4749-6 Cover 5/15/01 12:25 PM Page 1 If Oracle9iAS Portal can do it, you can do it too . . . 100% 100% Oracle’s revamped, browser-based technology for information portals delivers everything you need to create a complete information portal, which can include forms, charts, reports, content collections, and a variety of C O M P R E H E N S I V E ONE HUNDRED PERCENT information from the Web. And this authoritative reference provides all the information you need to master OO COMPREHENSIVE AUTHORITATIVE portlet creation, database browsing, application development, component management, performance monitoring, WHAT YOU NEED and the other capabilities of Portal. Written by two veteran database developers, this encyclopedic guide will ONE HUNDRED PERCENT rr help you extend the rich functionality of Portal — and create powerful, easy-to-use information retrieval and aa Create and reporting systems for companies and their customers. Build complete cc administer Inside, you’ll find complete coverage information portals ll information portals of Oracle9iAS Portal ee Integrate internal 99 • Understand Portal basics — components, content areas, and Internet portlets, and portal pages ii information • Create sophisticated Portal applications AA Build and deploy • Build in menus, links, consistency, and data validation robust, Web-based SS database • Integrate existing PL/SQL logic into a Portal application ™™ applications • Design reporting components, including forms, charts, and calendars PP • Deploy, administer, and secure a Portal site oo Reports — • Program your own custom portlets and portlet provider direct to the rr Web from tt your Oracle OO Bonus CD-ROM! database aa • rraaccllee99iiAASS™™ PPoorrttaall All source code from the book ll • A complete sample database • PS/SQL Developer trial version, SWiSH demo, and GREENWALD Cookie Pal freeware • AND MILBERY A searchable e-version of the book Bible w w w . h u n g r y m i n d s . c o m System Requirements: $49.99USA Reader Level: Shelving Category: Windows NT SP3 or higher, 64MB RAM, 600MB $74.99Canada Beginning to Advanced Database hard disk space, CD-ROM drive, Oracle9iAS £39.99UK incl. VAT Source code and sampledatabase on CD-ROM ISBN 0-7645-4749-6 BONUS *85555-AEECDe ,!7IA7G4-fehejc!:p;o;t;T;T CD-ROM Source code, complete sample database, development tools, Rick Greenwald and James Milbery and more! Oracle9i AS™ Portal Bible Oracle9 AS™ i Portal Bible Rick Greenwald and Jim Milbery Best-Selling Books • Digital Downloads • e-Books • Answer Networks • e-Newsletters • Branded Web Sites • e-Learning New York, NY ♦Cleveland, OH ♦Indianapolis, IN Oracle9iAS™Portal Bible Corporation, Inc., for the Philippines; by Contemporanea de Ediciones for Venezuela; by Published by Express Computer Distributors for the Caribbean and Hungry Minds, Inc. West Indies; by Micronesia Media Distributor, Inc. for 909 Third Avenue Micronesia; by Chips Computadoras S.A. de C.V. for New York, NY 10022 Mexico; by Editorial Norma de Panama S.A. for www.hungryminds.com Panama; by American Bookshops for Finland. Copyright © 2001 Hungry Minds, Inc. 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THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES WHICH EXTEND BEYOND THE DESCRIPTIONS CONTAINED IN THIS PARAGRAPH. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES REPRESENTATIVES OR WRITTEN SALES MATERIALS. THE ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HEREIN AND THE OPINIONS STATED HEREIN ARE NOT GUARANTEED OR WARRANTED TO PRODUCE ANY PARTICULAR RESULTS, AND THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY INDIVIDUAL. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES. Trademarks:Oracle and Oracle9iare trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Hungry Minds, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. is a trademark of Hungry Minds, Inc. Credits Acquisitions Editor Media Development Specialist Grace Buechlein Travis Silvers Project Editor Media Development Coordinator Sharon Nash Marisa Pearman Development Editor Book Designer Kezia Endsley Michelle Logan Technical Editor Illustrators Todd E. Vender Karl Brandt John Greenough Copy Editor Kelly Hardesty Maarten Reilingh Joyce Haughey Clint Lahnen Project Coordinator Gabriele McCann Regina Snyder Ron Terry Graphics and Production Specialists Proofreading and Indexing Sean Decker Laura Albert Laurie Stevens John Greenough Brian Torwelle Susan Moritz TECHBOOKS Production Services Quality Control Technician Laura Albert Cover Image John Greenough Kate Shaw Senior Permissions Editor Carmen Krikorian About the Authors Rick Greenwaldis a marketing manager in the server technologies group at Oracle Corporation. He has been active in the field of data processing for over 15 years, including stints with Data General, Cognos, and Gupta. He is the author of six other books on technology and dozens of articles and analyst pieces. Jim Milberyhas been involved in the software business for over 16 years and has worked for a variety of high-tech companies, including Digital Equipment Corporation, Ingres, Uniface, and Revere. He is currently a partner with the technol- ogy consulting firm Kuromaku Partners LLC, where he provides strategic consulting to a diverse group of clients. Jim lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, with his lovely wife, Renate, and two spoiled cats. Jim Milbery — This book is dedicated to my father, Ken Milbery. Here’s to you, Dad; no son loves his father more than I love you. Rick Greenwald — For the three women in my life: LuAnn, Elinor, and Josephine Greenwald. You are the breath of love in my life. Preface This book is essentially the second edition of Oracle WebDB Bible. The product for- merly known as WebDB is called Oracle9iAS Portal in its current incarnation, which indicates that it is both bundled with the Oracle9iApplication Server product and that the focus of the product has been modified to encompass the fast-growing world of information portals. Consequently, the organization of this book has been enhanced and modified to fit in with the new product direction. How This Book Is Organized As with the previous version, the first section of this book is an introduction to Oracle9iAS Portal — what it is, how to install it, and the basics of the development environment you will be using. The second section of the book jumps right into the topic of portals. Chapter 6 introduces the concept of portals, portlets, and how Oracle9iAS Portal handles these entities. Chapter 7 walks you through the creation of a portal page. Part III of the book covers the creation of a variety of components. These are the same components that were supported in WebDB — reports, forms, charts, calen- dars, hierarchies, and dynamic HTML pages. Each of these components retains the functionality it had in WebDB, but each of them also has been enhanced in the new version of the product. Part IV of the book covers some of the topics you will need to understand to create complete applications with Oracle9iAS Portal. For instance, you will almost inevitably be using lists-of-values to help your users properly utilize components, and Oracle9iAS Portal menus are essential for navigating through an application. Validation, the use of templates, and linking are also integral to creating complete applications, and these areas have also been changed and enhanced from their counterparts in WebDB. Finally, there will be times when you will need to use PL/SQL procedures to extend the functionality of your Oracle9iAS Portal compo- nents, which is also covered in this section. In Oracle9iAS Portal, as in WebDB, you have the ability to create Content Areas, which were referred to as sitesin WebDB. Part V of the book explores this area of the product, including how to deploy your content collections.