What's New in the XDK?

Features Introduced in Oracle XML Developer's Kit 11g Release 1 (11.1)

• DOM Stream access to XML nodes is done by PL/SQL and Java APIs. Nodes in an XML document can now exceed 64 KBytes by a large amount.

  See Also:

  "Large Node Handling"

• The new XDK compact binary XML processors provide an encoder, a decoder, and a token manager to convert the schema or non-schema-based stream to and from XML 1.0 text and SAX events. The format is the same used in Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide.

  See Also:

  Chapter 5, "Using Binary XML for Java"

• Binary XML adds a third storage model for persistent XML in the database: binary XML. Java and C APIs, and PL/SQL packages are affected. Binary XML support in the C API is used for both XML Developer's Kit and XML DB.

  See Also:

  Chapter 19, "Using Binary XML for C"

  Support is now provided for a scalable, pluggable DOM in Java:

  • Scalable DOM support for Java includes lazy loading of DOM nodes, DOM updates of binary XML, multiple applications sharing the same DOM source, binary XML as output, and shadow copy in DOM.

  • Pluggable DOM splits the DOM implementation into two separate layers: DOM API layer and data layer. The data is either internal or plug-in, and are accessed through an implementation of the InfosetReader interface.

  • Configurable support for Java DOM is provided.

  See Also:

  "Scalable DOM"

• The Unified Java API for XML allows mid-tier Java programs to leverage all the benefits of XMLType used with a session pool model of connection management. This allows XMLType object to be disconnected from the database session used to create it.

  See Also:

  Chapter 2, "Unified Java API for XML"

• JAXP 1.3 support for XPath with extensions improves Java XSLT performance. Support is for static and dynamic context and users can register runtime context.

• HTTP server for SOA is enabled. The database is capable of exposing PL/SQL packages, procedures, and functions as Web Services. The database is capable of executing dynamic XQuery and SQL queries.

  See Also:

  Chapter 22, "Using SOAP with the C XDK"

• Chapters on SOAP for Java and C++ were removed.

• XmlDiff for C detects the differences between two XML documents and represents the difference in XML. XmlPatch outputs the differences and applies the changes on the target XML document.

  See Also:

  Chapter 21, "Determining XML Differences Using C"

• The JSR 170 standard is supported.

  See Also:

  "Standards and Specifications"

• The C Pull Parser reduces memory overhead compared to the SAX model.

  See Also:

  "Using the XML Pull Parser for C"

• Streaming Validator support for C improves XML processing.

  See Also:

  "What is the Streaming Validator?"

• Document Updates For DLF/TransX is enhanced.

  See Also:

  • Chapter 12, "Using the TransX Utility"

  • Chapter 13, "Data Loading Format (DLF) Specification"

Features Introduced in Oracle XDK 11g Release 2 (11.2)

• The orastream functions in the XDK for C enable you to access large nodes.

  See Also:

  "Using orastream Functions"

Features Changed in Oracle XDK 11g Release 2 (11.2)

Oracle recommends discontinuing the use of the following features in new applications. These features are supported in the current release, but they may be deprecated in a future release. In particular:

• Do not use the XSQL feature with XML DB applications.

• Do not use encoding types as specified in Chapter 5, "Using Binary XML for Java", in these sections:

  • Binary XML Vocabulary Management

  • Using Java Binary XML Package

For improved performance, consider using the PL/SQL packages DBMS_XMLGen and DBMS_XMLStore, which are written in C and built into the database, rather than the DBMS_XMLQuery and DBMS_XMLSave packages as specified in Chapter 11, Using XSU: Basic Process.