The information you must publish is often derived from data in various corporate data sources. These data sources may be SQL-based (relational databases) or non-SQL-based, such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML). An XML pluggable data source (PDS) is an implementation of the Oracle Reports PDS API that allows you to access XML data sources. XML has been proven as the ideal mechanism of data exchange and has been standardized by W3C. The XML PDS is installed by default with Oracle Reports to allow access to XML data sources. The XML PDS supports access to XML data sources through the standard URL protocols both local and outside a firewall.
In the XML PDS Edit dialog box in Reports Builder, all referenced parameters in a URL should be wrapped as follows:
&<parameter>For example, the following URL references a parameter called stock_symbol:
http://host.domain.com/vdir/get_stock_quote.jsp?symbol=&<stock_symbol>If stock_symbol was not inside the angle brackets, the ampersand
would be read as an argument separator and stock_symbol as
a report parameter.
The elements in your XML data file (data source) must follow the same sequence
and format of elements specified in the DTD or XML schema file. For example,
suppose your DTD or XML schema defines two elements: WAREHOUSE_ID
first, and PRODUCT_ID second. In this scenario, WAREHOUSE_ID
must come before PRODUCT_ID in your XML data file, too. The
names of the elements do not need to match. For an example of sample XML
data file and corresponding XML schema (XSD), see About
the XML format.
For a detailed example of using the XML PDS, see the chapter "Building
a Report with an XML Pluggable Data Source" in the Oracle Reports Building
Reports manual, available on the Oracle
Technology Network Oracle Reports Documentation page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/reports.html).
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