Using the XSQL Servlet

XSQL Servlet is included with Oracle8i Release 8.1.7, Oracle Internet Application Server 1.0, and with Oracle JDeveloper. JDeveloper provides support for XSQL Servlet with these new features:

Provides an XSQL Element Wizard to automatically add XSQL tags
Lets you automatically create XSQL pages
Includes XSQL Libraries
Provides XSQLConfig.xml on the classpath; you can modify it as needed
Provides business component action handler tags so XSQL pages can use a business logic tier to access data

Note: To use XSQL pages with the Business Components XSQL action handlers, the XSQL Runtime and the JBO HTML libraries need to be in your project's library list, in addition to any JBO libraries that are needed based on your intended connection mode.

What is XSQL Servlet?

It is a servlet that lets you create and use XSQL pages as clients. These pages are written in XML with embedded SQL queries and other data manipulation language (DML) statements. In addition, you can use action handlers to provide more functionality than SQL, such as writing the XML data to a file.

An action handler is an application that allows you to call a Java class from within an XSQL page. There are predefined action handlers that can talk directly to the database or to Business Components for Java, and you can create your own.

An XSQL Servlet application has these logical layers:

Client - XSQL pages take care of querying and getting data by using XML with embedded SQL. To present the data, you need to convert the XML data to another form, such as HTML, wireless markup language (WML), and so on. You can write XSL stylesheets to convert XML to any of these languages.
XSQL Servlet in a Web Server - The servlet uses the XML SQL Utility to talk to a database.
Business Logic Tier - You can optionally use a Business Components for Java tier to access and modify data.
Database - You can use any database supporting JDBC 2.0 drivers.

To display XML in a web browser, it must support XML display, such as Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later.

Where to get more information

For more information on XSQL Servlet, see your Oracle8i documentation.

In addition, the XSQL Servlet tutorial provides examples of creating an action handler, creating XSQL pages that directly access a database, creating XSQL pages that access a business logic tier, customizing the configuration file, and displaying "raw" and formatted XML data. To locate the tutorial, choose Help | Help Topics. In the contents, navigate to the tutorial in the Tutorials and Sample Applications book.