Preface

Oracle9iAS Personalization (OP) provides real-time personalization for Web sites using an integrated real-time recommendation engine that is embedded in an Oracle database. OP is based on data mining technology and modeling; it builds a predictive model of customer preferences using Web-based behavioral data collected by a Web site as well as demographic data.

This manual is designed to introduce Java programmers and DBAs to the basic components and interfaces of OP.

Intended Audience

This manual is intended for users of Oracle9iAS Personalization:

• DBA who administers OP

• REAPI Web applications designer

• REAPI Web applications programmer

Structure

This manual contains the following chapters, an appendix, and a glossary:

• Chapter 1, "Introducing Oracle9iAS Personalization"

• Chapter 2, "The OP Administrative UI"

• Chapter 3, "Using the OP Administrative UI"

• Chapter 4, "Using the REAPI Demo"

• Appendix A, "Recommendation Algorithms"

• Glossary (of terms related to Oracle9iAS Personalization)

Prerequisites

The following software is required for the Administrative UI browser:

• Netscape 4.75 or Internet Explorer 5.5 with SP1.

Configuration Details

• Two systems, one loaded with Oracle9i and the other with Oracle9iAS.

• MOR, MTR, and RE schemas on the same machine (the machine where Oracle9i is loaded).

• REAPI Demo operates off of JServ on Oracle9iAS. The Administrative UI operates off of the Oracle 9i JServ/HTTP Server.

Where to Find More Information

The documentation set for Oracle9iAS Personalization at the current release consists of the following documents:

• README.htm, on the Oracle9iAS Personalization CD; this file contains platform-specific installation instructions.

• Oracle9iAS Personalization Release Notes, Release 9.0.1.

• Oracle9iAS Personalization Administrator's Guide, Release 9.0.1 (includes installation instructions that are the same across all platforms).

• Getting Started with Oracle9iAS Personalization, Release 9.0.1 (this document).

• Oracle9iAS Personalization Recommendation Engine API Programmer's Guide, Release 9.0.1. A programmer's manual for programming the recommendation engines in real time.

• Oracle9iAS Personalization Recommendation Engine Batch API Programmer's Guide, Release 9.0.1. A programmer's manual for obtaining bulk recommendations.

Related Manuals

For more information about the database underlying OP, see:

• Oracle9i Administrator's Guide

• Oracle9i Application Server Installation Guide (the appropriate version for your operating system).

Requirements

OP documentation is distributed on the same CD that OP is distributed on. Documentation is provided in PDF and HTML formats.

After OP is installed, the OP documentation can be read by opening the following URL using either Netscape or Internet Explorer:

http://server/opDoc/op.901/index.htm

where server is name of the system where OP is installed.

You can read or print the documentation directly from the CD or from your browser.

To view the PDF files, you will need

• Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or later, which you can download from www.adobe.com.

To view the HTML files, you will need

• Netscape 4.x or later, or

• Internet Explorer 4.x or later

Online Help

Oracle9iAS Personalization includes extensive online help that can be summoned from a list of contents and from Help buttons.

Documentation Accessibility

Oracle's goal is to make our products, services, and supporting documentation accessible to the disabled community with good usability. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program web site at http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/.

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Conventions

In this manual, Windows refers to the Windows 95, Windows 98, and the Windows NT operating systems.

The SQL interface to Oracle9i is referred to as SQL. This interface is the Oracle9i implementation of the SQL standard ANSI X3.135-1992, ISO 9075:1992, commonly referred to as the ANSI/ISO SQL standard or SQL92. In examples, an implied carriage return occurs at the end of each line, unless otherwise noted. You must press the Return key at the end of a line of input.

The table below shows the conventions followed in this manual and their meanings:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Commands, menu names, menu items, names of dialogs.
code	Data fields and values, special characters, etc., examples of files, data, filenames, and pathnames.
italics	Argument names and placeholders in command formats.
<>	Angle brackets enclose user-supplied names.
% user input system output	In interactive examples, user input is shown in bold typewriter, and system output is shown in regular typewriter.