Oracle databases have long handled the publicly invisible task of managing large corporate data stores. With the release of Oracle 9iAS Portal, the company has made it much easier to securely share the contents of data warehouses with appropriate audiences. You can, for example, use Portal to give suppliers Web access to inventory levels of parts they supply to your organization, while preventing them from seeing the price you're paying other suppliers of the same thing.
Oracle 9iAS Portal Bible takes the approach typical of the Bible series. It comprehensively documents the features of its eponymous software package, giving its readers familiarity with the terms and procedures they need to understand in order to get useful work done.
A quick glance at this book reveals an elaborate mix of information-presentation techniques. Procedures, complete with numbered steps, intermingle with bulleted lists that document options, and tables that explain alternative parameters that may be used in code to achieve different effects. The result is a guide that's handy for getting your initial familiarity with Portal (you can just follow the steps without deviation) as well as for reference when you're more expert (you can use the index to locate the tables and facts you need to see in order to solve problems). Read this one if you need to build Portal applications and don't have time for training. --David Wall
Topics covered: The capabilities of Oracle 9iAS Portal, explained for the benefit of administrators and application developers. Installation, setup of simple and complex portals, reporting, charts, forms, and Web accessibility are all covered.
User review
A good starting point but,,,,
I found the book a good introduction to Oracle Portal and worth a read. However, the book has a number of bugs, inconsistencies between the text and the CD and missing information in the install section in chapter 2. It's also quite out-of-date now (as at 15-Apr-02). Also, the website for the book also does not contain the bug fixes, a big disappointment.
Worth reading but be prepared for some frustration,,. When the examples do not work, try skipping them and you may find the answer later in the book.
User review
Advanced Techniques covered too short
If you build an portal, then you will have to integrate several 'j2ee'-applications. In the 'Bible' you'll find minimal help on 7 pages (out of 955!) to integrate JSPs and Servlets as portlet. The examples presented are partially buggy (e.g. p839 step 13. or p858 step 11. does not mention debuglevel, but step 13 shows the test page).
User review
Oracle9iAS Portal Bible Rocks My World
Again James Millbery and Rick Greenwold have taken Oracle's cutting edge technology and made it easy to understand in this succinct and concise book. This is indeed the cookbook to come up to speed on this topic. The book is well written and full of great examples. I strongly recommend this book as a 'must read' for all Oracle Portal Developers.
David Jacob-Daub
Sr. Principle Instructor
Oracle Corporation
User review
Great book for 1st time 9i AS Portal User
This book provided a very simple approach to understanding 9i AS architect. Oracle official documentation/install guide is very confusing, caused me several sleepless night figuring out 9i AS Portal issues. This book provided the simple and easy approach with the live example as you move along the chapters. I bought four other books from Oracle Press on the same subject matter and I rate them at 1.5 star. This is a must book for the first timer or a good reference for later use.
Syed
User review
Good Overview
The text is a good initial coverage of the Portal product. With the new text from Oracle Press (Sept 20 printing) a developer should have all the tools he or she needs for a Portal project. We are close to a finished application in just a few weeks,,.
