Oracle8 ConText Cartridge QuickStart
Release 2.4
A63819-01

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4
Implementing ConText

This chapter provides basic information for implementing ConText.

The chapter covers the following topics:

Pre-implementation Checklist

This QuickStart manual assumes that Oracle8 is installed and running. In addition, the manual assumes that basic Oracle implementation tasks have been performed.

Before you proceed to the ConText implementation questions, verify the following:

Implementation Questions

This section provides a list of ConText implementation questions that you need to answer before you can begin the QuickStart tasks:

1. Have you created tables to store your text?

2. Is text loaded into your tables?

3. Is ConText installed?

4. Is the ConText initialization parameter enabled?

5. Is CTXAPP granted to users who own tables?

The answers you provide depend on whether text is already stored in Oracle8 or you are storing text for the first time.

Note:

This QuickStart manual presents an example Oracle user named ctxdev and an example text table named docs; however, the ctxdev user and the docs table are not provided by ConText. The QuickStart examples assume that docs (or its equivalent) is in the database schema for ctxdev (or its equivalent).

1. Have you created tables to store your text?

YES:

Proceed to "2. Is text loaded into your tables?" >

NO:

You need to create one or more tables for storing your text. Each table used to store text must have at least the following columns:

primary key (one or more columns that uniquely identify each document)
column for storing text (recommended datatypes: CHAR, VARCHAR2, LONG, LONG RAW, BLOB, CLOB, BFILE)

To create tables, log in to SQL*Plus as the Oracle user who will own the tables and use the CREATE TABLE command.

See Also:

Oracle8 SQL Reference

2. Is text loaded into your tables?

YES:

Proceed to "3. Is ConText installed?" >

NO:

You need to load documents (text) into your table(s). ConText supports three types of storage for documents:

Storage Type Description

Internal

A document is represented as either a single row or multiple rows in a database table. The text of the document is stored in one of the table columns. Each row is indexed by ConText as a separate entity.

Internal master-detail

A document is represented as multiple rows in a database table. The text of the document is stored in one of the table columns. The collection of rows for the document are indexed by ConText as a single entity

external

The text of the documents is stored in files and pointers to the files are stored in one of the table columns. The pointers can be operating system directories/file names or Uniform Resource Locations (URLs). Each row is indexed by ConText as a separate entity.

Storage Type	Description
Internal	A document is represented as either a single row or multiple rows in a database table. The text of the document is stored in one of the table columns. Each row is indexed by ConText as a separate entity.
Internal master-detail	A document is represented as multiple rows in a database table. The text of the document is stored in one of the table columns. The collection of rows for the document are indexed by ConText as a single entity
external	The text of the documents is stored in files and pointers to the files are stored in one of the table columns. The pointers can be operating system directories/file names or Uniform Resource Locations (URLs). Each row is indexed by ConText as a separate entity.

You can use the following methods for loading documents into a table:

INSERT (SQL command) to load a single block of plain (ASCII) text into a row
SQL*Loader to batch load plain (ASCII) text
ctxload (utility provided with ConText) to batch load plain and formatted text into LONG and LONG RAW columns

You can also use a ConText server with the Loader personality to automate loading text from operating system files into a LONG or LONG RAW column.

The tool/utility you use depends on the structure and usage of the text column. For example, ctxload only works for tables containing a LONG or LONG RAW column.

3. Is ConText installed?

YES:

Proceed to "4. Is the ConText initialization parameter enabled?" >

NO:

You must install Oracle8 ConText Cartridge on a server machine.

See Also:

Oracle8 installation documentation specific to your operating system

4. Is the ConText initialization parameter enabled?

YES:

Proceed to "5. Is CTXAPP granted to users who own tables?" >

NO:

If you want to use one-step queries in ConText, you need to set the initialization parameter TEXT_ENABLE to TRUE.

You can set the TEXT_ENABLE parameter by adding the following line to your initsid.ora file and restarting the database:

        text_enable = true

You can also use the SQL command, ALTER SESSION, to set TEXT_ENABLE for the current session.

5. Is CTXAPP granted to users who own tables?

YES:

You are done with the required implementation tasks for ConText!

Go to Chapter 2, "Using Text Queries" >>

Chapter 3, "Using Theme Queries and CTX_LING" >>

NO:

You must grant the ConText role, CTXAPP, to Oracle users who own the tables in which text is stored. The CTXAPP role allows a user to create a text index for a column.

To grant CTXAPP to users, log in to SQL*Plus as the CTXSYS user and use the GRANT command.

For example:

        grant CTXAPP to CTXDEV;

In this example, CTXAPP is granted to a user named ctxdev.

Note:

ctxdev is an example Oracle user used in QuickStart; the ctxdev user is not provided by ConText and must be created manually if you wish to use it in your installation.