In this three-part series, you'll learn about the different ways to interact with Oracle Database XE based on what role you're playing: database administrator, developer, and even ad hoc query user. This article is excerpted from chapter 29 of the book Beginning PHP and Oracle: From Novice to Professional, written by W. Jason Gilmore and Bob Bryla (Apress; ISBN: 1590597702).
In Chapter 28 we introduced interacting with Oracle Database XE primarily as a DBA. Since your job may involve wearing many hats, you will most likely interact with Oracle Database XE not only as a DBA but also as a developer and an ad hoc query user. As a result, Oracle provides many different ways to interact with the database, depending on your role.
In that same chapter, we showed you how to connect to Oracle Database XE using SQL*Plus as an administrator. In this chapter, we’ll review SQL*Plus from a user’s point of view, as well as how to specify the database connection information if you are using SQL*Plus from a remote workstation using the components of an Oracle Database XE client installation.
The next tool we’ll cover is Oracle SQL Developer. You can use it to establish many connections to a single database (including Oracle Database XE), one connection to many different databases, or even many connections to many different databases. In a graphical environment, you can browse, edit, delete, or create database objects, run one SQL statement, and edit and debug PL/SQL procedures and functions. In addition, SQL Developer provides predefined reports against the objects in your database that are also easy to customize for your environment.
For the application developer, we introduce Application Express, more commonly known as APEX. APEX gives the application developer and the end user the power to create a Web-enabled application with no programming knowledge or experience and quickly build a Web application that leverages all of the power of Oracle Database XE, such as concurrency, transactional integrity, and robust security built-in to the database. The Web administration interface to Oracle Database XE is an APEX application.
XE Home Page
We introduced the Oracle Database XE home page in Chapters 26 and 27. This interface may be all that a DBA and an application developer need. In your DBA role, you can monitor the database and administer user accounts. As a developer or a user, you have basic query functions and object-browsing capabilities. Plus, if you are using a nonadministrative account, you can create APEX applications by clicking the Application Builder icon on the Oracle Database XE home page. The XE home page’s functionality was created using APEX. Later in this chapter in the section “Using Application Express,” we’ll show you how to get the latest version of APEX.
