Web Service Application

[MartinR]

Hi,

I have problem getting the missing information.

Intention: I want to set up a small web service/website using an Oracle database for storing the input information collected by checking other web sites HTML code and using this stored information newly structured as a kind of output information.

What I don't know: can I use PL/SQL programm daemon to check the websites? Is it useful to use PL/SQL or should use another language i. e. java-script, PHP...? Is there any code sample which I could use as basis?

Martin

[Mike]

It depends on several factors, such as how often you want to check the site contents for changes. You could easily use PHP and a cron job to retrieve and check the contents every 5 minutes (for example), and then process the retrieved data into the format you need.

PHP has plenty of functions that allow it to talk to an Oracle database directly.

Also, mySQL is typically the database that's used for web services, but if your ISP will install Oracle then you could certainly use it.

Hi,

I have problem getting the missing information.

Intention: I want to set up a small web service/website using an Oracle database for storing the input information collected by checking other web sites HTML code and using this stored information newly structured as a kind of output information.

What I don't know: can I use PL/SQL programm daemon to check the websites? Is it useful to use PL/SQL or should use another language i. e. java-script, PHP...? Is there any code sample which I could use as basis?

Martin

[MartinR]

Hi Mike,

thanks for your answer.

So you wouldn't do it from inside Oracle within a PL/SQL-Package working as a daemon (would run once a day for two hours - I hope)?.
I suppose because of missing Oracle functions handling internet content?
But it would work with HTP, URI...packages?

On the other side, with PHP + AppServer I would have another two instances to be maintained. And a problem, I don't speak PHP yet.

Martin

[Mike]

So you wouldn't do it from inside Oracle within a PL/SQL-Package working as a daemon (would run once a day for two hours - I hope)?.

I personally wouldn't do it that way, but you could do it that way if you really wanted to. It's not the ideal way to do this kind of thing, however.

I suppose because of missing Oracle functions handling internet content?
But it would work with HTP, URI...packages?

The reason I wouldn't do it that way is because it's inefficient and it's the wrong tool for the job, in my opinion. Oracle is a database; let the database do what it's good at and use other tools or languages to do all the other stuff. Let the database do the heavy lifting where it excels, and don't waste its time or resources doing stuff it's not suited for. Oracle is a great database, but it's not the best tool to do text processing, remote content retrieval, or inline data reformatting. That's where I'd use something like PHP.

On the other side, with PHP + AppServer I would have another two instances to be maintained. And a problem, I don't speak PHP yet.

In general, PHP doesn't require any ongoing maintenance once it''s installed. It just runs.

A number of people here are fairly proficient in PHP, so feel free to ask for help if you need it. We may also be able to come up with some sample code for you if you can give us an idea of what you want to do.

[MartinR]

I know you're absolutly right, I thought I could find a way around. Thanks.