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Oracle® XML Developer's Kit Programmer's Guide
11g Release 2 (11.2)

E23582-03
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Glossary

application server

A server designed to host applications and their environments, permitting server applications to run. A typical example is Oracle Application Server, which is able to host Java, C, C++, and PL/SQL applications in cases where a remote client controls the interface.

attribute

A property of an element that consists of a name and a value separated by an equals sign and contained within the start-tags after the element name. In this example, <Price units='USD'>5</Price>, units is the attribute and USD is its value, which must be in single or double quotes. Attributes may reside in the document or DTD. Elements may have many attributes but their retrieval order is not defined.

binary XML

An XML representation using the compact schema-aware format.

BLOB

See binary large object.

callback

A programmatic technique in which one process starts another and then continues. The second process then calls the first as a result of an action, value, or other event. This technique is used in most programs that have a user interface to allow continuous interaction.

cartridge

A stored program in Java or PL/SQL that adds the necessary functionality for the database to understand and manipulate a new datatype. Cartridges interface through the Extensibility Framework within Oracle Database version 8 or later. Oracle Text is such a cartridge, adding support for reading, writing, and searching text documents stored within the database.

Cascading Style Sheets

A simple mechanism for adding style (fonts, colors, spacing, and so on) to Web documents.

CDATA

See character data.

character data (CDATA)

Text in a document that should not be parsed is put within a CDATA section. This allows for the inclusion of characters that would otherwise have special functions, such as &, <, >, and so on. CDATA sections can be used in the content of an element or in attributes.

child element

An element that is wholly contained within another, which is referred to as its parent element. For example <Parent><Child></Child></Parent> illustrates a child element nested within its parent element.

class generator

A utility that accepts an input file and creates a set of output classes that have corresponding functionality. In the case of the XML class generator, the input file is a DTD and the output is a series of classes that can be used to create XML documents conforming with the DTD.

CLASSPATH

The operating system environmental variable that the JVM uses to find the classes it needs to run applications.

Common Object Request Broker API (CORBA)

An Object Management Group standard for communicating between distributed objects across a network. These self-contained software modules can be used by applications running on different platforms or operating systems. CORBA objects and their data formats and functions are defined in the Interface Definition Language (IDL), which can be compiled in a variety of languages including Java, C, C++, Smalltalk and COBOL.

Common Oracle Runtime Environment (CORE)

The library of functions written in C that provides developers the ability to create code that can be easily ported to virtually any platform and operating system.

CORBA

See Common Object Request Broker API.

CSS

See Cascading Style Sheets.

datagram

A text fragment, which may be in XML format, that is returned to the requester embedded in an HTML page from a SQL query processed by the XSQL Servlet.

DOCTYPE

The term used as the tag name designating the DTD or its reference within an XML document. For example, <!DOCTYPE person SYSTEM "person.dtd"> declares the root element name as person and an external DTD as person.dtd in the file system. Internal DTDs are declared within the DOCTYPE declaration.

Document Object Model (DOM)

An in-memory tree-based object representation of an XML document that enables programmatic access to its elements and attributes. The DOM object and its interface is a W3C recommendation. It specifies the Document Object Model of an XML Document including the APIs for programmatic access. DOM views the parsed document as a tree of objects.

Document Type Definition (DTD)

A set of rules that define the legal structure of an XML document. DTDs are text files that derive their format from SGML and can either be included in an XML document by using the DOCTYPE element or by using an external file through a DOCTYPE reference.

DOM

See Document Object Model.

DTD

See Document Type Definition.

element

The basic logical unit of an XML document that can serve as a container for other elements such as children, data, and attributes and their values. Elements are identified by start-tags, such as <name>, and end-tags, such as </name>, or in the case of empty elements, <name/>.

empty element

An element without text content or child elements. It can only contain attributes and their values. Empty elements are of the form <name/> or <name></name>, where there is no space between the tags.

Enterprise JavaBean (EJB)

An independent program module that runs within a JVM on the server. CORBA provides the infrastructure for EJBs, and a container layer provides security, transaction support, and other common functions on any supported server.

entity

A string of characters that may represent either another string of characters or special characters that are not part of the document character set. Entities and the text that is substituted for them by the parser are declared in the DTD.

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

An open standard for describing data developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) using a subset of the SGML syntax and designed for Internet use.

eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)

The language used within stylesheets to transform or render XML documents. There are two W3C recommendations covering XSL stylesheets—XSL Transformations (XSLT) and XSL Formatting Objects (XSLFO).

XSL consists of two W3C recommendations: XSL Transformations for transforming one XML document into another and XSL Formatting Objects for specifying the presentation of an XML document. XSL is a language for expressing stylesheets. It consists of two parts:

  • A language for transforming XML documents (XSLT), and

  • An XML vocabulary for specifying formatting semantics (XSLFO).

An XSL stylesheet specifies the presentation of a class of XML documents by describing how an instance of the class is transformed into an XML document that uses the formatting vocabulary.

eXtensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Object (XSLFO)

The W3C standard specification that defines an XML vocabulary for specifying formatting semantics. See FOP.

eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT)

Also written as XSL-T. The XSL W3C standard specification that defines a transformation language to convert one XML document into another.

FOP

Print formatter driven by XSL formatting objects. It is a Java application that reads a formatting object tree and then renders the resulting pages to a specified output. Output formats currently supported are PDF, PCL, PS, SVG, XML (area tree representation), Print, AWT, MIF and TXT. The primary output target is PDF.

HTTP

See Hypertext Transport Protocol.

HTTPS

See Hypertext Transport Protocol, Secure.

IDE

See Integrated Development Environment.

infoset

XML Information Set, an abstract data set consisting of a number of information items. It has at least one information item: the document node, but the infoset is not necessarily valid XML. The W3C Recommendation is at http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-infoset/

instance document

An XML document validated against an XML schema. If the instance document conforms to the rules of the schema, then it is said to be valid.

instantiate

A term used in object-based languages such as Java and C++ to refer to the creation of an object of a specific class.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

A set of programs designed to aid in the development of software run from a single user interface. JDeveloper is an IDE for Java development, because it includes an editor, compiler, debugger, syntax checker, help system, and so on, to permit Java software development through a single user interface.

J2EE

See Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition.

Java

A high-level programming language developed and maintained by Sun Microsystems where applications run in a virtual machine known as a JVM. The JVM is responsible for all interfaces to the operating system. This architecture permits developers to create Java applications that can run on any operating system or platform that has a JVM.

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)

The Java platform (Sun Microsystems) that defines multitier enterprise computing.

Java API for XML Processing (JAXP)

Enables applications to parse and transform XML documents using an API that is independent of a particular XML processor implementation.

Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB)

API and tools that map to and from XML documents and Java objects. A JSR-31 recommendation.

JavaBeans

An independent program module that runs within a JVM, typically for creating user interfaces on the client. Also known as Java Bean. The server equivalent is called an Enterprise JavaBean (EJB). See also Enterprise JavaBean.

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

The programming API that enables Java applications to access a database through the SQL language. JDBC drivers are written in Java for platform independence but are specific to each database.

Java Developer's Kit (JDK)

The collection of Java classes, runtime, compiler, debugger, and usually source code for a version of Java that makes up a Java development environment. JDKs are designated by versions, and Java 2 is used to designate versions from 1.2 onward.

Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI)

A programming interface from Sun for connecting Java programs to naming and directory services such as DNS, LDAP, and NDS. Oracle XML DB Resource API for Java/JNDI supports JNDI.

Java Runtime Environment (JRE)

The collection of complied classes that make up the Java virtual machine on a platform. JREs are designated by versions, and Java 2 is used to designate versions from 1.2 onward.

JavaServer Pages (JSP)

An extension to the servlet functionality that enables a simple programmatic interface to Web pages. JSPs are HTML pages with special tags and embedded Java code that is executed on the Web server or application server providing dynamic functionality to HTML pages. JSPs are actually compiled into servlets when first requested and run in the JVM of the server.

Java Specification Request (JSR)

A recommendation of the Java Community Process organization (JCP), such as JAXB.

Java Virtual Machine (JVM)

The Java interpreter that converts the compiled Java bytecode into the machine language of the platform and runs it. JVMs can run on a client, in a browser, in a middle tier, on an intranet, on an application server, or in a database server.

JAXB

See Java Architecture for XML Binding.

JAXP

See Java API for XML Processing.

JDBC

See Java Database Connectivity.

JDeveloper

Oracle Java IDE that enables application, applet, and servlet development and includes an editor, compiler, debugger, syntax checker, help system, an integrated UML class modeler, and so on. JDeveloper has been enhanced to support XML-based development by including the Oracle Java XDK components, integrated for use along with XML support, in its editor.

JDK

See Java Developer's Kit.

JNDI

See Java Naming and Directory Interface

JSR

See Java Specification Request

JVM

See Java virtual machine.

listener

A separate application process that monitors the input process.

LOB

See large object.

marshalling

The process of traversing a Java content tree and writing an XML document that reflects the content of the tree. It is the inverse of unmarshalling.

node

In XML, the term used to denote each addressable entity in the DOM tree.

notation attribute declaration

In XML, the declaration of a content type that is not part of those understood by the parser. These types include audio, video, and other multimedia.

OASIS

See Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information.

OC4J

Oracle Containers for J2EE, a J2EE deployment tool that comes with JDeveloper.

Oracle Application Server

The Oracle Application Server product integrates all the core services and features required for building, deploying, and managing high-performance, n-tier, transaction-oriented Web applications within an open standards framework.

Oracle CM SDK

See Oracle Content Management Software Development Kit.

Oracle Content Management SDK

The Oracle file system and Java-based development environment that either runs inside the database or on a middle tier and provides a means of creating, storing, and managing multiple types of documents in a single database repository.

Oracle Text

An Oracle tool that provides full-text indexing of documents and the capability to do SQL queries over documents, along with XPath-like searching.

Oracle XML DB

A high-performance XML storage and retrieval technology provided with Oracle database server. It is based on the W3C XML data model.

Oracle XML Developer's Kit (XDK)

The set of libraries, components, and utilities that provide software developers with the standards-based functionality to XML-enable their applications. In the case of the Oracle Java components of XDK, the kit contains an XML parser, an XSLT processor, the XML class generator, the JavaBeans, and the XSQL Servlet.

ORACLE_HOME

The operating system environment variable that identifies the location of the Oracle database installation for use by applications.

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information (OASIS)

An organization of members chartered with promoting public information standards through conferences, seminars, exhibits, and other educational events. XML is a standard that OASIS is actively promoting as it is doing with SGML.

parent element

An element that surrounds another element, which is referred to as its child element. For example, <Parent><Child></Child></Parent> illustrates a parent element wrapping its child element.

parsed character data (PCDATA)

The element content consisting of text that should be parsed but is not part of a tag or nonparsed data.

path name

The name of a resource that reflects its location in the repository hierarchy. A path name is composed of a root element (the first /), element separators (/) and various sub-elements (or path elements). A path element may be composed of any character in the database character set except ("\", "/" ). These characters have a special meaning for Oracle XML DB. Forward slash is the default name separator in a path name and backward slash may be used to escape characters.

PCDATA

See Parsed Character Data.

principal

An entity that may be granted access control privileges to an Oracle XML DB resource. Oracle XML DB supports as principals:

  • Database users.

  • Database roles. A database role can be understood as a group, for example, the DBA role represents the DBA group of all the users granted the DBA role.

Users and roles imported from an LDAP server are also supported as a part of the database general authentication model.

prolog

The opening part of an XML document containing the XML declaration and any DTD or other declarations needed to process the document.

PUBLIC

The term used to specify the location on the Internet of the reference that follows.

repository

The set of database objects, in any schema, that are mapped to path names. There is one root to the repository ("/") which contains a set of resources, each with a path name.

resource

An object in the repository hierarchy.

resource name

The name of a resource within its parent folder. Resource names must be unique (potentially subject to case-insensitivity) within a folder. Resource names are always in the UTF-8 character set (NVARCHAR2).

result set

The output of a SQL query consisting of one or more rows of data.

root element

The element that encloses all the other elements in an XML document and is between the optional prolog and epilog. An XML document is only permitted to have one root element.

SAX

See Simple API for XML.

schema

The definition of the structure and data types within a database. It can also be used to refer to an XML document that support the XML Schema W3C recommendation.

servlet

A Java application that runs in a server, typically a Web or application server, and performs processing on that server. Servlets are the Java equivalent to CGI scripts.

SGML

See Structured Generalized Markup Language.

Simple API for XML (SAX)

An XML standard interface provided by XML parsers and used by event-based applications.

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

An XML-based protocol for exchanging information in a decentralized, distributed environment.

SOAP

See Simple Object Access Protocol.

SQL

See Structured Query Language.

SQL/XML

An ANSI specification for representing XML in SQL. Oracle SQL includes SQL/XML functions that query XML. The specification is not yet completed.

Structured Generalized Markup Language (SGML)

An ISO standard for defining the format of a text document implemented using markup and DTDs.

Structured Query Language (SQL)

The standard language used to access and process data in a relational database.

stylesheet

In XML, the term used to describe an XML document that consists of XSL processing instructions used by an XSLT processor to transform or format an input XML document into an output one.

SYSTEM

Specifies the location on the host operating system of the reference that follows.

tag

A single piece of XML markup that delimits the start or end of an element. Tags start with < and end with >. In XML, there are start-tags (<name>), end-tags (</name>), and empty tags (<name/>).

TransX Utility

TransX Utility is a Java API that simplifies the loading of translated seed data and messages into a database.

UIX

See User Interface XML.

unmarshalling

The process of reading an XML document and constructing a tree of Java content objects. Each content object corresponds directly to an instance in the input document of the corresponding schema component.

See Also: marshalling

User Interface XML (UIX)

A set of technologies that constitute a framework for building Web applications.

valid

The term used to refer to an XML document when its structure and element content is consistent with that declared in its associated DTD or XML schema.

W3C

See World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

WebDAV

See World Wide Web distributed authoring and versioning.

well-formed

The term used to refer to an XML document that conforms to the syntax of the XML version declared in its XML declaration. This includes having a single root element, properly nested tags, and so forth.

Working Group (WG)

The committee within the W3C that is made up of industry members that implement the recommendation process in specific Internet technology areas.

World Wide Web

A worldwide hypertext system that uses the Internet and the HTTP protocol.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

An international industry consortium started in 1994 to develop standards for the World Wide Web. It is located at http://www.w3c.org.

World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard for collaborative authoring on the Web. Oracle XML DB Foldering and Security features are WebDAV-compliant.

XDBbinary

An XML element defined by the Oracle XML DB schema that contains binary data. XDBbinary elements are stored in the repository when completely unstructured binary data is uploaded into Oracle XML DB.

XDK

See Oracle XML Developer's Kit.

XLink

The XML Linking language consisting of the rules governing the use of hyperlinks in XML documents. These rules are being developed by the XML Linking Group under the W3C recommendation process. This is one of the three languages XML supports to manage document presentation and hyperlinks (XLink, XPointer, and XPath).

XML

See eXtensible Markup Language.

XML Base

A W3C recommendation that describes the use of the xml:base attribute, which can be inserted in an XML document to specify a base URI other than the base URI of the document or external entity. The URIs in the document are resolved by means of the given base.

XML Gateway

A set of services that allows for integration with the Oracle E-Business Suite to create and consume XML messages triggered by business events.

XML Namespaces

The term to describe a set of related element names or attributes within an XML document. The namespace syntax and its usage is defined by a W3C Recommendation. For example, the <xsl:apply-templates/ > element is identified as part of the XSL namespace. Namespaces are declared in the XML document or DTD before they are used, with the following attribute syntax: xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl".

XML parser

In XML, a software program that receives an XML document and determines whether it is well-formed and, optionally, valid. The Oracle XML parser supports both SAX and DOM interfaces.

XML Pipeline Definition Language

W3C recommendation that enables you to describe the processing relations between XML resources.

XML processor

A software program that reads an XML document and processes it, that is, performs actions on the document based on a set of rules. Validity checkers and XML editors are examples of processors.

XML Query (XQuery)

The on-going effort of the W3C to create a standard for the language and syntax to query XML documents.

XML schema

A document written in the XML Schema language.

XML Schema

See XML Schema language.

XML Schema Definition

Equivalent to XML Schema language.

XML Schema language

The XML Schema language, also called simply "XML Schema," is a W3C standard for the use of simple data types and complex structures within an XML document. It addresses areas currently lacking in DTDs, including the definition and validation of data types.

Oracle XML Schema processor automatically ensures validity of XML documents and data used in e-business applications, including online exchanges. It adds simple and complex datatypes to XML documents and replaces DTD functionality with an XML schema definition XML document.

XMLSchema-instance namespace

Used to identify an instance document as a member of the class defined by a particular XML schema. You must declare the XMLSchema-instance namespace by adding a namespace declaration to the root element of the instance document. For example: xmlns:xsi=http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance.

XML SQL Utility (XSU)

This Oracle utility can generate an XML document (string or DOM) given a SQL query or a JDBC ResultSet object. XSU can also extract the data from an XML document, then insert, update, or delete rows in a database table.

XMLType

XMLType is an Oracle datatype that stores XML data using an underlying CLOB column, or object-relational columns, or a binary format within a table or view.

XMLType views

Oracle XML DB provides a way to wrap existing relational and object-relational data in XML format. This is especially useful if, for example, your legacy data is not in XML but you have to migrate it to an XML format.

XPath

The open standard syntax for addressing elements within a document used by XSL and XPointer. XPath is currently a W3C recommendation. It specifies the data model and grammar for navigating an XML document utilized by XSLT, XLink and XML Query.

XPointer

The term and W3C recommendation to describe a reference to an XML document fragment. An XPointer can be used at the end of an XPath-formatted URI. It specifies the identification of individual entities or fragments within an XML document using XPath navigation.

XSL

See eXtensible Stylesheet Language.

XSLFO

See eXtensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Object.

XSLT

See eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation.

XSLT Virtual Machine (XVM)

Oracle's XSLT Virtual Machine is the software implementation of a "CPU" designed to run compiled XSLT code. The concept of virtual machine assumes a compiler compiling XSLT stylesheets to a program of byte-codes, or machine instructions for the "XSLT CPU".

XSQL pages

XML pages that contain instructions for the XSQL servlet.

XSQL servlet

A Java-based servlet that can dynamically generate XML documents from one or more SQL queries and optionally transform the documents in the server with an XSLT stylesheet.

XSU

See XML SQL Utility.