MicroDeveloper, Inc. - Professional Computing Services

WebToolkit Converter

WebToolkit HTML to PL/SQL Converter

The HTML to PL/SQL converer allows you to convert HTML to PSP code for use with the Web Toolkit built into all modern Oracle Databases. The toolkit can be invoked by using the mod_plsql module for Apache® or by using PRISM® with any JavaServer such as Tomcat®. This is not meant as a replacement for WebAlchemy (see link below), but instead is a simple utility to quickly convert HTML to WebToolkit output.

How to Use the Converter

First and foremost, you must have a java-enabled browser that supports Java 1.2 or greater. If you don't or aren't sure, visit Sun's website to get the latest Java Virtual Machine for your system.

To convert some HTML, simply paste the raw HTML code into the top text area and choose either separate lines or one string, then click the Generate button. Next, select all the text in the lower text area and paste it into your favorite PL-SQL editor such as SQL*Plus or PL/SQL Developer and run the program. You can now execute your page from modplsql or modify it to suit your needs.

Conversion Options


Procedure Name :

	Generate as separate lines (better for complex pages or javascript)
	Generate as one string (better for simple pages)

Insert raw HTML code here:

Enter your source HTML here.

Copy the converted PL/SQL from here :

Press Generate to see the results here.

Why we created this page:
We found that editing the PL/SQL generated by WebAlchemey difficult when a high degree of nested tables or complex layouts were involved due to the way it embeds function calls within procedure calls when constructing most table driven pages. For this we found it easier to simply work with printed HTML code.

What this program does:
This page will convert raw HTML into PL-SQL print statements for use with the Oracle Web-Toolkit. If you prefer to use the separate procedure or function web-toolkit calls we suggest using the excellent freeware program WebAlchemey instead. Note that WebAlchemy does not handle anything other than basic HTML very well. You are better off using this conversion instead if you have javascript or other complex layouts to convert.

Usage Notes:
There are two ways to generate the code; one uses HTP.PRINT calls before each line in the source, the other concatinates the calls by piping ('||') the separate lines of HTML together. How this differs is seen when the HTML is rendered by modplsql.

HTP.PRINT('<foo>');
HTP.PRINT('<bar>');
Yields:
<foo>
<bar>

HTP.PRINT ('<foo>' || '<bar>')
Yields:
<foo><bar>

Browser Notes:
Microsofts JVM does not fully support the java standards which is used here. You will get an error when using the internal JVM due to the fact that it doesn't start and communicate with the applet correctly. Instead of fighting with the Microsoft JVM, we recommend that you use the Sun automated JVM plugin installer to get a fully functional JVM for your browser.