Oracle Application Server Wireless - Oracle

This component allows for wireless communications between remote wireless servers and the Application Server 10g architecture. The core of Oracle Application Server Wireless 10gis the use of XML communications. Wireless transforms XML data into whatever markup language is used by the wireless system, including standard HTML, Wireless Markup Language (WML), and other special wireless markups such as VoiceXML and HDML. This allows the application to generate one set of XML data that is reformatted for the presentation device, be it a cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or pager.

Wireless communications with Oracle is becoming commonplace because of the ubiquitous nature of Internet service providers creating wireless infrastructures (mostly in major cities). Within these areas, Wireless can be used to establish direct communications with Application Server 10g using a standard J2EE and XML communications model. Wireless has the benefit of isolating the database communications from the complexity of the wireless protocol by encapsulating the communications into a separate, intermediate layer.

This is one of the most exciting components of Application Server 10g because it holds the promise for wireless voice communications with Oracle Databases. This technology could bring millions of end users into far closer contact with their valuable data.

Oracle Reports Server

This component allows for fast deployment of reports, documents, and spreadsheets, all using data from the Oracle Database. To achieve this function, the Oracle Reports Server must interface with an Application Server 10g instance (and Portal) to manage the incoming report requests and send the completed reports back to the requesting user. To understand the Oracle Reports Server, let’s take a simple example and follow the report steps (Figure 1-12).

• Invocation -- The Reports Server is invoked via the end user entering a URL (or clicking a link on a web page).

• Routing -- The Application Server 10g instance intercepts the HTML or XML request and directs the request to the Reports CGI (or Reports servlets).

• Request validation -- Oracle Reports then parses the HTML or XML request and determines the report and the security rules for the report. If secure, Oracle Reports sends an HTML page back to the end user to accept a username and password.

• Execution -- The verified request is then queued for execution in the Reports Server. Note that you can configure multiple run-time engines for each Reports Server.
  

• Formatting -- Upon completion of the execution, the Reports Server formats the output as HTML and forwards the completed report to the Application Server 10g instance.

• Delivery -- The Application Server 10g instance then completes the request by sending the completed report to the end user.

This chapter is from Oracle Application Server 10g Administration Handbook, by Garmany and Burleson. (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2004, ISBN: 0072229586). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today. Buy this book now.

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