Roadmap of this Manual

Figure 1-1, "Oracle XML Components and e-Business Solutions: Roadmap"lists a few XML-based business solutions for content and document management as well as B2B and B2C messaging.

The figure depicts an SQL query being placed by a user from a browser or application. The query being processed by a 'black box', called "XML Application".The XML application accesses Oracle8i. The application then produces XML documents which may or may not be passed via a web interface as part of a data exchange solution, to provide services, or for content and document management and presentation versatility to other businesses or applications within the same business.

Besides introducing you to the main components involved in Oracle XML, Figure 1-1 also serves as a roadmap for this manual. The figure maps all the main "stops" in the manual. In the online versions of this manual, if you click on these "stops" you will go directly to the chapters of interest.

• Beginning with the introductory and basic information about using Oracle8i and where to use the Oracle XML components (Chapters 1,2, and 3), and how to apply interMedia Text to search and retrieve information from XML documents.

• Typical XML-based business solutions, involving content management and presentation are covered in Chapters 6, 7,and 8.

• Typical XML-based business solutions, involving B2B and data exchange are covered in Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12.

• Some introductory information about using JDeveloper and iFS, as well as a detailed step by step code intensive application implementation are covered in Chapters 13, 14, and 15.

• Last but first in importance, the roadmap shows the "how to use" the various Oracle XML components, in the "XML Application" box. The "how to use" information is covered in Chapter 4 and Chapters 16 through 23. Not included in the roadmap are the Appendixes which are really just more information about Chapters 4, 16 through 23.

The one chapter not shown in this roadmap is the chapter discussing strategy for building n-tier XML applications, Chapter 16, "Building n-Tier Architectures for Media-Rich Management using XML: ArtesiaTech".

Figure 1-1 Oracle XML Components and e-Business Solutions: Roadmap