful threesome: Java, Oracle, and XML. Then this the book for you. I echo the comments of another reader who found wading through technet.Oracle.com's assorted tutorials and scattered documentation frustrating -- this book puts it all together in one place.

Though Java isn't in the book's title - it probably should be. I found chapter six, "Processing XML with Java", to be the most comprehensive and valuable chapter in the book. The author describes and builds a set of Java applications for storing XML as CLOB objects on the server, importing (via parsing and JDBC) XML documents into a relational schema, and its complement, exporting query results into XML, among other things. I also found running and working with the source code examples (downloadable at oreilly) to be a learning tool.

One caveat is that this book should be used as a starting point -- not a final reference -- for using XML with Java and Oracle. The pace of development with XML means that some of the classes the author used, like those from SAX 1.0, are already deprecated. But after reading this book, and working through the examples, picking up the the new stuff shouldn't be hard.

This is an essential book for anyone working with Oracle and XML. There's no other book which comes close in these topics.

The examples are clear and well-explained. Within the book Steve Muench develops a package of XML utilities which accompany the examples. These utilities are extremely useful in their own right, and are sure to become a standard part of your toolkit.

Both Java and PL/SQL developers will find the book useful as Muench covers the examples from both angles. The coverage of the Oracle XSQL technology is unique.

I highly recommend this book and have pointed more than a few developers towards it already. After reading just the opening chapters you'll be itching to get started using the Oracle XML tools on offer.

A must have for any Oracle/XML developers bookshelf.

This is an excellent book for developers wishing to use XML with Oracle and Java, C++, or PL/SQL. I agree with the other reviews posted here previously about the book's coverage and strengths. The one thing I would like to see more of in this book is coverage of Oracle's handling of XML Schema, since XML Schema appears to be the eventual replacement of DTDs.

The book is great for beginners since the author starts the book and individual chapters with basics, but it is useful as a reference since the author handles many of the complexities that more experienced developers will eventually run into when using Oracle and XML together.

The included CD-ROM does not include the fabulous examples (it features JDeveloper 3.1 for Windows/NT) in the book, but these examples can be downloaded from the O'Reilly site (referenced in book's preface, pg. xiii).

While there are excellent chapters focusing primarily on XML, the real beneficiaries of this book are people who need to integrate XML with Oracle and a programming language such as Java. Not only has reading this book increased my knowledge about integrating Java, Oracle, and XML, but it has also provided me with working code that I can start using in my applications.

Finally, a comprehensive guide to Oracle 8i's support for XML. Excellent examples, clear and yet complete narrative as is customarily found in the O'Reilly series. Also includes the best overview of the XML standard that I've read. The sections on the interMedia extensions were great. Highly recommended.

Unless you're still running 7 or 8i, I can't recommend this book. As another reviewer noted, Oracle has added a lot of XML features in 9i and 10g. The content itself is great -- the authors should consider a second edition that covers the current Oracle XML features.