SAN MATEO (03/29/2000) - Oracle Corp. yesterday extended its support of XML in an effort to bridge the development gap between XML and Java. Specifically, the company has added XML support to its JDeveloper 3.1 product and an XML Schema Parser to its XML Developer's Kit.
"Basically, we've XML-enabled the whole environment so developers can work with XML inside their Java tools,"said John Magee, director of internet platform marketing at Oracle, in Redwood Shores, California. "No one's working with XML alone; they're working with a program language and XML, and they don't want to jump back and forth."
To help establish the symmetry that would avoid that Java/XML flip flop, Oracle JDeveloper 3.1 now supports XSQL (XML Structured Query Language) pages, allowing developers to edit and debug Java programs that can query the database and return formatted XML. The support also will allow developers to insert XML into their database without rewriting code.
In addition, JDeveloper's integrated servlet engine allows developers to view the XML output generated by their Java code in the same environment as their program source. JDeveloper 3.1 also includes color-coded syntax highlighting for XML and built-in syntax checking for XML and XSL (Extensible Style Language).
Beyond XML support in JDeveloper 3.1, Oracle has added an XML Schema Processor for Java to its Oracle XML Developer's Kit (XDK). The Schema Processor supports both simple and complex data types for processing and validating XML Schemas, as defined by the latest working draft of the XML Schema standard from the Worldwide Web Consortium.
The Oracle XML Developer's Kit is available now via download from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) at technet.oracle.com. JDeveloper 3.1 is scheduled to be available on OTN starting in April.
Oracle Corp., in Redwood Shores, Calif., is at www.oracle.com.
Michael Lattig is an InfoWorld senior writer.