Re: Basic Portal Question

Do you have some examples of using PL/SQL to generate HTML (Report, Form, whatever). I have used ASP, PHP, etc, so the concept is not foreign to me, but My PL/SQL is rusty at best, and I'm not sure how I go about outputting text from PL/SQL. The only PL/SQL examples that I have seen, and been able to get working, have been dumping the results of a query to the screen. I assume there is more to it than that. Another, slightly off-topic, question is about using JSP code in portal. I understand that it is possible, but I'm not sure how supported it is.

Any ideas?
Nate Baxley

"andrija" <ar35644_at_fer.hr> wrote in message news:<9vuukp$91gi$1_at_as201.hinet.hr>...
> > I'm just starting a project using portal, and it's the first time I've
> > used it. It is very frustrating for me since I'm used to developing
> > from scratch in ColdFusion or some such language. I've been using the
> > "wizards": create a form, create a report, but they seem very limited
> > and clumsy to use. Is there a better, more programmer oriented way to
> > build portal sites? Has anyone else run into these frustrations?
>
> I'm doing a lot of Portal, and I understand your frustration. From my point
> of view, the biggest problem with portal is that it has no documentation (or
> very little, same thing). When you compare Oracle database documentation and
> Portal documentation you'll know what I mean.
>
> And yes, forms and reports created by wizards are clumsy and limited. My
> advice is: use wizard created reports when ever you can - it's easy, fast
> and quite OK. For any more complicated report, they won't help you. Wizard
> created forms - run away from it.
>
> The most usefull thing are dynamic pages. They work like ASP or PHP. You can
> combine HTML with PL/SQL. If you ever worked with ASP, PHP or any
> server-scripting language, you'll find your way with it very fast.
>
> Just to give you a hint - on dynamic page PL/SQL blocks are markd with
> <ORACLE> and </ORACLE> tags. Between goes any PL/SQL block (declare, begin,
> end ...). See also the documentation about sys.htp package - it's used for
> manipulating with HTML. The most imortant method int that package is htp.p -
> inserts text in dynamic page.
>
> If you want to use form in HTML (<form ...>), you must know how Portal
> transfers parameters between pages - easyest way to see it is to start any
> customization form of the report on portal and to check it's source.
>
> That's all for start. I hope I helped you - if you want to know anything
> else, just post a question...
>
>
> Andrija Rubelj
Received on Fri Dec 21 2001 - 17:36:27 CET