Posts tagged Mark Drake

Using the Oracle XMLDB Repository to Automatically Shred Windows Office Documents (Part 1)

People who have attended the UKOUG presentation this year where Mark Drake, Sr. Product Manager XML Technologies / XMLDB, Oracle HQ, and I demonstrated the first principles of the XDB Repository, might have been impressed with its (GEO/KML Spatial, Image EXIF info) capabilities combined with Google Earth. This post will zoom in on how to consume automatically content of Windows Office document (docx).

Most (APEX) people know the PL/SQL Gateway functionality of the XDB Protocol Listener, but this is only one very small part of the XDB Repository functionality. To be precise only one “servlet” part of it. Those “servlets” can be based on Java, C or PL/SQL. The PL/SQL Gateway, as it’s name suggests, is based on the PL/SQL part. Another “servlet”, the Native Database Web Service (NDWS), which enables you to create a database SOA endpoint service and more, is based on C code. Beside demonstrating the WebDAV ACL driven security features and database extensibility/interfacing facilities based on the database (no cost option) XMLDB functionality, it also explain one of the coolest features, IMHO, introduced in Oracle 11gR1 called: XDB Repository Events.

There is one big problem in all of this. It is very, very sparsely documented and although there is some, or was some, code out there on the worldwide web, it took me a while to get a feeling of all the specifics at hand. This post will extend on some of the posts I already created to give to a head start of what is possible. This post will demonstrate what you can do with Windows Office documents, nowadays embedded (zipped) XML content, with extentions called: docx, xlsx or pptx…

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UKOUG 2011: Using your Database as a Fileserver

UKOUG 2011 is nearby and one of the coolest things in Oracle 11g and onwards is, IMHO, a functionality called XDB Repository Events. Most of you probably know that based on XMLDB functionality in the database, the database also can be used in a File server kind of way by enabling the XDB Repository HTTP/FTP or WebDav functionality via DBMS_XDB. XDB Repository Events are a kind of “triggers” that enable you to automatically trigger/do something based on the events triggered in this file/folder environment. For example, it is possible to automatically create duplicate files in the XDB Repository or secure them. Other possibilities are to read the content of such a file and insert that content, on the fly during the copy/paste action, into a relational table.

Most APEX enthousiast know of the PL/SQL Gateway, which is a small part of the functionality that is called the XDB Protocol Listener. Besides PL/SQL support, it also enables you to secure your data, as mentioned, trigger actions based, for example on MIME type, mount your database as a Logical Volume (currently only via WebDAV, eg. DAVFS) of your operating system. The XDB Protocol Listener can support your own solutions based on PL/SQL (like REST WebServices), but also C or Java based methods, and, out-of-the-box, Native Database Web Services (SOAP support) or direct XML content access via other “servlets” like the “ORADB/DBUriServlet” servlet method.

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XFiles – An APEX Community Effort

Just so you know, there is an APEX demo app. out there that never has seen the light. The demo application based on Mark Drake’s (Sr. Product Manager Oracle XMLDB)  XFiles xmldb demo application build with Javascript, Java & PL/SQL. Carl Backstrom helpt Mark in 2008 to rebuild the same demo app. into an APEX look and feel demo application. Carl wanted to clean up the code but never came around to it… I recieved the code from Mark, after a year has passed after Carl’s tragic death, and I am trying to get it out there (if applicable on http://apex.oracle.com). The XFiles demo application is a lightweight Content Management System that demonstrates all the things possible with Oracle XMLDB functionality.

The installation dependancies have been almost now figured out by me and I have finally something to show.

XFILES Apex Folder Browser Main Page

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