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Introducing Oracle Web Publishing Assistant

This chapter provides an overview of the Oracle Web Publishing Assistant. It also lists the system requirements and describes how to get started using the product.

Specific topics discussed are:

• Introducing Oracle Web Publishing Assistant

• New in this Release

• About the Interface

• Hardware Requirements

• Software Requirements

• Installing Oracle Web Publishing Assistant

• De-installing Oracle Web Publishing Assistant

Introducing Oracle Web Publishing Assistant

You have an Oracle database and tablespaces filled with useful information. You want to share this information with your co-workers, customers, and the rest of the world. How can you get this information, and present it in an easy-to-read format?

Oracle Web Publishing Assistant web-enables an Oracle database, offering high performance and scalability with a user-friendly interface. Use the Oracle Web Publishing Assistant Create Web Page Wizard to create web page queries (data retrieved from an Oracle database merged with HTML web pages). The default HTML template provided with Oracle Web Publishing Assistant is Java-enabled, providing scalability to accommodate your query results. Oracle Web Publishing Assistant uses database connection sharing and the Oracle Call Interface (OCI8) to improve performance and maximize server resources.

To make the web page available on an intranet or the World Wide Web, you must configure a web server. A web server is not necessary if you only want to view the page locally. To view the page locally, use your web browser to open the file (see the section "Software Requirements" in this chapter).

Note: To use Oracle Web Publishing Assistant, you need Windows NT User Login privileges on the machine from which you query. You can download trial versions of Oracle WebServer or Oracle Web Application Server from the Oracle Corporation web site at http://www.oracle.com.

New in this Release

This release of Oracle Web Publishing Assistant offers these new features:

• The Preview function replaces the Open function. To preview a web page, click Preview on the toolbar. The web page is opened with your web browser. See "Administering Web Page Queries" in Chapter 3 for more information.

• The "When Data Changes" scheduling option has been added to the scheduling options. This scheduling option when selected allows Oracle Web Publishing Assistant to automatically update your web page query whenever the database is modified. See "Creating New Web Page Queries" in Chapter 3 for more information.

• The "Manually" scheduling option has been added to the scheduling options. This scheduling option requires you to manually generate your web page (by clicking Generate). See "Creating New Web Page Queries" in Chapter 3 for more information.

• Modification of file properties is now possible when you open the properties of an existing web page query. You can change any aspect of the web page query, including the template, scheduling option, and the query. See "Administering Web Page Queries" in Chapter 3 for more information.

• The default template .HTX uses a Java applet, which provides high scalability and reliable formatting across different platforms and browsers. See "Tutorial 1: Using the Generated Default Template" in Chapter 4 for more information.

• The template syntax now includes more keywords to enable greater control in displaying query results. See "Designing Templates" in Chapter 2 for more information.

• Oracle Web Publishing Assistant now uses database connection sharing and the OCI8 (Oracle Call Interface version 8), improving performance over version 1.0.

• Synonyms of tables or views can be selected from the database hierarchy to build queries. See "Creating New Web Page Queries" in Chapter 3.

• The file listing is automatically refreshed every minute.

• The scheduling option uses buttons instead of drop-down lists, improving the interface. See "Creating New Web Page Queries" in Chapter 3.

• The maximum characters per column returned from the database has been increased from 2000 in Version 1.0 to 4000 in Version 2.0.

About the Interface

Oracle Web Publishing Assistant features an easy-to-use toolbar interface that enables you to create new and administer existing web page queries:

Menu and Toolbar

Perform administrative tasks using either the menu or the toolbar. The menu provides the same functionality as the toolbar, but the menu also includes commands that enable you to modify the look of Oracle Web Publishing Assistant. For example, you can change the listing to icons, and display (or hide) the status bar and toolbar.

The toolbar provides easy access to Oracle Web Publishing Assistant functionality:

Toolbar Button	Task Performed
New	Creates a new web page query.
Preview	Opens the web page query in your web browser.
Generate	Generates a web page immediately.
Delete	Deletes a web page query.
Properties	Allows you to view and modify the properties of the web page query: login information query syntax scheduling file options and template file
Help	Displays online help topics.

File Listing

The file listing shows you the:

• web page query files that you have scheduled

• location of the files in your system

• scheduling option you have specified for that web page query

• last date and time the web page query was modified

Double-click a web page query file name in the listing to preview the web page in your web browser. Because Oracle Web Publishing Assistant uses an asynchronous processing model, the actual web page may not have been generated immediately. If the page does not yet exist when you double-click the file in the listing (or click Preview), Oracle Web Publishing Assistant prompts you to create the page immediately.

Hardware Requirements

Use these hardware components with Oracle Web Publishing Assistant:

• Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, or 100% compatible PC with 80486 processor or faster

• 32 MB RAM

• 10 MB hard disk space

• CD-ROM drive

Software Requirements

Oracle Web Publishing Assistant requires these software components:

Software Component	Release
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation or Server operating system	4.0.x
Oracle8 Required Support Files (or RSF)	8.0.4
Net8 for accessing a remote Oracle8 or Oracle7 Server	8.0.x
Web Browser Netscape Navigator Visit: http://www.netscape.com or Microsoft Internet Explorer Visit: http://www.microsoft.com	3.0.x

Installing Oracle Web Publishing Assistant

Before installing this product, review Oracle8 Enterprise Edition Release Notes, included in this package for the most recent information about this product.

Oracle Web Publishing Assistant is automatically installed with Oracle8 Enterprise Edition, if you choose a Typical installation.

Note: You must have a Windows NT Administrator account to install and maintain Oracle Web Publishing Assistant. See Oracle8 Enterprise Edition Installation Release 8.0.4 for Windows NT for instructions.

De-installing Oracle Web Publishing Assistant

To de-install Oracle Web Publishing Assistant:

1. Stop Oracle Web Publishing Assistant services.

   1. From the taskbar, choose Start > Settings > Control Panel.

   2. Double-click Services.

   3. Select OracleWebAssistant, and click Stop.

   4. Click Close to close the control panel.

1. Start Oracle Installer.

   From the taskbar, choose Start > Programs > Oracle for Windows NT > Oracle Installer.

   The installed products screen of Oracle Installer appears on the right side of your screen.

2. Select Oracle Web Publishing Assistant, and click Remove.

   A message appears confirming your decision to remove the product. A window shows the progress of the de-installation. A message appears, confirming that the product has been de-installed.

3. Click Exit to quit Oracle Installer.

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