Oracle JSP - Developers Guide Release1.0

Contents Index

Welcome To Oracle JSP!

Welcome to Oracle JSP (JavaServer Pages)! This guide will help you get started with Oracle JSP Release 1.0.

This preface includes the following sections:

• "Intended Audience"
• "Prerequisites"
• "Structure"
• "Conventions"
• "Related Publications and Sites"

Intended Audience

This guide is intended for developers with varying skill levels. JavaServer Pages (JSPs) is a technology primarily for web application developers using Java. However, Oracle JavaServer Pages contains extended support that reduces your need to be proficient in Java. If you are a script language developer or only comfortable coding templates, Oracle JSP can be a useful technology for building dynamic web pages and applications.

Before you install Oracle JSP, you should read the preface "Oracle JSP Basic Concepts" to gain an understanding of Oracle JSPs' extended capabilities. Also, be sure to read "Chapter 3, What Every Developer Needs to Know" which provides information specific to the Oracle JSP implementation for developing web applications. For the remaining chapters, you can decide to read those chapter that relate to your particular role or interests. To find out which chapters you should read, see "Structure."

Prerequisites

You should be familiar with JSP development. This guide is not a tutorial or reference manual on JSPs. However, it does contain links to resources that contain these materials. Instead, this guide documents the information you need to know to use Oracle JSPs. Some of this information is related to the setup and use of Oracle JSPs. Most, however, documents extensions supported by the Oracle JSP engine to make developing web applications easier for either the Java or non-Java programmer.

You should be familiar with server-side web application programming concepts. You are expected to understand the basics of developing a server-side HTTP application including understanding concepts such as accessing information contained in an HTTP request, how to control or output an HTTP response, and HTTP session, cookies, and so on.

In addition:

• If you are a Java programmer, you should be familiar with the Sun's Java Servlet architecture. It is also useful if you are familiar with Microsoft's ASPs (Active Server Pages).
• If you are script programmer, you should be familiar with ASPs (Active Server Pages from Microsoft). You must also be capable of writing Java expressions. You don't need to be proficient in the entire Java language, only its expression language.

Structure

This book details Oracle JSP in the following chapters:

Chapter	Contents	Who Should Read This Chapter?
Chapter 1, "Basic Concepts"	Introduces Oracle JSP. Provides an overview of its extended capabilities.	All developers
Chapter 2, "Installing and Configuring Oracle JSP"	What you need to know to setup and use Oracle JSP in your environment.	All developers and server administrators
Chapter 3, "What Every Developer Needs to Know"	Provides you the necessary developer information to use Oracle JSPs.	All developers
Chapter 4, "Developing Web Applications"	Discusses Oracle JSP support to facilitate building JSP applications. Describes globals.jsa.	Developers who will be building Web applications.
Chapter 5, Built-in Oracle JSP Objects	Describes four built-in Bean classes to make it easier to maintain common data variables in a JSP.	All Developers
Chapter 6, "JML: Developing JSPs without Java"	Documents Oracle JSPs "JSP Markup Language", an alternative tag set that allows a JSP page to be authored with minimal Java knowledge.	Web application assemblers or script developers without a strong background in Java.
Chapter 7, "XML/XSL and JSPs "	Discusses Oracle JSPs support for XML. Describes how to use JSP to tranforms generated XML document fragments using XSL stylesheets.	XML/XSL application developers.
Chapter 8, "SQLJ: Developing JSPs using SQLJ"	Describes how to embed SQLJ statements in a JSP to simplify database access.	SQLJ developers or developers seeking a simpler database access programming model than JDBC.

Conventions

The following typographical conventions are used in this guide:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Used for Java primitive types.
italics	Used to introduce new terms.  Also used to highlight advanced information sections.
courier	Used for JSP source code.  Also used for file names and directories.

Related Publications and Sites

This guide does not document the use or development of JavaServer Pages. Rather it focuses on the additional information you need to make effective use of the Oracle JSP implementation. Use the references provided below to learn more about JSPs.

Oracle JSP References

Reference	Description
Java Software's JSP home page	Contains information and links to Java Software's internal and external JSP resources.
Java Software's JSP 1.0 specification	Just the facts, but it is the gospel.
Java Software's JSP Developer's Guide	Tutorials and documentation on developing JSPs. A work in progress.