Java on top of vs Java inside Oracle

Java on top of vs Java inside Oracle

Since finishing my last project I have had some time on the 'bench', giving me the perfect opportunity to get some training in and up to speed for my next project, again with the same client (I must be doing something right). The project is going to predominately involve Database 10g, Apps Server 10g, Java and ApEx. As I mentioned in a previous post my development environment of choice at the moment is Oracle XE, due to its small memory footprint (comparatively). It provides most the features I've needed for projects I've worked on thus far. Furthermore, the prospect of installing 10g Enterprise is a task that doesn't sit too well, as I've known it to be a bit of a mission in the past. Unfortunately as I have become more experienced, I've discovered that XE lacks certain features that I would sorely like to make use of in my next Project. One such feature is Java Stored Procedures. After some digging around and posts on the Oracle Forums. Another user pointed me in the direction of this matrix which lists features available between the different versions, from XE to Enterprise. I need to write some Java which basically manipulates a PDF form which users will fill out and upload to the system we're developing. The Java code will then strip these responses out and store them in the appropriate database fields. Technically I can see two possible ways of accomplishing this, through:

• Java Stored Procedures
• Use of Java Containers/Extensions outside the DBMS. I.E a java app on the App Server, OC4J etc.

However I am unsure as to which is the best way to proceed. I would like to use Java Stored Procedures, as it is a process I think will re-occur time and time again. The process will also be heavily tied to an ApEx application. This makes calling a Java Stored Procedure fairly trivial. The solution would also appear to integrate better. I can however see some potential problems if/when the database version is upgraded. For instance will the code be compatible with the Java Environment shipped with 11g (or subsequent database versions)? At present 10g is J2EE 1.4.2 compliant but I have no idea what version of Java 11g will comply to. At present I don't even know whether this matters. Either way I think its time to move to a more enterprise like development environment on my laptop for when I'm on site. Without wanting to make a hash of my Windows Installation, I've opted for creating a VM instance running on Oracle Enterprise Linux. Hopefully I'll remember to post an update on my Java dilemma and let you know which way we opt for.

Extra leave for British workers...

If anyone has been watching the news lately, you'll have noticed that some of us will be gaining an extra 8 days on top of our normal holiday allowance. The government has decided that companies can't include bank holidays as part of our holiday allowance.



The BBC have placed an article on their website if any of you happened to miss the news.

Securing Oracle XE and ApEx Apps

As some of you know, I'm fast becoming an ApEx convert and I've started to use it to knock together quick and dirty applications which make my daily work life as a consultant easier. Rather than installing a full Oracle DB instance on my laptop I've opted to install Oracle XE which comes with ApEx 2.1 and is basically a stripped down version of Oracle 10g Database. It suits my purposes and is not as resource hungry as the complete Oracle Instance.



However XE is not without its problems. I knew there would be potential security risks and other considerations when developing in XE rather than a later version of ApEx and a fully patched 10g.



I recently discovered a fantastic security article written by red-database-security. The article highlights the flaws with XE and how to overcome them and is well worth a read if your using XE for production systems.

I had the pleasure of test driving the new TT on Wednesday I don't think words can describe the fun I had in it. Put simply I'll be ordering mine at the end of the month. I can see why there is a six month waiting list though; The car was just phenomenal in every respect. It's comfortable, not too fuel hungry, turns heads and the acceleration was great. What more could you ask for. Briefly on the Acceleration the car just throws you back in to the seats and goes, and goes and goes. Even in 6th gear it flies. Vorsprung durch Tecknik indeed!