Configuration for Oracle

Configuring your OpenXava application to go against Oracle is very simple, basically you have to install the JDBC driver for Oracle and define correctly the datasource. You don't need to touch any code of your application.

We assume you have already installed and running Oracle.

Download the JDBC driver for Oracle

Download the Oracle driver from here: https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/appdev/jdbc-downloads.html

Choose the database version you're using to go to the specific download page. Then download the file ojdbc8.jar, if you're using an old Oracle version it could be ojdbc7.jar or ojdbc6.jar.

Create a classpath variable in Eclipse

In order you can connect to Oracle from Eclipse we're going to declare a classpath variable that points to the Oracle JDBC driver, so you can use it in any project you need easily. For that, in Eclipse go to Window > Preferences > Java > Build Path > Classpath Variables where you can add the new variable:

You can call the variable ORACLE_DRIVER instead of DB_DRIVER if your prefer. The path is the path of the JDBC driver, in our case the path of ojdbc8.jar we have just downloaded.

Add the DB_DRIVER variable to your Eclipse project

In the project you're going to use Oracle you have to add the variable declared above. Click with right mouse button on your project and then choose Java Build Path > Configure Build Path...:

Then select the Libraries tab:

With this we have the driver available for the development environment.

Add the JDBC driver to the production Tomcat

Adding the driver in production is much easier. Copy ojdbc8.jar to the lib folder of your Tomcat. Done.

Adjust your datasource definition

For development edit web/META-INF/context.xml of your Eclipse project, and for production edit conf/context.xml of your Tomcat to adjust the datasource to point to Oracle, something like this:

<Resource name="jdbc/MyAppDS" auth="Container"
	type="javax.sql.DataSource"
	maxTotal="100" maxIdle="20" maxWaitMillis="10000"
	username="root" password="ao49fmsk"
	driverClassName="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver"
	url="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:mysid"/>

The differences are the driverClassName and the url. The final part of the url, mysid in this example, is the sid of your Oracle database. Obviously, instead of localhost you should put the address of the server that hosts Oracle, and also put the correct username and password.

Update persistence.xml

You need to touch the default persistence unit of persistence.xml (in persistence/META-INF), to add the hibernate.dialect property with the correct value for your Oracle version:

<!-- Default Persistence Unit for Oracle -->
<persistence-unit name="default">
	...
	<properties>
		...
		<!-- ADD THE NEXT PROPERTY -->
		<property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle12cDialect"/>
	</properties>
</persistence-unit>

You should use Oracle12cDialect for Oracle 12 or better, that is for Oracle 19 you should use Oracle12cDialect too, as shown above. For older versions of Oracle you can use Oracle10gDialect or Oracle8iDialect.

Moreover, you have to modify the junit persistence unit to point to Oracle.

<!-- JUnit Oracle -->
<persistence-unit name="junit">
	<provider>org.hibernate.jpa.HibernatePersistenceProvider</provider>
	<class>org.openxava.web.editors.DiscussionComment</class>
	<properties>
		<property name="hibernate.connection.driver_class" value="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver"/>
		<property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle12cDialect"/>
		<property name="hibernate.connection.username" value="root"/>
		<property name="hibernate.connection.password" value="ao49fmsk"/>
		<property name="hibernate.default_schema" value="invoicing"/>
		<property name="hibernate.connection.url" value="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:mysid"/>
	</properties>
</persistence-unit>

Adapt the username, password and url to your Oracle configuration.