Jason Bennett's Developer Corner

Fri, 01 May 2009 18:39:50 GMT

Generate FusionCharts Free Flash Charts with Oracle PL/SQL

Since Flash charts have become the norm for delivering visual data to our endusers in a browser based environment, I thought it would be cool to create a method for delivering both the physical flash object and the dataset for that chart straight from the database using PL/SQL. I chose a product called FusionCharts Free (http://www.fusioncharts.com/free/) as my Flash chart (binary object) provider. FusionCharts Free comes with 22 fully functional (free) charts of varying types from the basic charts to combination charts in both 2D and 3D formats. Each chart type requires a specifically formatted XML data set. The PL/SQL API I have developed makes it easy for a developer to store and deploy these flash charts directly from the Oracle database and to create dynamic data sets for each chart type directly from the database. Even though the API allows for "one stop shopping" with regard to chart object loading and data set generation, developers can also use this API solely for data set generation. This makes it easy to integrate data from Oracle databases into existing applications that use FusionCharts Free.

For complete PL/SQL API documentation including sample code, see the following document (opens in new window):Generate Flash Charts with PLSQL

The PL/SQL API can be downloaded here:FusionChartsPLSQL.zip

FusionCharts Free can be downloaded here:FusionCharts Free

The following chart was generated using the PL/SQL API. Everything from rendering the HTML to streaming the Flash Object to generating the XML data set was accomplished using the API :

The same chart embedded in an Oracle APEX page Report Region (Dynamic PL/SQL Region):

As with all of my code, please feel free to contact me with questions.

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:42:36 GMT

Creating an XML Cursor using XMLTable and XQuery

Oracle has added some really cool XML features over the years. Not the least of which include the XMLType, XQuery, and the XMLTable function. Using these three features, we can take any XML document (or fragment) and query it like a table. This type functionality makes it really easy import and exchange data between systems in an XML message format. This entry assumes some familiarity with the afore mentioned Oracle features (XMLType, XQuery, and XMLTable), and XPath. (Note: This technique will not work with Oracle 10g Express Edition. XQuery is not implemented in that version of the Oracle RDBMS.)

The example in this entry will take a simple XML document containing a repeating record set with an identifying attribute for each record set and turn it into a cursor. Here is the example code:

DECLARE

CURSOR crsrSampleData(cv_sample_data XMLType) IS

SELECT

a.record_id,

a.name,

a.id_no

FROM

XMLTable('for $i in $xml return $i//SampleRecord'

PASSING cv_sample_data as XML

COLUMNS

record_id VARCHAR2(16) PATH '/SampleRecord/@id',

name VARCHAR2(30) PATH '/SampleRecord/SampleName',

id_no NUMBER(10) PATH '/SampleRecord/SampleIdNo') a;

/* Create an XMLType to pass as a cursor variable. */

v_xml_doc XMLType := XMLType('<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>

<SampleName>ALLEN</SampleName>

</SampleRecord>

</SampleRecord>

</SampleRecord>

</SampleData>');

BEGIN

FOR data_rec IN crsrSampleData(v_xml_doc) LOOP

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Record Id='||data_rec.record_id);

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Name='||data_rec.name);

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Id#='||data_rec.id_no);

END LOOP;

END;

Execution of the code sample above will produce the following result:

Record Id=12345678

Name=ALLEN

Id#=1284793

Record Id=56789345

Name=JOE

Id#=345678

Record Id=786543456

Name=TOM

Id#=4564321

The XMLTable function is the key piece of code in the example above. The XMLTable function allows us to shred an XML document into a table like structure of our choosing based upon the data contained in the XML document. In the example above, we map our XMLType cursor variable to the $xml XQuery variable in the XQuery statement 'for $i in $xml return $i//SampleRecord' using the PASSING statement. The XQuery statement will return the sequence of SampleRecord tag nodes. Next, in the COLUMNS statement of the XMLTable function, we use XPath statements to map the desired data elements and attributes to column names that we define. We have taken an XML document and put it in a format that is both familiar and easy to handle for the average PL/SQL developer.

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:15:04 GMT

A Simple Method for Generating Excel Reports from Oracle using the ExcelDocumentType

A couple of years ago, I created a user defined type called the ExcelDocumentType that allows a developer to create a custom Excel (XML) document using PL/SQL. The user
defined type has been well received, but a few folks have commented on how tedious the coding can become when creating multiple reports (with a similar tabular layout). I came to the same conclusion recently, and have created a method that greatly simplifies the process. The method makes use of a couple of new user defined types and a PL/SQL package (all provided for your use). It makes creating a multi worksheet document (with a different query for each worksheet) a breeze and with very little coding involved.

(DOWNLOAD THE CODE FROM :The Code )

The Basics

As mentioned above, this new method for generating ExcelDocumentType reports uses a few Oracle user defined types and a small utility package called ExcelDocUtils. Before I get into the details of the PL/SQL package and the supporting user defined types, let's look at a code sample that will generate an Excel document containing three worksheets.

For this example I used the EMPLOYEES table from the Oracle HR demo schema:

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE employeeReport AS

v_sql_salary VARCHAR2(200) := 'SELECT last_name,first_name,salary FROM hr.employees
ORDER BY last_name,first_name';

v_sql_contact VARCHAR2(200) := 'SELECT last_name,first_name,phone_number,email FROM
hr.employees ORDER BY last_name,first_name';

v_sql_hiredate VARCHAR2(200) := 'SELECT
last_name,first_name,to_char(hire_date,''MM/DD/YYYY'') hire_date FROM hr.employees ORDER BY
last_name,first_name';

excelReport ExcelDocumentType := ExcelDocumentType();

v_worksheet_rec ExcelDocTypeUtils.T_WORKSHEET_DATA := NULL;

v_worksheet_array ExcelDocTypeUtils.WORKSHEET_TABLE :=
ExcelDocTypeUtils.WORKSHEET_TABLE();

BEGIN

-- Salary
v_worksheet_rec.query := v_sql_salary;
v_worksheet_rec.worksheet_name := 'Salaries';
v_worksheet_rec.col_count := 3;
v_worksheet_rec.col_width_list := '25,20,15';
v_worksheet_rec.col_header_list := 'Lastname,Firstname,Salary';

v_worksheet_array.EXTEND;
v_worksheet_array(v_worksheet_array.count) := v_worksheet_rec;

-- Contact
v_worksheet_rec.query := v_sql_contact;
v_worksheet_rec.worksheet_name := 'Contact_Info';
v_worksheet_rec.col_count := 4;
v_worksheet_rec.col_width_list := '25,20,20,25';
v_worksheet_rec.col_header_list := 'Lastname,Firstname,Phone,Email';

v_worksheet_array.EXTEND;
v_worksheet_array(v_worksheet_array.count) := v_worksheet_rec;

-- Contact
v_worksheet_rec.query := v_sql_hiredate;
v_worksheet_rec.worksheet_name := 'Hiredate';
v_worksheet_rec.col_count := 3;
v_worksheet_rec.col_width_list := '25,20,20';
v_worksheet_rec.col_header_list := 'Lastname,Firstname,Hiredate';

v_worksheet_array.EXTEND;
v_worksheet_array(v_worksheet_array.count) := v_worksheet_rec;

excelReport := ExcelDocTypeUtils.createExcelDocument(v_worksheet_array);

excelReport.displayDocument;

END;
/

The code above generates the following Excel document:

So, what are we looking at here? First, a drastic reduction in the amount of code it takes to generate a basic Excel report. Second, we see some interesting data structures that allow us to accomplish that feat. The code above centers around three structures and a new PL/SQL package called ExcelDocTypeUtils:

(1) A record type called T_WORKSHEET_DATA that holds: the query string that generates the worksheet data; the worksheet name; the number of columns
displayed in the sheet; a list containing the column width for each displayed column; a list of column headers. This record is defined in the ExcelDocTypeUtils package.

(2) A collection object of T_WORKSHEET_DATA records called WORKSHEET_TABLE. Each item in the collection represents one worksheet in the Excel document.

(3) The ExcelDocumentType is that third structure. The WORKSHEET_TABLE collection is passed to a function in the ExcelDocTypeUtils package that returns a
fully populated ExcelDocumentType object.

(4) The ExcelDocTypeUtils package contains a single public utility function called createExcelDocument. This function creates and returns an ExcelDocumentType
object based upon the WORKSHEET_TABLE input parameter. The package makes use of another user defined type called AnonymousFunction. The
AnonymousFunction object (user defined type) allows for the dynamic generation and execution of PL/SQL functions at runtime (sort of like Lambda in Lisp).
Since the user can pass any query (with varying numbers of return values in the result set or select clause), we need to be able to generate a function that can
execute any refcursor (OPEN-FOR FETCH-INTO) and have the ability to create variable numbers "FETCH INTO" recipients.

The Code

I have provided a link in this blog entry that will allow you to download the code and all of the required objects. Download it and give it a try. I have been using at it at my place
of employment to generate scheduled reports for various departments and individuals. So far so good!

For those who just want to take a look at the code, here is the code for the ExcelDocTypeUtils package:

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE T_ROW AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(500);
/
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE T_ROW_NUMBER AS TABLE OF NUMBER(3);
/
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE RESULT_TABLE AS TABLE OF T_ROW;
/

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE ExcelDocTypeUtils AS

TYPE t_refcursor IS REF CURSOR;

/* This record contains all of the components
required to create an Excel Report worksheet. */
TYPE T_WORKSHEET_DATA IS RECORD(
query VARCHAR2(4000),
worksheet_name VARCHAR2(20),
col_count NUMBER(3),
col_width_list VARCHAR2(500),
col_header_list VARCHAR2(2000)
);

/* An Array of T_WORKSHEET_DATA allows us to create an excel document
with multiple worksheets based on
different queries. */
TYPE WORKSHEET_TABLE IS TABLE OF T_WORKSHEET_DATA;

FUNCTION createExcelDocument(p_worksheet_data WORKSHEET_TABLE) RETURN ExcelDocumentType;

END;
/
sho err;

/*******************************************************************************/
/******************************** PACKAGE BODY ******************************/
/*******************************************************************************/

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY ExcelDocTypeUtils AS

/*

Function that returns the element at the
requested position in a delimited string.

*/
FUNCTION getStringElement(p_string VARCHAR2,
p_element NUMBER,
p_delimiter VARCHAR2 := ',',
p_level NUMBER := 0) RETURN VARCHAR2
IS

v_string VARCHAR2(2000) := NULL;
v_element VARCHAR2(2000) := NULL;
v_next VARCHAR2(2000) := NULL;

v_level NUMBER(4) := 0;

BEGIN

v_level := p_level + 1;

v_element := substr(p_string||p_delimiter,1,
instr(p_string||p_delimiter,p_delimiter)-1);

-- need to look ahead to make sure we handle the null elements.
v_next := substr(p_string||p_delimiter,
instr(p_string||p_delimiter,p_delimiter),length(p_delimiter));

IF ((v_level >= p_element) OR
(v_element IS NULL AND v_next != p_delimiter)) THEN

RETURN v_element;

ELSE

v_string := substr(p_string||p_delimiter,
instr(p_string||p_delimiter,p_delimiter)+1,length(p_string));

RETURN getStringElement(v_string,p_element,p_delimiter,v_level);

END IF;

END;

/*==============================================================================*/
/*
This function executes the given query and returns the data
in a RESULT_TABLE Collection object.

*/

FUNCTION buildDataSet(p_query_string VARCHAR2 := NULL,
p_col_count NUMBER := 0) RETURN RESULT_TABLE
IS

r_table RESULT_TABLE := RESULT_TABLE();

v_row_symbol VARCHAR2(20) := 'v_row';
v_row_fetch VARCHAR2(1000) := NULL;
v_row_extend NUMBER(3) := p_col_count;

v_anydata SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;
v_func_result PLS_INTEGER := 0;

v_query VARCHAR2(16000) := p_query_string;

funcResultTable AnonymousFunction := AnonymousFunction();

v_result_func VARCHAR2(32000) := 'FUNCTION getRowSet RETURN RESULT_TABLE '||
'IS '||
' TYPE t_refcursor IS REF CURSOR; '||
' v_table RESULT_TABLE := result_table(); '||
' v_row T_ROW := T_ROW(); '||
' v_query VARCHAR2(4000) := ''''; '||
' v_refcur t_refcursor; '||
'BEGIN '||
' OPEN v_refcur FOR v_query; '||
' LOOP '||
' v_row.extend(); '||
' FETCH v_refcur INTO ;'||
' EXIT WHEN v_refcur%NOTFOUND; '||
' v_table.EXTEND; '||
' v_table(v_table.COUNT) := v_row; '||
' v_row.DELETE; '||
' END LOOP; '||
' RETURN v_table; '||
'END; ';

BEGIN

FOR x IN 1 .. v_row_extend LOOP

v_row_fetch := v_row_fetch||v_row_symbol||'('||x||'),';

END LOOP;
v_row_fetch := RTRIM(v_row_fetch,',');

v_result_func := REPLACE(v_result_func,'',REPLACE(v_query,'''',''''''));

v_result_func := REPLACE(v_result_func,'',to_char(v_row_extend));

v_result_func := REPLACE(v_result_func,'',v_row_fetch);

funcResultTable.defineFunction(p_function_name=>'getRowSet',
p_function_text=>v_result_func,
p_function_type=>DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_TABLE);

v_anydata := funcResultTable.executeFunction;
v_func_result := v_anydata.getCollection(r_table);

RETURN r_table;

END;

/*=========================================================================*/
/*

This functiom constructs and returns an ExcelDocumentType
based upon the parameters passed in
by the WORKSHEET_TABLE type parameter.
*/

FUNCTION createExcelDocument(p_worksheet_data WORKSHEET_TABLE) RETURN ExcelDocumentType
IS

resultDocument ExcelDocumentType;
v_row T_ROW := T_ROW();
v_results RESULT_TABLE := RESULT_TABLE();

v_default_col_width NUMBER(3) := 30;
v_col_width NUMBER(3) := 0;

BEGIN

BEGIN

COMMIT;

EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN NULL;
END;

resultDocument := ExcelDocumentType();

-- Open Document
resultDocument.documentOpen;

-- Define Customs Styles
resultDocument.stylesOpen;

resultDocument.defaultStyle;

/* Style for Column Header Row */
resultDocument.createStyle(p_style_id =>'ColumnHeader',
p_font =>'Times New Roman',
p_ffamily =>'Roman',
p_fsize =>'10',
p_bold =>'Y',
p_underline =>'Single',
p_align_horizontal=>'Center',
p_align_vertical=>'Bottom');

resultDocument.stylesClose;

FOR ws_index IN 1 .. p_worksheet_data.COUNT LOOP
-- Open Worksheets

resultDocument.worksheetOpen(p_worksheet_data(ws_index).worksheet_name);

FOR colnum IN 1 .. p_worksheet_data(ws_index).col_count LOOP

v_col_width := NVL(TO_NUMBER(getStringElement(p_worksheet_data(ws_index).col_width_list,colnum))
,v_default_col_width);

resultDocument.defineColumn(p_index=>TO_CHAR(colnum),
p_width=>v_col_width);
END LOOP;

-- Heading Row
resultDocument.rowOpen;

FOR colnum IN 1 .. p_worksheet_data(ws_index).col_count LOOP
resultDocument.addCell(p_style=>'ColumnHeader',
p_data=>getStringElement(p_worksheet_data(ws_index).col_header_list,colnum));
END LOOP;

resultDocument.rowClose;

v_results := buildDataSet(p_worksheet_data(ws_index).query,
p_worksheet_data(ws_index).col_count);

FOR r_index IN 1 .. v_results.COUNT LOOP

resultDocument.rowOpen;

v_row := v_results(r_index);

FOR c_index IN 1 .. v_row.COUNT LOOP

resultDocument.addCell(p_data=>v_row(c_index));

END LOOP;

v_row.DELETE;

resultDocument.rowClose;

END LOOP;

v_results.DELETE;

resultDocument.worksheetClose;

END LOOP;
resultDocument.documentClose;

RETURN resultDocument;

END;

/*=============*/
/* END PACKAGE */
/*=============*/
END;
/

Wrapping It Up
As with all of the code I post in my blog entries, please feel to use it and modify it as you see fit. Please feel free to contact me with any questions! I hope this makes generating Excel reports a little more easy and lot less tedious.

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:53:59 GMT

PL/SQL: Create Dynamic PL/SQL Functions with the AnonymousFunction Data Type

Spending some time with loosely typed languages like JavaScript and LISP has made me realize how powerful anonymous functions can be. In my last big project using ADF Faces, I found it necessary to rewrite some the ADF Faces JavaScript functions on the fly (at runtime) in order to force a specific and non-native behavior. Since JavaScript is loosely typed (meaning, in a nutshell, I don't need to explicitly specify a type for my functions or variables) and supports anonymous functions (functions defined and executed at runtime), altering the functions provided by the Oracle developers was a snap. I was able to wrap my code around their code and create a new function on the fly. Cool stuff. LISP provides a similar ability with the lambda function. I thought it would be cool to have the same ability when writing PL/SQL code. However, PL/SQL is strongly typed, and doesn't provide an easy mechanism for defining generic anonymous functions out of the box. However, since Oracle 9i, there is a way to implement generics through the ANYDATA, ANYDATASET, ANYTYPE objects. Using these new tools, I was able to create a user defined type called AnonymousFunction that allows a developer to create dynamic functions (or anonymous functions) at runtime. The user defined type makes use of both SYS.ANYDATA and the DBMS_TYPES package to allow the developer to create and execute functions of almost every type with relative ease. Here is a sample of how a user would define a numeric function on the fly:

DECLARE
            v_numberFunction AnonymousFunction := AnonymousFunction();
            v_function_text VARCHAR2(200) := 'FUNCTION testNumber RETURN NUMBER IS BEGIN RETURN 12345; END;';
            v_result NUMBER(10) := NULL;
BEGIN

v_numberFunction.defineFunctionNumber(p_function_name=>'testNumber',
p_function_text=>v_function_text);

v_result := v_numberFunction.executeFunctionNumber;

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Number result='||v_result);

END;

The (trivial) code example above would generate the result 12345 if executed in SQL*Plus or TOAD with SERVER OUT set to ON. Rather than bore you with more details (you can get them from the code or ask me), here is the code for the user defined type:

(Download this code and a more comprehensive example here: AnonymousFunction.zip )

/*====================================================

Global Temporary table used to store and retrieve
the results of the anonymous function execution.

=====================================================*/

CREATE GLOBAL TEMPORARY TABLE anon_func_results(
id NUMBER(12) PRIMARY KEY,
result SYS.ANYDATA,
clob_result CLOB,
blob_result BLOB);

/*=====================================================================
Sequence used to create a unique key for the result storage rows.
======================================================================*/
CREATE SEQUENCE anon_func_seq;

/*====================================================================

The user defined type Anonymous Function. This type allows a user
to execute dynamic functions of multiple types: Char, Varchar2, Number,
Float, Double, Raw, BFile, RAW, CLOB, BLOB, Collection, Object.

There are several member procedures and functions defined as conveniences
for executing functions of type: Varchar2, Number, Char, Float, Double,
Raw, BFILE, Clob, and Blob. Collections and Objects requires a few more
steps since the are not stand Oracle data types.

The UDT takes advantage of Oracle's ANYDATA type as a generic type target.

=====================================================================*/
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE AnonymousFunction AS OBJECT(

   af_function_text VARCHAR2(32000),
   af_function_type NUMBER(12),
   af_function_name VARCHAR2(70),

-- Constructor
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION AnonymousFunction RETURN SELF AS RESULT,

   -- Define the function to be executed.
   -- Include the function name, function body, and function type.
   -- Use the DBMS_TYPES package to specify the function's data type.
   MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunction(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
                                   p_function_text VARCHAR2,
                                   p_function_type NUMBER),

   MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunction RETURN SYS.ANYDATA,

   MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionChar(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
                                           p_function_text VARCHAR2),
   MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionChar RETURN CHAR,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionVarchar2(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionVarchar2 RETURN VARCHAR2,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionNumber(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionNumber RETURN NUMBER,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionCLOB(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionCLOB RETURN CLOB,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBLOB(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBLOB RETURN BLOB,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionDate(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionDate RETURN DATE,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBDouble(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBDouble RETURN BINARY_DOUBLE,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBFile(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBFile RETURN BFILE,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBFloat(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBFloat RETURN BINARY_FLOAT,

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionRaw(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2),

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionRaw RETURN RAW

)
/
sho err;

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY AnonymousFunction AS

CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION AnonymousFunction RETURN SELF AS RESULT
IS
BEGIN

    SELF.af_function_text := NULL;
    SELF.af_function_type := NULL;
    SELF.af_function_name := NULL;

RETURN;

END;

/*============================================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunction(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2,
p_function_type NUMBER)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.af_function_name := p_function_name;
   SELF.af_function_text := p_function_text;
   SELF.af_function_type := p_function_type;

END;

/*==========================================================================================================*/

-- This is the key function ... it executes the dynamic functions and provides the correct type encoding.
MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunction RETURN SYS.ANYDATA
IS

v_sql VARCHAR2(32000) := 'DECLARE '||
                               'result_key anon_func_results.id%TYPE := <KEY>; '||
                               'v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL ; '||
                               '<FUNC> '||
                           'BEGIN '||
                                '<CONVERT> '||
                                ' CASE v_result.getTypeName '||
                                ' WHEN ''SYS.CLOB'' THEN '||
                                  ' INSERT INTO anon_func_results(id,clob_result) VALUES (result_key,v_result.accessClob()); '||
                                ' WHEN ''SYS.BLOB'' THEN '||
                                   'INSERT INTO anon_func_results(id,blob_result) VALUES (result_key,v_result.accessBlob()); '||
                                ' ELSE '||
                                   'INSERT INTO anon_func_results(id,result) VALUES (result_key,v_result); '||
                                ' END CASE; '||
                           'END;';

v_convert_text VARCHAR2(100) := NULL;

v_key NUMBER(12) := 0;

v_result_sql VARCHAR2(100) := 'SELECT result FROM anon_func_results WHERE id=:id';

v_clob_result_sql VARCHAR2(100) := 'SELECT AnyData.convertClob(clob_result) FROM anon_func_results WHERE id=:id';

v_blob_result_sql VARCHAR2(100) := 'SELECT AnyData.convertBlob(blob_result) FROM anon_func_results WHERE id=:id';

v_return_val SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

CASE SELF.af_function_type

     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BDOUBLE THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertBDouble(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BFILE THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertBFile(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BFLOAT THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertBFloat(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BLOB THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertBlob(<NAME>); ';
       v_result_sql   := v_blob_result_sql;
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_CHAR THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertChar(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_CLOB THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertClob(<NAME>); ';
       v_result_sql   := v_clob_result_sql;
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_DATE THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertDate(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_NUMBER THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertNumber(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_RAW THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertRaw(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_VARCHAR2 THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertVarchar2(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_VARCHAR THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertVarchar(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_VARRAY THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertCollection(<NAME>); ';
     WHEN DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_OBJECT THEN
       v_convert_text := 'v_result := AnyData.convertObject(<NAME>); ';
   END CASE;

IF v_convert_text IS NOT NULL THEN

SELECT anon_func_seq.nextval INTO v_key FROM DUAL;

     v_sql := REPLACE(v_sql,'<FUNC>',SELF.af_function_text);
     v_sql := REPLACE(v_sql,'<CONVERT>',v_convert_text);
     v_sql := REPLACE(v_sql,'<KEY>',v_key);
     v_sql := REPLACE(v_sql,'<NAME>',SELF.af_function_name);

EXECUTE IMMEDIATE v_sql;

EXECUTE IMMEDIATE v_result_sql INTO v_return_val USING v_key;

END IF;

RETURN v_return_val;

END;

/*====================================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionChar(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_CHAR);

END;

/*====================================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionChar RETURN CHAR
IS
v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;
BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_CHAR = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

RETURN v_result.accessChar();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*=====================================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionVarchar2(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_VARCHAR2);

END;

/*====================================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionVarchar2 RETURN VARCHAR2
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_VARCHAR2 = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

RETURN v_result.accessVarchar2();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*============================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionNumber(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_NUMBER);

END;

/*===========================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionNumber RETURN NUMBER
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_NUMBER = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

COMMIT;

RETURN v_result.accessNumber();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*===========================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionClob(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_CLOB);

END;

/*==========================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionClob RETURN CLOB
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;
v_clob CLOB := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_CLOB = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

v_clob := v_result.accessClob();

RETURN v_clob;

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*========================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBlob(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BLOB);

END;

/*=======================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBlob RETURN BLOB
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;
v_blob BLOB := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BLOB = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

v_blob := v_result.accessBlob();

RETURN v_blob;

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*=======================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionDate(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_DATE);

END;

/*======================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionDate RETURN DATE
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_DATE = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

RETURN v_result.accessDate();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*=====================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBDouble(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BDOUBLE);

END;

/*=====================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBDouble RETURN BINARY_DOUBLE
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BDOUBLE = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

COMMIT;

RETURN v_result.accessBDouble();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*====================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBFloat(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BFLOAT);

END;

/*===================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBFloat RETURN BINARY_FLOAT
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BFLOAT = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

COMMIT;

RETURN v_result.accessBFloat();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*===================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionBFile(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BFILE);

END;

/*===================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionBFile RETURN BFILE
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_BFILE = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

RETURN v_result.accessBFile();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/*===================================================================================*/

MEMBER PROCEDURE defineFunctionRaw(p_function_name VARCHAR2,
p_function_text VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN

   SELF.defineFunction(p_function_name,
                       p_function_text,
                       DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_RAW);

END;

/*===================================================================================*/

MEMBER FUNCTION executeFunctionRaw RETURN RAW
IS

v_result SYS.ANYDATA := NULL;

BEGIN

IF DBMS_TYPES.TYPECODE_RAW = SELF.af_function_type THEN

v_result := SELF.executeFunction;

RETURN v_result.accessRaw();

ELSE

RETURN NULL;

END IF;

END;

/* END TYPE BODY */
END;

As with all of my entries and code, feel free to use this or modify it as you see fit. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email.

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:17:50 GMT

Oracle OpenWorld 2008

I'll be attending Oracle OpenWorld 2008 in San Francisco next week. It looks like a pretty large event this year. I always come away from this event inspired and with a lot of new perspectives and ideas. This year I plan to focus on application development (big surprise) tracks (mainly ADF Faces and Apex). If you see my name tag (Jason Bennett CMPD) feel free to say hello.

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:04:24 GMT

JavaScript: The Utlimate RegExp Email Address Format Validator

I developed the following email address format validator for my current ADF Faces project. The QA person keep failed my feeble attempt at a validator, so I decided to go big guns and create a validator that conforms to the standards for email addresses as set forth in this wiki entry:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_address . I created a single Regular Expression to handle all cases (unless someone can break it). Here is the function:

(Make sure you put the regexp in one long string if you cut and paste this. It wrapped in the blog entry.)

function isValidEmail(ctl){

v_pattern = /^((([^.]*)(([a-zA-Z0-9#!%/-=_`~&'$\*?\|^\{}\+][.]{0,1})+)[^.]|(".*?"))[@](([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)([.]([a-zA-Z]{2,3}))+|([[]{1}(([0-1]?[0-9]{1,2}.)|(2[0-4][0-9].)|(25[0-5].)){3}(([0-1]?[0-9]{1,2})|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))[]]{1})))$/;

if(ctl.length > 0){
     if (ctl.match(v_pattern)){
        return true;
     }else{
        return false;
     }
}else{
     return true;
}
}

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:34:06 GMT

ADF Faces: Passing a Java Collection from a Custom ViewObjectImpl Class to a PL/SQL Function

I recently had the challenge of creating several complex query search screens using ADF Faces. These new search screens had to integrate seamlessly into our current application's (not a J2EE application ...) search screens (look the same, act the same, feel the same ...). One of the challenges that presented itself was to determine how to pass multiple search parameters with various operators (=, <, LIKE,SOUNDEX, etc ...) and the values associated with them and map them to their associated columns in a dynamic where clause. Since I was creating multiple screens with similar functionality, I needed a generic method of parameter passing. The obvious answer was to use some sort of array or combination of arrays as the parameter transport mechanism. The not so obvious part was how the heck I was going to pass an array of Java Objects to a PL/SQL function that was expecting a PL/SQL Collection object. Luckily, this turned out to be less complicated than I thought thanks to Oracle and the developers of JDBC. The Java to PL/SQL user-defined type mapping is accomplished using the java.sql.SQLData interface (http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/sql/SQLData.html). This interface was designed to allow for the mapping between a SQL UDT (user defined type) and a Java class. The mapping of an array of these objects to an Oracle collection (or array) is accomplished using two Oracle JDBC classes: oracle.sql.ARRAY (http://www.oracle.com/technology/docs/tech/java/sqlj_jdbc/doc_library/javadoc/oracle.sql.ARRAY.html) and oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor (http://www.oracle.com/technology/docs/tech/java/sqlj_jdbc/doc_library/javadoc/oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor.html). Next problem ... how to create a custom (generic) Programmatic ViewObjectImpl class that will accept a Collection object as the parameter passing mechanism. This turned out to be another simple task with the help of some Oracle ADF documentation: (http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B31017_01/web.1013/b25947/bcadvvo008.htm). After that, it's elementary! All of the View Objects defined for each of my custom search screens were extended from this new custom ViewObjectImpl class. The rest of this article details the steps and code I used to implement the solution. For the sake of brevity, I will limit the code to just the generic ViewObjectImpl and PL/SQL collection mapping. (The PL/SQL package used to implement the searches has some interesting bits of code, and I will publish that in a separate article.)

Step 1. Create SQL User Defined Types

Step one is to create the SQL user defined types. In this instance I created two types. The base type SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE and a collection of SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE called SEARCH_PARAM_ARRAY. These two user defined types are defined by the following commands:

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE AS OBJECT(

PARAM_NAME VARCHAR2(100),

PARAM_OPERATOR VARCHAR2(4),

PARAM_VALUE VARCHAR2(1000)

)

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE SEARCH_PARAM_ARRAY AS TABLE OF SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE

The SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE contains a parameter name (or label or identifier), a parameter query operator code, and the value for the particular parameter. The SEARCH_PARAM_ARRAY is just a simple array (PL/SQL Table) that may hold 0 or more SEARCH_PARAM_TYPES. Each of these SQL types gets mapped in the Java code.

Step 2. Create Java Class to Match SQL Type SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE

Step two is to create a Java class to match the SQL user defined type SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE. This class must implement java.sql.SQLData and java.io.Serializable. The code below demonstrates how to implement the class that matches the SQL type SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE:

import java.io.Serializable;

import java.sql.SQLData;

import java.sql.SQLException;

import java.sql.SQLInput;

import java.sql.SQLOutput;

/***

* This class maps to an Oracle User Defined Type called

* SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE. It hold search parameter data

* consisting of a parameter name, operator code,

* and parameter value.

public class SearchParamBean implements SQLData, Serializable{

/* Oracle User Defined Type Name */

private String sql_type = ''SEARCH_PARAM_TYPE'';

/* These String represent the attributes in the Oracle user defined type. */

Private String param_name = null;

private String param_operator = null;

private String param_value = null;

public SearchParamBean() {

}

public void setParamName(String p_param_name){

param_name = p_param_name;

}

public String getParamName(){

return param_name;

}

public void setParamOperator(String p_param_operator){

param_operator = p_param_operator;

}

public String getParamOperator(){

return param_operator;

}

public void setParamValue(String p_param_value){

param_value = p_param_value;

}

public String getParamValue(){

return param_value;

}

public String getSQLTypeName()

throws SQLException

{

return sql_type;

}

public void readSQL(SQLInput stream, String typeName)

{

/* No need to implement this */

}

public void writeSQL(SQLOutput stream) throws SQLException

{

the order of values matters! The order must match the structure

of the user defined type exactly!

stream.writeString(param_name);

stream.writeString(param_operator);

stream.writeString(param_value);

}

As you can see, this is a pretty straight forward class. It is important to note that in the writeSQL method above, the order attribute assignements defined with the stream.writeString statements must match the order of attributes as defined in the SQL user defined type exactly (under the covers I'm sure it has to do with marshalling and unmarshalling the serialized objects and not knowing how to intuitively identify what value goes where).

Step 3. Create the Custom ViewObjectImpl Class

The third step is to create the (generic) custom ViewObjectImpl class that your actual ViewObjects will extend. As stated at the start of this article, I made use of the example in the Oracle ADF documentation that details how to create a View Object using alternate data sources. The key piece of code is the callStoredFunction method:

/**

* Mechanism to execute PL/SQL functions that populate rows and data

* for the ViewObject

* @param sqlReturnType

* @param stmt

* @param params

* @return

protected Object callStoredFunction(int sqlReturnType,

String stmt,

SearchParamBean[] params) {

CallableStatement plsqlStmt = null;

StringBuffer sb_plsqlBlock = new StringBuffer();

Object dataSet = new Object();

try {

sb_plsqlBlock.append(''begin ? := '').append(stmt).append(''; end;'');

plsqlStmt = getDBTransaction().createCallableStatement(

sb_plsqlBlock.toString(),0);

/* Register the first bind variable for the return value */

plsqlStmt.registerOutParameter(1, sqlReturnType);

/*This is where we map the Java Object Array to a PL/SQL Array */

ArrayDescriptor desc = ArrayDescriptor.createDescriptor(arrayDescriptor,plsqlStmt.getConnection());

ARRAY objectArray = new ARRAY (desc, plsqlStmt.getConnection(), params);

((OraclePreparedStatement) plsqlStmt).setARRAY(2,objectArray);

plsqlStmt.executeUpdate();

dataSet = plsqlStmt.getObject(1);

}

catch (SQLException e) {

throw new JboException(e);

}

finally {

if (plsqlStmt != null) {

try {

plsqlStmt.close();

}

catch (SQLException e) {System.err.println(e.getMessage());}

}

return dataSet;

}

The custom ViewObjectImpl also has methods that construct the ArrayList containing SearchParamBeans. There are getter and setter methods provided in the class for adding and retrieving SearchParamBean objects. The SearchParamBean[] array you see in the code above is generated internally by the method:

/**

* Constructs the SearchParamBean array from the searchParams ArrayList

* @return

protected SearchParamBean[] getParamBeanArray(){

return (SearchParamBean[])searchParams.toArray(new SearchParamBean[searchParams.size()]);

}

Rather than explain each method in detail, I'll provide the code with appropriate comments. It's fairly straight forward code:

import adf.custom.beans.SearchParamBean;

import java.sql.CallableStatement;

import java.sql.ResultSet;

import java.sql.SQLException;

import java.sql.Types;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import oracle.jbo.JboException;

import oracle.jbo.server.ViewObjectImpl;

import oracle.jbo.server.ViewRowImpl;

import oracle.jbo.server.ViewRowSetImpl;

import oracle.jdbc.OracleTypes;

import oracle.jdbc.driver.OraclePreparedStatement;

import oracle.sql.ARRAY;

import oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor;

public class ObjectArrayVOImpl extends ViewObjectImpl{

/**

* Number of columns in result set returned by this VO.

private int numberOfVOColumns = 0;

/**

* Name of PL/SQL function that will execute the query

* for the VO implemented by this code.

private String queryFunction = null;

/**

* Name of PL/SQL function that will return the

* number of rows returned by this VO.

private String countFunction = null;

/**

* Name of SQL User Defined Type/ PLSQL Collection Type

private String arrayDescriptor = null;

/**

* ArrayList that holds SearchParamBean objects.

private ArrayList searchParams = new ArrayList();

public ObjectArrayVOImpl() {

}

/**

* This method adds a SearchParamBean object to the ArrayList that

* is mapped to the PL/SQL Collection

* @param p_param_bean

public void addSearchParamBean(SearchParamBean p_param_bean){

searchParams.add(p_param_bean);

}

public void clearSearchParamArray(){

searchParams.clear();

}

/**

* This method is used to set the name of the PL/SQL (packaged) Function that

* will accept the collection of parameters and execute a query returning the

* desired results.

* @param p_value

public void setQueryFunction(String p_value){

queryFunction = p_value;

}

/**

* This method is used to set the name of the PL/SQL (packaged) Function that

* will return the number of rows that will be returned to the View Object from

* the PL/SQL package result set.

* @param p_value

public void setCountFunction(String p_value){

countFunction = p_value;

}

/**

* The array descriptor is is used by the method callStoredFunction

* to map the SearchParamBean[] to the correct PL/SQL Array or SQL

* Type in the backing database.

* @param p_value

public void setArrayDescriptor(String p_value){

arrayDescriptor = p_value;

}

public void setNumberOfVOColumns(int p_value){

numberOfVOColumns = p_value;

}

/**

* Returns the most current ArrayList containing search parameter beans.

* @return ArrayList

public ArrayList getSearchParamArrayList(){

return searchParams;

}

/**

* Constructs the SearchParamBean array from the searchParams ArrayList

* @return

protected SearchParamBean[] getParamBeanArray(){

return (SearchParamBean[])searchParams.toArray(new SearchParamBean[searchParams.size()]);

}

/**

* Overridden framework method.

* The role of this method is to ''fetch'', populate, and return a single row

* from the datasource by calling createNewRowForCollection() and populating

* its attributes using populateAttributeForRow().

protected ViewRowImpl createRowFromResultSet(Object qc, ResultSet rs) {

* We ignore the JDBC ResultSet passed by the framework (null anyway) and

* use the resultset that we've stored in the query-collection-private

* user data storage

rs = getResultSet(qc);

* Create a new row to populate

ViewRowImpl r = createNewRowForCollection(qc);

try {

* Populate new row by attribute slot number for current row in Result Set

for (int x=0; x<numberOfVOColumns; x++){

populateAttributeForRow(r,x,rs.getString(x+1));

}

catch (SQLException s) {

throw new JboException(s);

}

return r;

}

/**

* Overridden framework method.

* Return true if the datasource has at least one more record to fetch.

protected boolean hasNextForCollection(Object qc) {

ResultSet rs = getResultSet(qc);

boolean nextOne = false;

try {

nextOne = rs.next();

* When were at the end of the result set, mark the query collection

* as "FetchComplete".

if (!nextOne) {

setFetchCompleteForCollection(qc, true);

* Close the result set, we're done with it

rs.close();

}

catch (SQLException s) {

throw new JboException(s);

}

return nextOne;

}

/**

* Overridden framework method.

* The framework gives us a chance to clean up any resources related

* to the datasource when a query collection is done being used.

protected void releaseUserDataForCollection(Object qc, Object rs) {

* Ignore the ResultSet passed in since we've created our own.

* Fetch the ResultSet from the User-Data context instead

ResultSet userDataRS = getResultSet(qc);

if (userDataRS != null) {

try {

userDataRS.close();

}

catch (SQLException s) {

/* Ignore */

}

super.releaseUserDataForCollection(qc, rs);

}

/**

* Mechanism to execute PL/SQL functions that populate rows and data

* for the ViewObject

* @param sqlReturnType

* @param stmt

* @param params

* @return

protected Object callStoredFunction(int sqlReturnType,

String stmt,

SearchParamBean[] params) {

CallableStatement plsqlStmt = null;

StringBuffer sb_plsqlBlock = new StringBuffer();

Object dataSet = new Object();

try {

sb_plsqlBlock.append(''begin ? := '').append(stmt).append(''; end;'');

plsqlStmt = getDBTransaction().createCallableStatement(

sb_plsqlBlock.toString(),0);

/* Register the first bind variable for the return value */

plsqlStmt.registerOutParameter(1, sqlReturnType);

/*This is where we map the Java Object Array to a PL/SQL Array */

ArrayDescriptor desc = ArrayDescriptor.createDescriptor(arrayDescriptor,plsqlStmt.getConnection());

ARRAY objectArray = new ARRAY (desc, plsqlStmt.getConnection(), params);

((OraclePreparedStatement) plsqlStmt).setARRAY(2,objectArray);

plsqlStmt.executeUpdate();

dataSet = plsqlStmt.getObject(1);

}

catch (SQLException e) {

throw new JboException(e);

}

finally {

if (plsqlStmt != null) {

try {

plsqlStmt.close();

}

catch (SQLException e) {System.err.println(e.getMessage());}

}

return dataSet;

}

/**

* Return a JDBC ResultSet representing the REF CURSOR return

* value from our stored package function.

private ResultSet retrieveRefCursor(Object qc, SearchParamBean[] params) {

ResultSet rs = (ResultSet)callStoredFunction(OracleTypes.CURSOR,

queryFunction,

params);

return rs ;

}

/**

* Retrieve the result set wrapper from the query-collection user-data

private ResultSet getResultSet(Object qc) {

return (ResultSet)getUserDataForCollection(qc);

}

/**

* Store a new result set in the query-collection-private user-data context

private void storeNewResultSet(Object qc, ResultSet rs) {

ResultSet existingRs = getResultSet(qc);

/* If this query collection is getting reused, close out any previous rowset */

if (existingRs != null) {

try {existingRs.close();} catch (SQLException s) {}

}

setUserDataForCollection(qc,rs);

hasNextForCollection(qc); // Prime the pump with the first row.

}

/**

* Overridden framework method.

protected void create() {

getViewDef().setQuery(null);

getViewDef().setSelectClause(null);

setQuery(null);

}

/**

* Overridden framework method.

public long getQueryHitCount(ViewRowSetImpl viewRowSet) {

Long count = Long.valueOf("0");

if (!searchParams.isEmpty()){

count= (Long)callStoredFunction(OracleTypes.BIGINT,

countFunction,

getParamBeanArray());

}

return count.longValue();

}

/**

* Overridden framework method.

protected void executeQueryForCollection(Object qc,Object[] params,

int numUserParams) {

if (!searchParams.isEmpty()){

storeNewResultSet(qc,retrieveRefCursor(qc,getParamBeanArray()));

super.executeQueryForCollection(qc, params, numUserParams);

}

Step 4. Create a View Object based on the Custom ViewObjectImpl

The last step is to create a new ViewObject based on the custom ViewObjectImpl that was created in step three. The easiest way to do this is to use the JDeveloper View Object creation wizard. Select the ''Rows populated programmatically'' option. Add any attributes (return columns) you need. Under the Java section of the View Object definition, and set the VO to extend the new ViewObjectImpl class. Edit the new View Object class and configure it to use the correct PL/SQL (packaged) functions. Here is an example:

import adf.custom.model.customViewObjectImpl.ObjectArrayVOImpl;

/* ---------------------------------------------------------------------

--- File generated by Oracle ADF Business Components Design Time.

--- Custom code may be added to this class.

--- Warning: Do not modify method signatures of generated methods.

---------------------------------------------------------------------*/

public class EmployeeQueryVOImpl extends ObjectArrayVOImpl {

/**This is the default constructor (do not remove)

public EmployeeQueryVOImpl() {

Set the name of the PL/SQL function that will act as the

query execution agent. This function will also return

a result set.

this.setQueryFunction(''EmployeeSearch.executeQuery'');

Set the name of the PL/SQL function that will returns the

row count of the query result set for this VO.

this.setCountFunction(''EmployeeSearch.getRowReturnCount'');

This sets the name of the SQL Type representing the PL/SQL collection

or PL/SQL table.

this.setArrayDescriptor(''SEARCH_PARAM_ARRAY'');

The VO needs to know how many columns of data will be returned when

constructing the VO's result set.

this.setNumberOfVOColumns(5);

}

Wrapping it Up ...

This article illustrated how to create a custom ViewObjectImpl class that passes an array of Java objects to a PL/SQL Collection based upon a user defined type. The article touched on a lot of peripheral topics: Creating custom ViewObjectImpl's, mapping Java objects to SQL user defined types, and converting a Java Object Array into an Oracle Collection/Array. Basically, it covered a lot of ground in a very brief text. If you have questions (or suggestions) please feel to shoot me an email.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:27:53 GMT

ExcelDocumentType Code Update ...

I've made an update to the ExcelDocumentType code making it easier to create custom worksheet headers and footers. The changes and some new examples can be found in the word document "Create Excel Spreadsheets with PL/SQL" that is bundled with code. The link to the code bundle is:

ExcelDocumentType Code

As always, if you have questions or comments, shoot me an email.

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:36:48 GMT

The Oracle Report Bean

The Oracle Report Bean is a cool little bit of code I developed this week that will let you to execute an Oracle Report from within your JEE or plain old Java application. The bean allows you to configure all of the report execution parameters and contains methods to execute the report as a printed report or have the report streamed back to the client if the chosen format (PDF, RTF, HTML, XML, etc). The code basically constructs the URL you need to access the Oracle Reports servlet (rwservlet). I'm actually using the Oracle Report Bean as the interface to Oracle Reports in my current ADF Faces project.

Hitting the highlights ...

The bean provides a set of constants (static variables) that represent rwservlet keywords (commands). The code uses two Hash Maps (HashMap classes) for storing parameters. One Hash Map holds the reports servlet keywords and values, and the other holds input parameters and values for the actual report being executed. The Hash Maps are hidden behind getter and setter methods. When setting a reports servlet key word, the developer may either use one of the static keyword references provided by the bean, or simply add one of their choosing (it's up to them to make sure it's a legitimate keyword/parameter at that point). Using the Hash Maps makes it easier to construct the URL later using a simple loop.

The bean provides two methods for executing the report. One method, executePrintedReport, passes the fully constructed URL to the reports servlet and returns the response (either HTML or XML) as a String. A helper method, formatXMLResponse, is provided to format the response returned by the reports server in client friendly manner (NOTE: The developer needs to set the status format to XML to use this helper method). This method is specifically intended for use with reports bound for external destinations (printers, email, etc.). The other method, executeBinaryReport, passes the fully constructed URL to the reports servlet and then returns a data stream (InputStream class). This method is intended for use with reports whose content will be returned directly to the client (the destination for these reports should be set to CACHE). Use the executeBinaryReport method when you need to return report results directly to the client (desformats PDF, RTF, HTML, XML). The bean also provides a method that simply returns the URL for executing the report: getReportServerURL.

Sample Bean Usages ...

The following code snippet demonstrates how to setup the bean to execute a printed report:

{

OracleReportBean testBean = new OracleReportBean("appserver","7778",null);

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_SERVER,"my_repserv");

testBean.setKeyMap("db_key");

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_ENVID,"orcl");

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_DESTYPE,

OracleReportBean.DESTYPE_PRINTER);

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_DESNAME,

"myPrinter-01");

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_REPORT,

"MyReport.rdf");

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_ORIENTATION,

OracleReportBean.ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_DESFORMAT,

OracleReportBean.DESFORMAT_HTML);

testBean.setReportParameter("p_id","50");

testBean.setReportParameter("p_user","JASON BENNETT");

System.out.println(testBean.formatXMLResponse(testBean.executePrintedReport()));

}

This code snippet demonstrates how to setup the bean to execute and retrieve a binary report (PDF, HTML, XML, RTF, ...):

{

OracleReportBean testBean = new OracleReportBean("appserver","7778",null);

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_SERVER,"my_repserv");

testBean.setKeyMap("db_key");

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_ENVID,"orcl");

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_DESTYPE,

OracleReportBean.DESTYPE_CACHE);

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_REPORT,

"MyReport.rdf");

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_ORIENTATION,

OracleReportBean.ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);

testBean.setReportServerParam(OracleReportBean.RS_PARAM_DESFORMAT,

OracleReportBean.DESFORMAT_HTML);

testBean.setReportParameter("p_id","50");

testBean.setReportParameter("p_user","JASON BENNETT");

try{

BufferedReader br;

br = new BufferedReader(

new InputStreamReader(testBean.executeBinaryReport()));

String inputString = null;

while((inputString = br.readLine()) != null){

System.out.println(inputString);

};

}catch(Exception e){

e.printStackTrace();

}

The Code ...

Finally, here is the code for the Oracle Report Bean:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStream;

import java.net.URLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.StringReader;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;

import oracle.xml.parser.v2.DOMParser;
import oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLConstants;
import oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLDocument;
import oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement;
import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
import org.xml.sax.InputSource;

/***
* This bean performs the following functions:
* Constructing the Report URL with various parameters passed in by client.
* Sending the report request.
* Execute printed report and retrieve return status in the indicated format.
* Execute a binary report (PDF, RTF, XML, with DESTYPE CACHE) and return the
* InputStream for processing.
*/
public class OracleReportBean {

    /* Report Servlet Host Settings */
    private   String http_host          = null;
    private   String http_port          = null;

    /* Default path as per generic Oracle Appserver install */
    private   String servlet_path       = "/reports/rwservlet";

    /* Report Servlet URL params */
    public static final String RS_PARAM_SERVER              = "server";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_REPORT              = "report";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_ENVID                 = "envid";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_DESTYPE            = "destype";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_DESFORMAT       = "desformat";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_STATUSFORMAT = "statusformat";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_DESNAME           = "desname";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_PAGESTREAM    = "pagestream";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_DELIMITER          = "delimiter";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_ORIENTATION     = "orientation";
    public static final String RS_PARAM_DISTRIBUTE        = "distribute";

    private   String value_keyMap       = null;

    /* Static values for destination formats */
    public static final String DESFORMAT_PDF              = "PDF";
    public static final String DESFORMAT_HTML            = "HTML";
    public static final String DESFORMAT_POSTSCRIPT = "POSTSCRIPT";
    public static final String DESFORMAT_DELIMITED     = "DELIMITED";
    public static final String DESFORMAT_XML               = XML;
    public static final String DESFORMAT_RTF                = "RTF";

    /* Static values for destination types*/
    public static final String DESTYPE_MAIL              = "mail";
    public static final String DESTYPE_PRINTER        = "printer";
    public static final String DESTYPE_FILE               = "file";
    public static final String DESTYPE_LOCAL_FILE   = "localFile";
    public static final String DESTYPE_CACHE           = "cache";

    /* Static values for distribute */
    public static final String DISTRIBUTE_YES       = "YES";
    public static final String DISTRIBUTE_NO         = "NO";

    /*Static values for status format */
    public static final String STATUSFORMAT_XML      = XML;
    public static final String STATUSFORMAT_HTML    = "HTML";

    /* Static values for report orientation */
    public static final String ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT     = "PORTRAIT";
    public static final String ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE = "LANDSCAPE";
    public static final String ORIENTATION_DEFAULT       = "DEFAULT";

    /* HashMap to hold individual report parameters*/
    private HashMap        reportParams             = new HashMap();

    /* HashMap to hold report server params */
    private HashMap        reportServerParams       = new HashMap();

    /* Report Servlet   */
    private   StringBuffer reportURL        = new StringBuffer();
    private   String       XMLReturnStatus = null;

    /***
     * Constructor
     */
    public OracleReportBean(String p_http_host,
                            String p_http_port,
                            String p_servlet_path)
    {
       http_host    = p_http_host;
       http_port    = p_http_port;

       /* If the servlet path is null, we assign the default path. */
       if (p_servlet_path != null){
          servlet_path = p_servlet_path;
       }

       /* Default the status format to XML */
       setReportServerParam(RS_PARAM_STATUSFORMAT,STATUSFORMAT_XML);

    }


   /*****
    * Private utility methods ...
    *
    */
    private String buildKeyValueString(HashMap p_map){

        String map_key   = null;
        String param_sep   = "&";
        String param_equal = "=";
        StringBuffer   keyValueBuffer = new StringBuffer();

        if (!p_map.isEmpty()){

           Iterator mapKeys = p_map.keySet().iterator();

           while (mapKeys.hasNext()){
               map_key = (String)mapKeys.next();
               keyValueBuffer.append(map_key).append(param_equal).append(p_map.get(map_key));

               if(mapKeys.hasNext()){
                   keyValueBuffer.append(param_sep);
               }
           }
        }

        return keyValueBuffer.toString();

    }


    /* Construct the URL for accessing the Oracle Reports Servlet */
    private void constructURL(){

String param_sep = "&";

        /* Clearout current URL */
        reportURL = new StringBuffer();

        /* HOST Section */

         reportURL.append("http://");

         reportURL.append(http_host);

         if (http_port != null){
             reportURL.append(":").append(http_port);
         }

         /* Add "/" separator if necessary. */
         if (servlet_path.indexOf("/") > 0){
            reportURL.append("/");
         }

         reportURL.append(servlet_path);
         reportURL.append("?");

         if(value_keyMap != null){
             reportURL.append(value_keyMap).append(param_sep);
         }

        /*Construct Report Server Parameter URL component*/
        reportURL.append(buildKeyValueString(reportServerParams));

        if(!reportServerParams.isEmpty()){
            reportURL.append(param_sep);
        }

        /*Construct Report Parameters URL Component*/
        reportURL.append(buildKeyValueString(reportParams));
    }


    /***
     * Getters and Setters for the Reports Servlet
     * URL parameter values.
     */

    public void setReportServerParam(String p_param,
                                     String p_value){
        reportServerParams.put(p_param,p_value);
    }

    public String getReportServerParam(String p_param){
        if(reportServerParams.containsKey(p_param)){
          return (String)reportServerParams.get(p_param);
        } else {
          return null;
        }
    }

    /* Set/Get the value of a Reports KeyMap file */
    public void setKeyMap(String p_keyMap){
        value_keyMap = p_keyMap;
    }

    public String getKeyMap(){
        return value_keyMap;
    }


    /* Add/Update and retrieve individual report parameters */
    public void setReportParameter(String paramName,
                                   String paramValue){

        reportParams.put(paramName,paramValue);
    }

    public String getReportParameter(String paramName){

            if (reportParams.containsKey(paramName)){
                return (String)reportParams.get(paramName);
            } else {
                return null;
            }

    }

    /****
     * Construct and return a URL that can be used to execute the report.
     */
    public String getReportServerURL(){
        constructURL();
        return reportURL.toString();
    }

    /***
     * Execute a report whose destination is a printer or other
     * non-client destination. (i.e. the report is not coming back
     * to the calling client in binary format ...)
     */
    public String executePrintedReport(){

        String v_return_status = null;
        StringBuffer serverResponse = new StringBuffer();

        try{

           BufferedReader br;

           br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(executeBinaryReport()));

           String inputString = null;
           while((inputString = br.readLine()) != null){
               serverResponse.append(inputString);
           };

           v_return_status = serverResponse.toString();

        }catch(Exception e){
           e.printStackTrace();
           v_return_status = "Error printing report: "+e.getMessage();
        }
        return v_return_status;
    }

    /***
     * This method is used to execute a binary report
     * that is intended to be returned to the
     * A binary report is a report that is returned as
     * a physical file such as PDF, RTF, etc
     * DESTYPE needs to be CACHE in order to get a return
     * stream (file ...).
     */
    public InputStream executeBinaryReport() throws Exception{


        URL url = new URL(getReportServerURL());
        URLConnection urlc= url.openConnection();

        return urlc.getInputStream();
    }

    /****
     * This method takes the XML response generated by the Oracle Reports Server
     * servlet and generates a more user friendly response message.
     * NOTE: This only works for the XML statusformat type.
     */
    public String formatXMLResponse(String p_response){

        StringBuffer formattedResponse = new StringBuffer();

        try{

           DOMParser parser = new DOMParser();
           parser.showWarnings(false);
           parser.setValidationMode(XMLConstants.NONVALIDATING);
           parser.parse(new InputSource(new StringReader(p_response)));

           XMLDocument doc = parser.getDocument();

           XMLElement elements = (XMLElement)doc.getDocumentElement();

           NodeList nl = elements.getElementsByTagName("error");

           if (nl.getLength() > 0){
               String err_component = doc.selectSingleNode("//error[1]/@component").getNodeValue();
               String err_code      = doc.selectSingleNode("//error[1]/@code").getNodeValue();
               String err_message   = doc.selectSingleNode("//error[1]/@message").getNodeValue();

               formattedResponse.append("Oracle Reports job submit error; ").append(err_component);
               formattedResponse.append("-").append(err_code).append(": ").append(err_message);
           }else{

               String job_id          = doc.selectSingleNode("//job[1]/@id").getNodeValue();
               String job_status      = doc.selectSingleNode("//status[1]/text()").getNodeValue();
               String job_status_code = doc.selectSingleNode("//status[1]/@code").getNodeValue();

               if ((job_id == null)||(job_status==null)||(job_status_code==null)){

                   formattedResponse.append("Oracle Reports job submit problem; ").append("Job Id=").append(job_id);
                   formattedResponse.append(", Code=").append(job_status_code).append(", Status=").append(job_status);

               }else{

                   formattedResponse.append("Report submitted successfully!");

               }

           }

        }catch(Exception e){
            e.printStackTrace();
            String error = "Error processing Oracle Report Server response: "+e.getMessage();
            System.err.println(error);
            formattedResponse.append(error);
        }

        return formattedResponse.toString();

    }
}

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:50:12 GMT

ADF Faces: How To Use a Single JSP for both INSERTING and UPDATING

In this entry, I'll go over my technique for using a single JSP for both inserting and updating data. This technique utilizes custom methods in the target ViewObjectImpl class, and Page Definition action methods in the Page Definition associated with our ADF/JSF JSP. There are probably other ways to do this, but this one is fairly straight forward. (Note: I believe Steve Muench recommended a similar technique using methods in the ApplicationModuleImpl class)

Preparing the View Object

Most of the View Objects in my applications (that are used for data entry) contain a bind variable in the WHERE clause that is associated with the target table's primary key (I use dumb keys versus natural keys). In order to put the page in update mode, we need to pass a PK value to the View Object and pre-populate it prior to rendering the page. Otherwise, the page is rendered in insert mode. This is pretty much a universal concept. How do we go about passing the PK value (or parameter) to the View Object? First, we need to create a couple of custom public methods in the View Object's ViewObjectImpl class. One method will take the PK param value and pre-populate the View Object instance, and the other method will clear the state of (empty the data from) the current instance of the View Object. The first method looks like this:

    /***
     * This method will be used to pre-populate the view object using a passed value.
     */

     public void queryViewById(String p_id) {

      /*setp_emp_id is ADF generated method for setting the bind variable
        value defined in my View Object (p_emp_id). */

       setp_emp_id(p_id);
       executeQuery();

     }

The second method (used to clear the data from the view object) looks like this:

/***

* This method will clear any data out of the existing VO.

public void clearView() {

if (getWhereClause() != null) {

setWhereClause(null);

}

executeQuery();

}

Add these two methods (modified to fit your View Object) to the ViewObjectImpl class associated with your View Object. Some might say that you could combine the two methods (since both will be end up being called to put the page in update mode). I chose to keep them separate in case I wanted (or needed) to call one without the other at some point.

Preparing the Page Definition File

ADF Faces JSPs use an XML based Page Definition file to bind data to the user interface and to perform some actions prior to rendering the page (overly simplified definition ...). Each View Object referenced by an ADF Faces JSP component is represented in that page's Page Definition file. ADF Faces comes with some canned page actions (such as Create and Delete) that can be "dropped" into the page definition file and then applied to event (or actions) that occur later in JSP page. We can also create custom actions (known as method actions) that are mapped to methods we have created. The two methods we created in the last section (queryViewById and clearView) will be included as custom method actions the Page Definition file for our ADF/JSF JSP page. The method action entries go in the "bindings" section of the page, and look like this (I have my own View Object referenced in the example):

Notice the "#{param.p_emp_id}" in NDValue attribute above. Any request parameter passed to the your page can be accessed using "#{param.<parameter name>}". The only caveat is if you use the <f:param> tag in conjunction with a command link or command button and the navigation rule behind your navigation action specifies a "redirect" ... the parameters will not be passed. Here is a quick break down of the attributes for the "methodAction" tag above:

The "id" attribute represents the identifier of this methodAction tag as it relates to other components (tags) in the current Page Definition file.
The "MethodName" attribute defines the binding name for this method action when called from the "invokeAction" tag ( tag that is responsible for executing the code).
The "RequiresUpdateModel" attribute specifies whether or not the model needs to be updated prior to executing the method.
The "Action" attribute identifies the internal class for which the data control is created. Always seems to be 999 for custom class.
The "IsViewObjectMethod" attribute indicates whether the method being invoked is defined within a View Object.
The "InstanceName" attribute points to the View Object instance as defined by the application data control.
The "NamedData" tag is used to map any parameters that the method might take. It contains attributes "NDName" (method parameter name), "NDValue" (value being passed), and "NDType" (data type of the parameter).

In order for the page to be rendered in INPUT mode, we have to include a "Create" action in the page definition. Place the following tag in the "bindings" section (before or after the "methodAction" tags):

(Note: The instance name references my View Object ... you would replace the reference with yours.)

The next step in preparing the Page Definition is to add "invokeAction" tags to the "executables" section. The "invokeAction" tags define what actions will be executed and under what conditions they will be executed. The invoke actions for our methods look like:

The "RefreshCondition" condition attribute determines whether or not the action will be triggered. The three action invocations below determine how the page will be rendered to the user. If the call to the page is not a post back from the current page, and the "p_emp_id" param is not null, then associated View Object(s) will be cleared of existing data, passed the p_emp_id param and will execute and populate. This will put the screen in UPDATE mode. Otherwise, if the "p_emp_id" param is null and the call to the page is not a post back, the screen will be presented in INSERT mode.

Passing a Parameter to the Page

Passing a parameter is a fairly simple matter. You could pass it via a command link or command button with a param tag (NOTE: The navigation rule definition for the "action" can not contain a redirect reference.):

<af:commandButton text="Some Text" action="SomeAction">
<f:param name="p_emp_id" value="123"/>
</af:commandButton>

<af:commandLink text="Some Text" immediate="true"
action="SomeAction">
<f:param name="p_emp_id" value="#{somebinding.value}"/>
</af:commandLink>

You can also pass a parameter via a standard URL:

http://someserver.some.domain:7778/myapp/faces/somepage.jsp?p_emp_id=123

Passing no parameters will result in the page rendering in INPUT mode.

Wrapping It Up ...

As always, if you have questions, or input, please shoot me an email.

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:59:55 GMT

Recursive PL/SQL String Parser

In an earlier blog entry, I posted a PL/SQL package called StringTools. This package contained a routine called getListElement that would let a user retrieve the nth element in a delimited string. The routine uses iteration (iterates over the passed string until the desired element at position 'n' is located) to get the desired list element. I was bored today, so I decided to write a variation of that function that uses recursion instead of iteration. The recursive version has only eleven lines of code (not counting variable declarations and block declaration tokens). It's fast and useful!

Here is the code ... give it a try!

Recursive PL/SQL function that returns the nth element in a delimited String.
The default delimiter is a ',' (comma) and the level indicator defaults to 0.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION getStringElement(p_string    VARCHAR2,
                                                                                      p_element   NUMBER,
                                                                                      p_delimiter VARCHAR2 := ',',
                                                                                      p_level     NUMBER   := 0)   RETURN VARCHAR2
IS

v_string VARCHAR2(2000) := NULL;
v_element VARCHAR2(2000) := NULL;

v_level NUMBER(4) := 0;

BEGIN

v_level := p_level + 1;

v_element := substr(p_string||p_delimiter,1,instr(p_string||p_delimiter,p_delimiter)-1);

IF ((v_level >= p_element) OR (v_element IS NULL AND v_next != p_delimiter)) THEN

RETURN v_element;

ELSE

v_string := substr(p_string||p_delimiter,instr(p_string||p_delimiter,p_delimiter)+1,length(p_string));

RETURN getStringElement(v_string,p_element,p_delimiter,v_level);

END IF;

END;
/

Example:

The statement:

SELECT getStringElement('This is an interesting test of recursion in PL/SQL',7,' ') from dual;

will return the value "recursion".

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:22:48 GMT

ADF Faces JavaScript Hack: How to Move a Generated Tag Event Handler

You may have noticed that ADF Faces generates some very specific JavaScript code for handling page level (tag level) events (onclick, onChange, onBlur, etc ...). These event handlers "handle" all of those cool features such as "Partial Submit" and "Auto Submit". Most of the time, we as developers (and users of ADF) have no direct control over where these framework generated event handlers are placed, or specific control over when they will fire. The focus of this entry is on how to move a generated event handler from one event to another on the same tag. For example: Let's say that you want to implement a feature that will allow a user to type in an employee Id and then have the rest of the employee information (name, etc ..) auto populate. No problem, you just bind a method from a backing bean to a ValueChangeListener and turn on Auto Submit and you are done! However, what if you also want to use a command link to implement an LOV dialog on the same data entry field and use the data (i.e. the employee id) to limit the results of the LOV? Now you have a problem. If you enter data in the employee id field, and then try to navigate to your LOV link, the value change event (onChange) fires before the LOV triggers and nullifies the LOV event. The solution to the problem is obvious ... just change the triggering event from onChange to onKeyPress (for the auto population ... you would also need to add code to check for the triggering "Hot Key"). But wait ... that code was generated by ADF Faces. We (the developers) have no direct control over where they place their code. Now, the problem becomes slightly more challenging (or interesting). The solution (one solution anyway ...) is to write a JavaScript function that will move it for you and leave the original code intact. My version of the function looks like this:

function moveEventFunction(p_id,p_curr_event,p_new_event,conditionalFunc){

/* Get instance of the tag we are modifying. */

var formItem = document.getElementById(p_id);

var eventFunc = null;

/* Get text of target event handler code */

var existingEventCode = formItem.attributes[p_curr_event].value;

/* Only execute the move if the targeted event handler is populated */

if (existingEventCode.length > 0){

/* Convert text of existing event handler back into a working function */

var existingFunction = new Function(existingEventCode);

/* Create a function that will assign a new event handler to the desired item event.

* This needs to be dynamic since we can only make a direct assignment under "normal"

* circumstances. Ex. node.onclick= or node.onchange

var addNewEvent = new Function("node","eventfunc","node."+p_new_event+"=eventfunc;");

/* We assign "nothing" to the existing event handler. This must be dynamic

* for the same reason as the function above.

var removeExistingEvent = new Function("node","node."+p_curr_event+"='';");

/* If a conditinal function (boolean function that can halt the event ...)

* is provided, then wrap it around the existing code. Otherwise, execute

* the original handler under the new event.

if (typeof(conditionalFunc) != "undefined"){

eventFunc = function(){ if (conditionalFunc()){ existingFunction()}};

}else{

eventFunc = existingFunction;

}

/* Add the new event handler */

addNewEvent(formItem,eventFunc);

/* Remove the old event handler */

removeExistingEvent(formItem);

}

The function, moveEventFunction, will move or swap the code assigned to one event handler and move it to a new event handler on the same node (or tag). The function also gives the developer the option of wrapping a new conditional (Boolean) function around the original event handler code.

Now that we have a solution, how do we apply it? You have a couple of options. First, place the call to moveEventFunction at the bottom of the page (between script tags). It will fire after all of the ADF/JSF HTML has been rendered.

moveEventFunction(<id of target tag>,<existing event name>,<new event name>,<optional conditional function>);

</script>

However, if you plan on making the target tag a partial target (dynamic refresh), you will lose the swap. The second option handles this situation. Place the call on the onFocus event of the target tag. Doing so guarantees it the swap.

onFocus="moveEventFunction(this.id,<existing event name>,<new event name>,<optional conditional function>);"

The conditional function (the last parameter) can perform multiple tasks prior to executing the main function (original function). In the case of the scenario above, the conditional function would check for the "Hot Key" that triggers our auto population. However, it must return true or false at the end of its execution. The conditional function needs to be defined in the manner:

var fnc_MyConditionalFunction = function MyConditionalFunction(){ ...}

This will allows allows you to pass the actual function as a parameter without it actually being executed (or evaluated) . Instead of passing in MyConditionalFunction, you pass in fnc_MyConditionalFunction.

(Another option that isn't JavaScript related might be to get an instance of the UIComponent prior to page rendering and make the swap ... haven't tried that yet.)

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:56:17 GMT

ADF Faces - How To Get a DBTransaction Object Anytime You Need One

If you decide to execute a SQL statement or some PL/SQL code from with your ADF Faces application outside of the ADF BC framework (i.e. without using Entity Objects and View Object), you will need access to a JDBC connection. Do you need to instantiate your own connections, or maintain a separate connection pool? The answer is no! ADF BC provides us with (abstracted) access to the JDBC connection object that is associated with our current application session. Access is provided through the oracle.jbo.server.DBTransaction class. You can get an instance of the DBTransaction object from several places within the ADF BC Framework: ViewObjectImpl, TransactionEventImpl, EntityImpl, and ApplicationModuleImpl. All of these classes have a method called getDBTransaction() that return an instance of the DBTransaction object. Armed with this knowledge, how do we go about getting an instance of DBTransaction anytime we want one? By "anytime time we want one", I mean externally from a View Object or Entity Object instance. The answer is pretty simple. We just need to access to an instance of the current ApplicationModule. Using the following code, you can get a DBTransaction object anytime you want:

    /***
     * This method returns the current instance of the session DBTransaction object.
     * The method below is implemented from a Singleton Object for utilitarian purposes.
     */
    public static synchronized DBTransaction getDBTransaction(){

       FacesContext ctx = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();

       ValueBinding vb            = ctx.getCurrentInstance().getApplication().createValueBinding("#{data}");
       BindingContext bc          = (BindingContext)vb.getValue(ctx.getCurrentInstance());

       //Use your own data control name when creating the DataControl object
       //Look in the DataBindings.cpx file ... the id attribute of the BC4JDataControl tag
       DataControl dc             = bc.findDataControl("MyApplicationModuleControl");
       ApplicationModuleImpl am   = ((ApplicationModuleImpl)(ApplicationModule)dc.getDataProvider());

       return am.getDBTransaction();

   }

Place the code listed above in a utility class. I prefer to use a static class or Singleton.

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:58:45 GMT

ADF Faces: Retrieve and/or Set values in a SelectOneChoice Component backed by a RowSetIterator

This entry covers how to retrieve values from a SelectOneChoice component that is backed (populated) by a ViewObject as defined in a ADF Faces page definition file.

I've been working on a fairly large and complex ADF Faces project for my current employer. I often find myself having to both retrieve and set values in SelectOneChoice components in my backing beans. I was initially confounded by the fact that the HTML generated by the component did not include my own code values behind the select options. Rather, each option (option tag) uses a numeric value instead of the actual code you would normally see if you were creating the HTML yourself (such as "NC" as the code for description "North Carolina"). After some digging, I found that the numbers correspond to the Iterator index values of the Iterator that is bound to SelectOneChoice component. By the way, setting the valuePassThru attribute on the component to true did not work for some reason.

Armed with this new knowledge, I was able to create two utility methods that reside in my base (utility) managed bean class.

The first method, getSelectOneChoiceValues, retrieves both the code (the actual code from your database or view object) and the description value from the Iterator that is bound to the SelectOneChoice component given the index value. Here is the code for first method:

    /***
     * This method returns the code and desc values from a SelectOneChoice.
     * Parameters
     * (1) p_iteratorIndex - represents the index value of the iterator row we want. You get
     *                        this value from bound ADF component.
     *                        Ex. (Integer)boundSelectItem.getValue()
     *
     * (2) p_iterator      - Name of the Iterator that populates the SelectOneChoice component
     * (3) p_code_colname - Column attribute name of the column containing the code value (get this
     *                        from the PageDefinition file for the screen, or the ViewObject that
     *                        is bound to the Iterator.)
     * (4) p_codedesc_colname - Column attribute name of the column containing the code desc (get this
     *                           from the PageDefinition file for the screen, or the ViewObject that
     *                           is bound to the Iterator.)
     * (5) p_noselection_val - Set this value to "true" if you chose to add a "No Selection" row
     *                           or null value row to your selection object. This row will become the
     *                           zero index row. This "null" value row is not represented in the
     *                           Iterator and throws the index values off by 1.
     *
     * The return value is a HashMap, but you could create a simple class for this as well.
     */
    protected HashMap getSelectOneChoiceValues(int p_iteratorIndex,
                                               String p_iterator,
                                               String p_code_colname,
                                               String p_codedesc_colname,
                                               boolean p_noselection_val)
    {
        HashMap hm_lovVals = new HashMap();
        String lovTypeCode = null;
        String lovTypeDesc = null;
        int     noSelectIncrementor = 0;

        if (p_noselection_val){
            noSelectIncrementor = 1;
        }


        try{

// The code for "getRowSetIterator" can be found in the blog entry I published directly
// before this entry or Google "Jason getRowSetIterator"

           RowSetIterator lovIter       = getRowSetIterator(p_iterator);

           Row iterRow = null;

           iterRow = lovIter.getRowAtRangeIndex(p_iteratorIndex-noSelectIncrementor);

           lovTypeCode = iterRow.getAttribute(p_code_colname).toString();
           lovTypeDesc = iterRow.getAttribute(p_codedesc_colname).toString();

        }catch(Exception e){
            System.err.println("Error looking up values for LOV iterator "+p_iterator);
        }

        //the keys "code" and "desc" should not be hard coded values in your production code ...
        hm_lovVals.put("code",lovTypeCode);
        hm_lovVals.put("desc",lovTypeDesc);

        return hm_lovVals;
    }

The second method, getSelectOneChoiceIndex, performs the opposite function. Given code value and code column, it returns the actual index value. This allows you set the value of SelectOneChoice component on the screen ( Ex. selectionComponent.setValue(indexVal); ). Here is the code for the second method:

    /***
     * This method returns the index value for an item in a SelectOneChoice.
     * Parameters
     *
     * (1) p_iterator      - Name of the Iterator that populates the SelectOneChoice component
     * (2) p_code_value    - Code value whose index we are looking for.
     *                        Ex. We pass in "NC" and get the index for the row in the Iterator
     *                        that contains the code "NC".
     *
     * (3) p_code_column   - Column attribute name of the column containing the code value (get this
     *                        from the PageDefinition file for the screen, or the ViewObject that
     *                        is bound to the Iterator.)
     *
     * (4) p_noselection_val - Set this value to "true" if you chose to add a "No Selection" row
     *                           or null value row to your selection object. This row will become the
     *                           zero index row. This "null" value row is not represented in the
     *                           Iterator and throws the index values off by 1.
     *
     * The return value is an Integer.
     */

    protected Integer getSelectOneChoiceIndex(String p_iterator,
                                              String p_code_value,
                                              String p_code_column,
                                              boolean p_noselection_val){
        int v_code_index = 0;
        int noSelectIncrementor = 0;

        if (p_noselection_val){
            noSelectIncrementor = 1;
        }

        try{

           // The code for "getRowSetIterator" can be found in the blog entry I published directly
           // before this entry or Google "Jason getRowSetIterator"

           RowSetIterator lovIter       = getRowSetIterator(p_iterator);
           Row            lovRow        = null;

           for (int x=0;x<lovIter.getRowCount();x++){

               lovRow = lovIter.getRowAtRangeIndex(x);

               if(lovRow.getAttribute(p_code_column).equals(p_code_value)){
                   v_code_index = x+noSelectIncrementor;
                   break;
               }

           }


        }catch(Exception e){
            System.err.println("Error looking up index value for LOV iterator "+p_iterator);
        }

        return new Integer(v_code_index);

    }

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:39:11 GMT

An ADF Faces Base Class for a Backing/Managed Bean

Over the last few months, I've been working on an ADF based project for my current employer. The project is my first venture into JSF and ADF. In this time I've developed a little base class that I extend when creating a backing bean (or managed bean) for my pages. The base class contains several helpful utility methods that I thought I would share. Some of these I discovered for myself, and a few others were inspired by samples provided by folks like: Steve Muench, Frank Nimphius, and Jonas Jacobi. I have put the code below. Each method has a comment at the top to explain what the method does:

The Code ...

import javax.faces.application.Application;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;

import oracle.binding.OperationBinding;
import oracle.adf.model.binding.DCBindingContainer;
import oracle.adf.model.binding.DCDataControl;
import oracle.adf.model.binding.DCIteratorBinding;

import oracle.adf.view.faces.component.core.data.CoreTable;

import oracle.adf.view.faces.context.AdfFacesContext;

import oracle.binding.BindingContainer;

import oracle.jbo.ApplicationModule;

import oracle.jbo.Row;
import oracle.jbo.RowSet;
import oracle.jbo.server.EntityImpl;
import oracle.jbo.RowSetIterator;
import oracle.jbo.ViewObject;
import oracle.jbo.server.ViewRowImpl;
import oracle.jbo.uicli.binding.JUCtrlValueBindingRef;

public class ManagedBeanBase {


    /**
    * Contains page binding references
    * This can be populated manually or
    * automatically based on config setting
    * in faces-config.xml
    *
    * This is a sample of an entry you would put in
    * the faces-config.xml file. Notice the 'managed-property'
    * tag with property name 'bindings'. This property will be
    * set by the faces servlet using the setBindings method below.
    *
    * <managed-bean>
    * <managed-bean-name>MyPageBackingBean</managed-bean-name>
    * <managed-bean-class>MyPageMB</managed-bean-class>
    * <managed-bean-scope>request</managed-bean-scope>
    *   <managed-property>
    *    <property-name>bindings</property-name>
    *    <value>#{bindings}</value>
    *   </managed-property>
    * </managed-bean>
    */
    */
    protected BindingContainer bindings;

    public ManagedBeanBase() {
    }

public BindingContainer getBindings() {

        return this.bindings;
    }

    public void setBindings(BindingContainer bindings) {
        this.bindings = bindings;
    }

    /**
    * Use this to manually set page bindingings.
    */
    public void setBindings(){
        FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
        Application app = context.getApplication();
        bindings = (DCBindingContainer) app.getVariableResolver().resolveVariable(context, "bindings");
    }

    /**
    * Call this method to refresh the binding container
    * with any changes.
    */
    protected void refreshBindingContainer(){

        DCBindingContainer dcBind = (DCBindingContainer)bindings;
        dcBind.refresh();

    }

    /**
    * This method is used the removed the currently selected
    * row from and ADF (JSF) table. The method requires
    * that the table object be passed in as a parameter.
    */
    protected void deleteSelectedRow(CoreTable pageTable){

        JUCtrlValueBindingRef rwData = (JUCtrlValueBindingRef)pageTable.getSelectedRowData();

        Row rw = rwData.getRow();

        rw.remove();

    }

    /**
    * This method takes the name of a given iterator (as defined in the page def file)
    * and returns the current rowset.
    */
    protected RowSetIterator getRowSetIterator(String p_iterator){

        DCBindingContainer dcBind = (DCBindingContainer)bindings;
        DCIteratorBinding iterBind= (DCIteratorBinding)dcBind.get(p_iterator);

        return iterBind.getLovRowSetIterator();


    }

    /**
    * This method will return the ViewObject (object) associated
    * with a given iterator.
    */
    protected ViewObject getViewObjectFromIterator(String p_iterator){

        DCBindingContainer dcBind = (DCBindingContainer)bindings;
        DCIteratorBinding iterBind= (DCIteratorBinding)dcBind.get(p_iterator);

        return iterBind.getViewObject();


    }

    /**
    * This method will execute the query associated the view object
    * with which the iterator is associated.
    */
    protected void executeIterQuery(String p_iterator){

        DCBindingContainer dcBind = (DCBindingContainer)bindings;

        DCIteratorBinding iterBind= (DCIteratorBinding)dcBind.get(p_iterator);

        iterBind.executeQuery();

    }

    /**
     *   This method issues a rollback again the current transaction.
     */
    protected void rollbackCurrentChanges(){

        DCBindingContainer dcBind = (DCBindingContainer)bindings;
        dcBind.getDataControl().getApplicationModule().getTransaction().rollback();

    }

    /**
    * Manually add a page component to the partial target list
    * for partial page refresh.
    */
    protected void addPartialTarget(UIComponent p_target_object){
        AdfFacesContext.getCurrentInstance().addPartialTarget(p_target_object);
    }

}

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 22:10:29 GMT

OC4J Instance Startup Dependencies

OracleAS 10g can be configured to allow startup dependencies between OC4J instances. In other words, OC4J instance OC4J_B cannot start until OC4J instance OC4J_A has started. This is along the same lines as one MS Windows service being dependant on another at startup. This is useful (and necessary) if OC4J instance OC4J_A contains services that provide some sort of critical data that some application in OC4J instance OC4J_B needs as part of its initialization. The only catch to this is that the OC4J instances can't be located within the same ias-component. An ias-component consists of one or more process-types. An example of a process-type would be an OC4J instance. For example, every time you create a new OC4J instance using dcmctl or OracleAS 10g Enterprise Manager, it is placed under the ias-component called "OC4J". Other examples of common ias-components are: LogLoader, dcm-daemon, HTTP_Server, and WebCache. Executing the command "opmnctl status" will give a listing of each ias-component and the name of each process-type associated with it.

The easiest way to create a new ias-component and associated OC4J instance (or process-type) with a dependency on another OC4J instance is:

1. Create a new OC4J instance (process-type) using dcmctl or OracleAS Enterprise Manager (skip this step if you plan on moving an existing OC4J instance).
2. Open the opmn.xml file and create a new ias-component entry (make sure you back-up the existing file and shutdown opmn before doing this …)

           <ias-component id="My Custom Component">
           ...
           </ias-component>
3. Locate the OC4J instance you created in step-one (it should be under the "OC4J" ias-component). Cut the entire tag set defining the OC4J instance (process-type) and paste it into your new ias-component (You can also do this with an existing OC4J instance):

           <ias-component id=" My Custom Component ">
            <process-type id="OC4J_B" module-id="OC4J">
               <module-data>
                  <category id="start-parameters">
                     <data id="java-options" value="-server -Djava.security.policy= /app/oracle/product/10.1.2/midtier/j2ee/ OC4J_B /config/java2.policy -Djava.awt.headless=true"/>
                     <data id="oc4j-options" value="-properties"/>
                  </category>
                  <category id="stop-parameters">
                     <data id="java-options" value="-Djava.security.policy= /app/oracle/product/10.1.2/midtier/j2ee/ OC4J_B /config/java2.policy -Djava.awt.headless=true"/>
                  </category>
               </module-data>
               <start timeout="900" retry="2"/>
               <stop timeout="120"/>
               <restart timeout="720" retry="2"/>
               <port id="ajp" range="12501-12600"/>
               <port id="rmi" range="12401-12500"/>
               <port id="jms" range="12601-12700"/>
               <process-set id="default_island" numprocs="1"/>
            </process-type>
         </ias-component>

4. To define the dependency between the OC4J instance defined under your new ias-component and another OC4J instance defined under a different ias-component, you need to add a dependency definition under the ias-component tag:

           <ias-component id=" My Custom Component ">
               <dependencies>
                  <managed-process ias-component="OC4J" process-type="OC4J_A" process-set="default_island" autostart="true" />
               </dependencies>
            <process-type id="OC4J_B" module-id="OC4J">
               <module-data>
                  <category id="start-parameters">
                     <data id="java-options" value="-server -Djava.security.policy= /app/oracle/product/10.1.2/midtier/j2ee/ OC4J_B /config/java2.policy -Djava.awt.headless=true"/>
                     <data id="oc4j-options" value="-properties"/>
                  </category>
                  <category id="stop-parameters">
                     <data id="java-options" value="-Djava.security.policy= /app/oracle/product/10.1.2/midtier/j2ee/ OC4J_B /config/java2.policy -Djava.awt.headless=true"/>
                  </category>
               </module-data>
               <start timeout="900" retry="2"/>
               <stop timeout="120"/>
               <restart timeout="720" retry="2"/>
               <port id="ajp" range="12501-12600"/>
               <port id="rmi" range="12401-12500"/>
               <port id="jms" range="12601-12700"/>
               <process-set id="default_island" numprocs="1"/>
            </process-type>
         </ias-component>

5. Save the opmn.xml file and start up opmn and all of its processes.

That's all there is to it! Now OC4J_B will not start until OC4J_A has started.

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:23:15 GMT

Oracle ADF Faces Tip: How to hide the Asterisk (*) when the "required" Property is Set to "true"

If this one is common knowledge, then forgive me. I just jumped into ADF and JSF a few weeks ago (I was a STRUTS man), and am drinking from the firehose! There is a property on some of the ADF Faces components (inputText, selectOneChoice, etc ...) called "required". If set to true, this property will ensure that the user enters a value for the item (in DB terms, it makes the field a NOT NULL field). This is a convenient feature with one small exception. Setting the property to true places a green asterisk(*) on the left side of the data entry item. The asterisk appears whether you want it to or not and there is no option/property available for turning it off (NOTE: This is an ADF inputText feature, not a standard JSF inputText feature). This is an issue if your development standards say to put an asterisk on the RIGHT side of the input field (as mine do).

The solution to the problem was fairly straight forward. Since I had implemented a custom skin for this ADF Faces application and created a custom CSS document (see this article by Jonas Jacobi), I simply over-rode the existing style for the required icon with this one:

.AFRequiredIconStyle { display:none }

Presto! No more little green asterisk.

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:09:54 GMT

Passing Mod_Plsql Basic Authentication Credentials Across Applications

I was recently tasked with the "seamless" integration of a large Web PL/SQL based application and newer J2EE application. The older application uses a mod_plsql DAD to authenticate users (using the Basic Authentication method), and the newer application built with Oracle ADF and JSF. Each user has a separate database account, and application security is database role based. The problem: How do I pass the users credentials (basically their database login information) to the J2EE application in order to create a user specific database connection? The user accesses the new application from a hyperlink on the existing application's main menu. It sounds easy enough. Simply write a servlet filter to capture the "AUTHORIZATION" HTTP header and decode the credentials, right? Wrong. Since the J2EE application in seemingly different domain or session space, the "AUTHORIZATION" header is not passed. By the way, SSO and other "new" technologies were not currently available. So, how do we get around the cross domain/session space issue? It turns out to be fairly simple. Both applications are served through the same Apache web-server (OracleAS 10g R1), allowing us to use a very simple method that leverages mod_rewrite (pre-installed and configured with OracleAS 10g).

The Method ...

The method uses the following three steps:

The URL from the older (calling) application to the newer (target) application has to look as if it is using the mod_plsql DAD. This gives the false impression that the target of the URL is in the same domain/session space as the current application. The URL would look something like: http://servername:7778/<;dad name>/application.do. This basically fools the browser into passing the domain/session space HTTP headers (specifically the "AUTHORIZATION" header) along with the request.
In the httpd.conf file (or a separate include .conf file) associated with your Apache instance, place a mod_rewrite directive like this one:

RewriteRule ^(/<dadname>/application.do)$ /<context root>/application.do [PT]

In the Servlet Filter (or whatever portion of your application that can capture incoming HTTP request headers), get the value of the "AUTHORIZATION" HTTP request header. Here is an example of how this code looks using Java: String credentials = req.getHeader("AUTHORIZATION"); (req is an instance of HttpServletRequest).

Decrypting the Credentials

After you get the credentials using the three step method above, you need to decrypt them. The value of the "AUTHORIZATION" HTTP header will be a string encoded using the base64 encoding method. It will look something like this:

Basic QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ== (<Encryption type> <Credentials>)

Decrypting the string is pretty simple using a base64 decoder such as Sun’s sun.misc.BASE64Decoder class. Before decrypting the string, we need parse out the credential portion of the string (i.e. we need to remove the "Basic" portion of the string). When decrypted, the above string will look like this:

Aladdin:open sesame (<username>:<password>)

Once we get the credentials decrypted, simply parse the string to obtain the username and password. The following is a simple Java class that will aid in decrypting and returning the username and password:

import java.util.StringTokenizer;

import sun.misc.BASE64Decoder;

public class BasicAuthDecoder {

private String authType = "Basic";

private String codedCredential = null;

private String username = null;

private String password = null;

public BasicAuthDecoder(String rawCredentialString) {

if (rawCredentialString != null){

setCodedCredential(rawCredentialString);

decodeCredentials();

}

private void setCodedCredential(String rawCredentialString){

StringTokenizer authTokens = new StringTokenizer(rawCredentialString);

if (authTokens.hasMoreTokens()){

if (authTokens.nextToken().equalsIgnoreCase(authType)){

codedCredential = authTokens.nextToken();

}

private void decodeCredentials(){

String decodedCredentialString = null;

try{

BASE64Decoder decoder = new BASE64Decoder();

decodedCredentialString = new String(decoder.decodeBuffer(codedCredential));

StringTokenizer authTokens = new StringTokenizer(decodedCredentialString,":");

if (authTokens.hasMoreTokens()){

username = authTokens.nextToken();

password = authTokens.nextToken();

}

}catch(Exception e){

System.err.println("Error decoding user credentials "+e.getMessage());

}

public String getUsername(){

return username;

}

public String getPassword(){

return password;

}

Outstanding Book #1

Tue, 22 May 2007 11:34:32 GMT

Outstanding Book! (Dreaming In Code)

I haven't used my weblog to recommend books in the past. However, I have decided to intersperse recommendations of good books related to our profession as software developers. The first book I'd like to recommend is called "Dreaming In Code" by Scott Rosenberg. The book takes the reader through the entire process of developing an innovative software project in Silicon Valley with some of the pioneers and legends of the internet age. The book is not dry and reads almost like a novel. I have even caught myself laughing out loud (and earning strange looks from my wife for laughing at a "computer book"). I believe everyone from project managers to developers will relate to and enjoy this very well written book!