Oracle TopLink is a powerful and flexible Java persistence framework for storing Java objects in a relational database or for converting Java objects to XML documents. TopLink provides APIs and a run-time environment for implementing the persistence layer of Java EE applications.
TopLink is based on (and includes) EclipseLink, the open source persistence framework from the Eclipse Foundation. For more information about the EclipseLink project, see "Eclipse Persistence Services Project (EclipseLink) wiki home" at http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink. For the EclipseLink Documentation, Center see http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/Documentation_Center.
This book, Solutions Guide for Oracle TopLink, documents a number of scenarios, or use cases, that illustrate TopLink features and typical TopLink development processes. These are not tutorials that lead you step-by-step through every task required to complete a project. Rather, they document general processes and key details for solving particular problems and then provide links to other documentation for more information.
To make good use of this documentation, you should already be familiar with the following:
The concepts and programming practices of Java SE and Java EE. In the current release, TopLink supports Java EE 6. However, the current release of WebLogic Server (documented in several use cases) only supports Java EE 5. For more information, see the following:
Java
Java home page: http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/java/index.html
Java EE 5 Tutorial: http://download.oracle.com/javaee/5/tutorial/doc/bnbpy.html
Java EE 6 Tutorial: http://download.oracle.com/javaee/6/tutorial/doc/bnbpy.html
Any of the thousands of books and web sites devoted to Java.
Oracle Java EE Application Servers
Oracle WebLogic Server home page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/weblogic/overview/index.html
Oracle Glassfish Server home page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/glassfish/overview/index.html
Oracle Java EE Integrated Development Environments
Oracle JDeveloper: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/overview/index.html
Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse (OEPE): http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/eclipse/overview/index.html
TopLink is based on EclipseLink from the Eclipse Foundation. See the following:
EclipseLink project home: http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink
EclipseLink Documentation Center: http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/Documentation_Center
If you are working with TopLink Java Persistence Architecture, you should be familiar with the concepts and programming practices of JPA 2.0, as specified in the Java Persistence API, Version 2.0 specification at http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=317.
If you are working with TopLink MOXy, you should be familiar with the concepts and programming practices of JAXB 2.0, as specified in the The Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) 2.0 specification at http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=222.
Developers using TopLink DBWS should be familiar with the concepts and programming practices of JAX-WS 2.0, as specified in the Java API for XML-Based Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.0 specification at http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=224.
Support for RESTful (Representational State Transfer) Web Services in the Java Platform at http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=311
The use cases documented in this book are as follows:
Chapter 2, "Using TopLink with WebLogic Server" - How to use TopLink as the persistence provider for TopLink Java Persistence Architecture (JPA) 2.0 applications deployed to WebLogic Server.
Chapter 3, "Using TopLink with GlassFish Server" - How to use TopLink as the persistence provider for TopLink Java Persistence Architecture (JPA) 2.0 applications deployed to GlassFish Server.
Chapter 4, "Using Multiple Databases with a Composite Persistence Unit" - How to expose multiple persistence units (each with unique sets of entity types) as a single persistence context.
Chapter 5, "Scaling TopLink Applications in Clusters" - How to configure TopLink applications to ensure scalability in clustered application server environments.
Chapter 6, "Providing Software as a Service" - How to make JPA entities or JAXB beans extensible; how to use multi-tenancy; and how to use an external metadata source.
Chapter 7, "Mapping JPA to XML" - How to map JPA entities to XML using TopLink MOXy.
Chapter 8, "Testing TopLink JPA Outside a Container" - How to test your TopLink application outside the container.
Chapter 9, "Enhancing TopLink Performance" - Getting the best performance out of Oracle TopLink.
Section 10, "Migrating From Hibernate to TopLink" - How to migrate applications from using Hibernate JPA to using TopLink JPA.