To Oracle or NOT to Oracle

[Brett McLaughlin]

pmalone2 at csc.com wrote:
> 
>  Gentlemen,
>        I've been following this list for about two months now and can safely say
> that I am a "beginner" at designing XML anythings. If I'm asking too basic a
> question please don't hesitate to tell me, or steer me to someplace else better
> suited <g>.
>        My situation is this...the company that I work for wants a project done
> in XML, it is not overly complicated, but it poses some problems for me. 1) They
> want this project to be a "learning" project and for me to master XML (no
> pressure!) so I can do more complex projects. 2) No one here knows anymore XML
> than I do (which isn't alot) and nothing they have worked on has anything at all
> to do with the way this project has to work.
>        Now, at this point I don't have much in the way of software for working
> with XML although I have downloaded "ALOT" of demos that I thought would help.
> But alas, most of them won't do the trick. Especially since I have to create
> this project for the government and it will be residing on a Netscape Enterprise
> Server.
>         I thought that it might be a big help to me if I could get a "complete"
> set of XML tools with step by step instructions to walk me through some examples
> of using XML from start to finish....maybe using a database (which would work
> well for my first project), or something else. To date I've looked at
> "Bluestones" Visual XML, and where that is a nice looking bit of fluff with a
> great Java interface, it seems to require too much proprietary software (mainly
> it's bluestone server) for me to use comfortably, and a few pieces of software
> that they don't even make to run it (i.e. Xtrans). So, I look to Oracle 8i, and
> it seems to have everything in it I need....but will it work well with Netscape
> Enterprise Server???? I'm prepared to get this software (my company now uses
> Oracle 7), but I need to make sure there are no exteme minuses for using this on
> the Enterprise Server.

Are you tryint to go with a pure XML solution, or are you looking at
using XML from, for example, a Java application?  This makes a big
difference.  I've been using Oracle for about 3 years now, and think as
a database they are absolutely the best.  As for using their Java and/or
XML products, I'm not such a big fan.  I would recommend more of a
"publishing framework" for what it sounds like you are doing, and of
course in that vein would recommend something I work on (*grin*), i.e.
Apache Cocoon.  Cocoon lets you do some very nice things with XML, has a
SQLProcessor (as well as a new LDAPProcessor and some other nice hooks,
like XSP coming along).  It also can let you learn, as using it with
static XML/XSL is a no-brainer, but as you get more comfortable with SAX
and DOM you can really jump right in.  

As for working with NES, you will almost certainly have to have OAS
(Oracle App Server, sometimes called Oracle Web Server) to build a solid
n-tier environment.  NES does _not_ happily talk directly to Oracle, as
it has no facility to.  That's where a servlet engine/code comes into
play (and we're back to Cocoon again).

>        If Oracle isn't the answer...any suggestions???
>        I've tried getting books on XML, but most seem to base their examples on
> using the Microsoft software that uses "data islands" which evidently I can't
> use since I"m gonna be using the Enterprise Server......I have had Zero luck in
> finding ANY helpful Developers books that give me the information I need. Any
> suggestions here???? There do appear to be two books being published soon on
> using XML with the Enterprise Server (I saw them on Amazon.com) but they aren't
> available yet.

Well, you can buy mine when it comes out ;-)  It's more on the Java side
of things though, so again I'm not sure if that's what you are looking
for.

-Brett

>        Any suggestions would be helpful at this time.....and if it isn't a
> problem, in a future message, lay out what I'm trying to do (especially if
> Oracle or Bluestone isn't what I want) and get some suggestions.
>            Thanks!!!!   Pete Malone
> 
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