Building the B2B XML Application: Overview
This XML application and demo illustrates a content management and B2B Messaging implementation. The main transactions in this application are as follows:
- A Retailer (R) places an order from any device, such as a browser, cell phone, or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)
- The Supplier (S) is alerted that an order is received. After verifying inventory and the retailer's credit, the Supplier then clicks on the "Ship" button.
- Retailer and Supplier views the order's shipping status from any device
Problem
Retailers (R) need to automate the ordering of goods from several suppliers (Supplier (S)) and be able to place the order view the order status from any device.
Solution
This solution implements the following:
- Oracle XML components. To transform the HTML (or other format) order data received from the Retailer's web site into XML documents.
- Oracle8i Database(s). This solution assumes both the Retailer and Supplier are storing their data in Oracle8i databases.
- An AQ Broker -Transformer. This AQ application manages the flow of orders between the Retailer and Supplier. The Retailer submits the order in an AQ queue. The interested Supplier picks up (READS or dequeues) the order from the queue. AQ is also used to extract intelligence regarding the flow of orders. Each order is an XML message. This message is transformed into formats recognizable by both the Retailer and Supplier.
Tasks Identified
The main tasks are shown in Figure 13-2.
- The Retailer enters an order from their Browser, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or cell phone.
- When the Retailer validates his order, the order is transformed into XML using the XSQL Servlet.
- The Retailer application sends the XML order to the AQ Broker.
- AQ messaging is used to send the XML order data. The retailer views their order status as "Pending". AQ Broker reformats the XML order into a format understood by the Supplier.
- The Supplier application inserts the order into the Supplier database.
- The Supplier application parses the order and sends an alert to the Supplier that an order has been received and is waiting processing.
- Once the Supplier hits "Shipped" on his screen, AQ messaging is used to return the XML order status data to the AQ Broker. The AQ Broker transforms the returned XML Order status into a format recognized by the Retailer.
- The Supplier receives the reformatted XML order status message. The Retailer application updates the Retailer database with the new order status. The Retailer views the order status, which is now "Shipped".
The detailed tasks involved, screens viewed, and scripts used, are described in "Running the B2B XML Application: Detailed Procedure". and illustrated in Figure 13-2, "B2B XML Application: Main Components"
XML and Oracle Components Used
- XSQL Servlet. This includes the XML-SQL Utility (XSU), XML Parser for Java Version 2, and XSL-T Processor
- Oracle8i
Tools Used
JDeveloper
Note:
No pre-authored (static) XML documents are used in this B2B XML application. All XML documents in this application are dynamically generated from the database.
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