Preface

Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features describes how to use the object-relational features of the Oracle Server, 10g release 2 (10.2). Information in this guide applies to versions of the Oracle Server that run on all platforms, and does not include system-specific information.

• Intended Audience

• Documentation Accessibility

• Structure

• Related Documents

• Conventions

Intended Audience

Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features is intended for programmers developing new applications or converting existing applications to run in the Oracle environment. The object-relational features are often used in content management, data warehousing, data/information integration, and similar applications that deal with complex structured data. The object views feature can be valuable when writing new C++, Java, or XML applications on top of an existing relational schema.

This guide assumes that you have a working knowledge of application programming and that you are familiar with the use of Structured Query Language (SQL) to access information in relational database systems.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

TTY Access to Oracle Support Services

Oracle provides dedicated Text Telephone (TTY) access to Oracle Support Services within the United States of America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For TTY support, call 800.446.2398.

Structure

This document contains:

Chapter 1, "Introduction to Oracle Objects"

Introduces the key features and explains the advantages of the object-relational model.

Chapter 2, "Basic Components of Oracle Objects"

Explains the basic concepts and terminology that you need to work with Oracle Objects.

Chapter 3, "Support for Collection Datatypes"

Discusses collection datatypes and operations on collection datatypes.

Chapter 4, "Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments"

Summarizes the object-relational features in SQL and PL/SQL; Oracle Call Interface (OCI); Pro*C/C++; Oracle Objects For OLE; and Java, JDBC, and Oracle SQLJ. The information in this chapter is high-level, for education and planning.

Chapter 5, "Applying an Object Model to Relational Data"

Explains object views, which allow you to develop object-oriented applications without changing the underlying relational schema.

Chapter 6, "Managing Oracle Objects"

Explains how to perform essential operations with objects and object types.

Chapter 7, "Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects"

Discusses features that you might need to manage storage and performance as you scale up an object-oriented application.

Chapter 8, "Design Considerations for Oracle Objects"

Explains the implementation and performance characteristics of the Oracle object-relational model.

Appendix A, "Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features"

Demonstrates how a relational program can be rewritten as an object-oriented one, schema and all.

Related Documents

For more information, see these Oracle resources:

• For additional information on objects, see the Oracle Technology Network (OTN), at http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html

  If you want to access information for a specific topic on OTN, such as "object-relational technology", enter the appropriate phrase in the search field on the OTN main page at http://www.oracle.com/technology/

• Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Large Objects for information on Large Objects (LOBs)

• Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals for general information about developing applications

• Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for information on PL/SQL, the procedural language extension to Oracle SQL

• Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide and Oracle XML Developer's Kit Programmer's Guide for information about developing applications with XML

• Oracle Database JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference and Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide to use Oracle object-relational features through Java

• Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide and Oracle C++ Call Interface Programmer's Guide for information on using the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) and Oracle C++ Call Interface to build third-generation language (3GL) applications that access the Oracle Server

• Pro*C/C++ Programmer's Guide for information on Oracle's Pro* series of precompilers, which allow you to embed SQL and PL/SQL in 3GL application programs written in Ada, C, C++, COBOL, or FORTRAN

• Oracle Database SQL Reference and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for information on SQL

• Oracle Database Concepts for information on basic Oracle concepts

Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/membership/

If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/

For information on additional books

http://www.oracle.com/technology/books/10g_books.html

Conventions

This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this documentation set. It describes:

• Conventions in Text

• Conventions in Code Examples

• Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

Conventions in Text

We use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms. The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Conventions in Code Examples

Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements. They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from normal text as shown in this example:

SELECT USERNAME FROM DBA_USERS WHERE USERNAME = 'MIGRATE';

The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and provides examples of their use.

[ ]

DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])

{ }

{ENABLE | DISABLE}

|

{ENABLE | DISABLE}
[COMPRESS | NOCOMPRESS]

...

CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery;

SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM employees;

.
 .
 .

SQL> SELECT NAME FROM V$DATAFILE;
NAME
------------------------------------
/fsl/dbs/tbs_01.dbf
/fs1/dbs/tbs_02.dbf
.
.
.
/fsl/dbs/tbs_09.dbf
9 rows selected.

acctbal NUMBER(11,2);
acct    CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;

Italics

CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password
DB_NAME = database_name

UPPERCASE

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES;
DROP TABLE hr.employees;

lowercase

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
sqlplus hr/hr
CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;

Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

The following table describes conventions for Windows operating systems and provides examples of their use.

c:\winnt"\"system32 is the same as C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32

C:\oracle\oradata>

C:\>exp hr/hr TABLES=employees QUERY=\"WHERE job='SALESMAN' and sal<1600\"
C:\>imp SYSTEM/password FROMUSER=hr TABLES=(employees, departments)

HOME_NAME

C:\> net start OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener