Building Oracle XML Applications review

O'Reilly has a habit of signing up the leading authorities in their respective fields, and that's certainly the case with Building Oracle XML Applications. The author Steve Muench will be a familiar name to any developer who's posted XML-related questions on the Oracle Technology Network discussion forum. Muench is not only a fount of all knowledge when it comes to answering developers queries on-line, but also Oracle's own lead XML 'technical evangelist' and the development lead for Oracle XSQL pages. If that weren't enough, you can throw in the fact that he's Oracle's primary representative to the W3C XSL Working Group as well and a consulting product manager on Oracle Business Components for Java. I mention all this because it really does establish his track record as someone who knows what he's talking about, something that shines through the entire book.

Assuming you're an Oracle professional yourself, with a good working knowledge of Java and PL/SQL development, then you'll find this essential reading in order to get to grips with the complexities of using XML standards with your Oracle databases. It covers both Oracle8 and Oracle8i and has a healthy focus on JDeveloper 3.1, which can be found on the included CD-ROM. Real-world, hands-on examples abound on how to use it, as well as the Oracle XML Parser, SQL Utility and XSQL Servlet. It's a welcome text as well, especially as the Oracle Technology Network isn't exactly the most intuitive of beasts and official documentation of any technical depth and clarity is as rare as hen's teeth. Yet Muench manages to bring clarity by the bucketload here - if you want to know how and why, as well as what, then you won't be disappointed. Topics covered include such essentials as understanding how XSLT transformations work and how to build XSLT style sheets to transform database data into any XML or HTML format for that matter and advanced techniques for handling large XML documents, using XSQL as a publishing framework and extending both XSQL and XSLT using Java. The most impressive thing about the book though is the price: at less than £30, it's an absolute gift.

Author: Davey Winder