Weblog for the AMIS Technology corner
SOA & Oracle Fusion Middleware
JHeadstart 11g: Tree-Form with drag and drop functionallity
Aug 30th
A little over two years ago I wrote a post on drag and drop in an adf tree component. That post was based on ADF only. In the following post I show that you can have JHeadstart generate a tree for you that supports drag and drop.
Not out of the box, but with use of custom templates, and some ADF knowledge. Read the rest of this entry »
Calling an EJB from a SOA Composite Application using the EJB Binding based on Java Interface
Jun 13th
I am currently reworking Chapter 12 for the SOA Suite 11g Handbook. This chapter describes various types of interaction SOA Composite Applications can have with Java applications and components. Since the initial creation of this chapter – some 6 months ago – we have had the Patch Set 2 release of the SOA Suite. This patch set introduced some additional functionality in this particular area of the SOA Suite, including the EJB Binding directly based on a Java Interface rather than on an SDO service created for the EJB. While that last option did the job, it requires manipulation of the EJB that is to be invoked – to SDO enable it – and that was undesirable and sometimes even impossible.
This article describes about the simplest way to get going with the EJB Binding – Java based – in Patch Set 2 (11.1.1.3.0). Building on this example, you will probably find yourself able to do useful things with it.
The steps we will go through are:
1. Create the EJB that is to be invoked from the Composite application through EJB Binding. Make sure the remote interface is created as well.
2. Deploy this EJB (in this simple example to the same WebLogic Managed Server that is running the SOA Suite)
3. Create a new SOA Composite Application
4. Copy the remote interface to the SCA-INF/src directory (or copy a JAR containing that interface to SCA-INF/lib)
5. Create an EJB Binding Reference. Configure it to invoke the EJB created and deployed above; specify the Java Interface that describes the interaction
6. Create a Mediator that is wired to the EJB Binding Reference; create mappings from the input and output of the Mediator to the XML structure derived by JDeveloper from the Java Interface definition
7. Finish the composite application; from here on it is ‘business as usual’ since none of the other components in the applications are aware that the Mediator talks to something ’special’ like an EJB.
Hands-on: Run-time datasource selection with JCA adapters in the Oracle Service Bus 11g
May 18th
The Oracle JCA database adapter enables the communication between a web service and a database object, for instance a stored procedure. With the adapter configuration wizard, part of JDeveloper 11g, meta data is generated design time and used run-time to control the behaviour of the database adapter. In this hands-on we show how to set run-time the database by overriding the design time selected database in the Oracle Service Bus 11g.
Read the rest of this entry »
ODTUG Preview: mini conferentie (APEX, Database en SOA)
May 18th
Voor het vierde achtereenvolgende jaar organiseert AMIS de “ODTUG Preview” sessie op 8 juni 2010 bij AMIS in Nieuwegein. ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 is een conferentie voor Oracle ontwikkelaars, dit jaar vanaf 27 juni in Washington DC. Deze conferentie trekt van oudsher veel Nederlandse deelnemers, waaronder een flinke afvaardiging van AMIS. Tijdens de ODTUG Preview sessie laten Nederlandse presentatoren hun presentatie voor de conferentie in Washington horen aan een ‘thuispubliek’, als een soort try out of sneak preview. Voor iedereen die niet in gelegenheid is er in Washington bij te zijn, is dit een mooie gelegenheid om een aantal interessante presentaties van topsprekers bij te wonen.
De ODTUG preview omvat negen presentaties, in drie verschillende tracks:
- APEX en Oracle Development
- Oracle Database & Middleware
- SOA en Fusion Middleware
De sprekers en presentatie-titels:
| Tijd | APEX / Oracle Development | SOA en Fusion Middleware | Oracle Database en Middleware |
| 16:30 – 17:00 | Ontvangst | ||
| 17:00 – 18:00 | Iloon Ellen-Wolf APEX 4.0 |
 Marco Gralike XML Database – Design Concepts for XML Applications that will Perform! |
Toon Koppelaars Semantic Query Optimization |
| 18:00 – 19:00 | Diner | ||
| 19:00 – 20:00 | Alex Nuijten Analytic Functions Revisited | Peter Ebell OSB meets Database – and they lived happily ever after |  Lucas Jellema Edition-Based Redefinition for Developers and DBAs |
| 20:00 – 21:00 | Anjo Kolk Accessing the Oracle Database from Google (Apps, App Engine, Spreadsheets) |
Lonneke Dikmans Portals: The Way to Realize User Experience in a Service-Oriented Architecture? |
Jacco Landlust Comparing Oracle Application Server (OAS/IAS/OC4J) and WebLogic Server |
Wil je bij deze sessie aanwezig zijn, meld je dan aan via http://www.amis.nl/de-agenda?eventId=5&task=event_register&type=reg_individual.
Book review of: Getting Started With Oracle SOA Suite 11g R1: A Hands-On Tutorial
Apr 18th
Getting Started With Oracle SOA Suite 11g R1: A Hands-On Tutorial
Authors: Demed L’Her, Heidi Buelow, Jayaram Kasi, Manas Deb, Prasen Palvankar (aka Oracle Product Management for SOA Suite)
A hands-on tutorial is what the cover of the book promises, and that is exactly what you get. A quick, very hands-on introduction into the most important components in the SOA Suite 11g. In no time at all, readers will be able to get a composite application up and running. An application that leverages many of the essential features and functions in the SOA Suite.
Some books are primarily an introduction into a certain topic, with lots of theory, background and explanations of what, why and how. Other books are mainly reference material that you use to look things up when you need them. This book is neither – it offers very little in the way of explanation and background and it would be fairly useless as reference guide. It is however a very good way to get to know the SOA Suite – both design time and run time – and get a feel for how to develop for it and run applications in it.
The book contains a large number of informative screenshots and also provides the salient code snippets. It is very focused on getting specific jobs done, and for these jobs it has all the information and illustrations you may need. It is hard to not get it to work following the very detailed instructions.
The book – or at least the paper copy I am holding – is written for the very first 11gR1 release, that was published on July 1st 2009. The functions made available with PS1 release (November 2009) are not discussed therefore.
Java Callout in Mediator to Automatically Deal With Empty Elements
Mar 18th
One of the most annoying things with XML Schema validation is that it will not accept empty elements of certain types, like xsd:date and xsd:double, even though the element is defined as optional (minOccurs=”0″). OK, I do understand that an empty element _does_ occur, and that this behaviour is therefore correct, but the implication is that developers will have to add <xsl:if> tags in their XSLT transformations around each and every element where this may cause a problem.
This article will show how using a small and generic Java class and the “Java Callout” feature of the 11g Mediator, we can automatically “fix” these empty elements so that they will not cause problems with schema validation any more. Read the rest of this entry »
Oracle BPM Studio and Snow Leopard
Mar 3rd
Business process management (BPM) is getting more momentum. The BPMN 2.0 specification is getting final and has a few new nice features, for example a model standard so that models are interchangeable between tools. Another new feature is easier event implementation, meaning that it will be easier to run a BPMN process.
This week I started with a BPMN training from Bruce Silver. So far I like it very much. I can do it online and in my own pace. For more information see http://www.bpmessentials.com/.
Of course I want to model my BPMN process models with BPM studio. A tool that Oracle acquired from BEA and is formally known as Aqualogic BPM. The great thing about this product is that is writing in java, meaning it will run on any platform, including on my cool Macbook Air running Snow Leopard. But it didn’t start! Turns out that Snow Leopard is 64bit and BPM studio is 32bit. Read on for my solution:
Part of the Puzzle: Oracle XMLDB NFS Functionality
Feb 27th
This story is long overdue and no its NOT about the Oracle Database 11g Database File System (DBFS). Its about an “undocumented” NFS functionality that, maybe someday, will be serviced by the XMLDB XDB Protocol Adapter. This post is “long overdue” because the actual attempts to try to figure it out were done during the bank holidays between X-mas and new year 2009.
So what is it all about. I once discovered in the Oracle 11gR1 documentation a small entry in the xmlconfig.xsd XML Schema regarding NFS elements that look like that they are or will be used for enabling NFS functionality based on the Oracle XMLDB Protocol Server architecture. In those days, when Oracle 11gR1 was just of the shelve, I made a few attempts, based on the xdbconfig.xsd XML Schema to adjust the corresponding xdbconfig.xml file that controls the XDB Protocol Server functionality, to see what would happen. At that time I only was able to get this far (see the picture) and I promised myself that I should look deeper into it trying to figure out if I could get it working and/or what the concepts were that made it tick in the XMLDB architecture but somewhere down the line I just didn’t come to it and it got “forgotten” by me due to my daily DBA workload.
Complex Event Processing – Java Magazine – Sources & References
Feb 25th
This article contains the resources for an article on Complex Event Processing (using Oracle CEP) that is published in the March 2010 issue of the Dutch Java Magazine. This article describes the interaction between CEP and Java Applications, using examples of temperature sensors that are monitored (aggregating their readings and looking out for any broken sensors) and web shops that try to determine the most popular and the most efficient search terms as well as the search terms that are quite useless (as they never result in a transaction).
The article is in Dutch – it will be made available for download later on. Note that it is based on Chapter 19 in the upcoming Oracle SOA Suite 11g Handbook (Oracle Press, due Summer 2010).
Sources
Temperatuur Simulator en Temperatuur Sensor Processor: TemperatuurSensorenSimulatorEnProcessor
WebApplicatie Analyzer: WebWinkelAnalyse.zip
References & Resources
Download Oracle CEP en CEP Plugin for Eclipse:
Oracle CEP Server: http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/cep/index.html
Oracle CEP Plugin voor Eclipse: http://download.oracle.com/technology/software/cep-ide/11/
Installatie instructies:
Setting up your development environment:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e14476/examples.htm#i1013710
Configuring Eclipse:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e14301/ide_intro.htm#CHDDAADG
Creating CEP Servers in Eclipse:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e14301/ide_serv.htm#CHDEJEHC
Documentatie voor CEP ontwikkelaars:
CEP Getting Started:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e14476/toc.htm
Administrator’s Guide:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e14300/toc.htm
IDE Developer’s Guide (Eclipse):http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e14301/toc.htm
CQL Language Reference:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e12048/toc.htm
CEP Java API Reference:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/doc.1111/e14303/toc.htm
Automatic testing Oracle Service Bus using Hudson, maven and SoapUI
Feb 23rd
A lot of current projects are implementing some sort of service based architecture. Testing in this architecture becomes more complex. When implementing an OSB project with Scrum you test-automation is imperative. Scrum will require more frequent testing of your system. This is only feasible (in time and money) when you automate as much as possible.
Using soapUI you are able to create visually SOAP tests on your OSB implementation and running them against the defined infrastructure (develop, test, acceptance). SoapUI enables with easy tools to implements verification and validation of the responses of your OSB implementation. When running the test you are also able to set limits in SLA response times on all the calls. This way you are able to monitor depreciation of performance in older parts of your OSB implementation when adding new services.
You can record and edit your SOAP test easy with the soapUI interface and edit it later. When you maven-enable your project it is quite easy running your tests when you implement the “maven-soapui-plugin” (see my other posting http://technology.amis.nl/blog/3061/automated-soap-testing-with-maven). In the meantime version 3.0 of this plugin is released.
When implementing this with Hudson you do not have to convert the results.xml into a Surefire report. Hudson will manage this for you. Hudson will also enable you with an historical overview of all your test results.
