Data connections are an essential part of the dynamic Web pages
you create with Faces components. With a data connection, the user of your
Web site can read data from an existing data source, write new data to the
data source, and update and delete data.
Before you begin to create a data connection to a relational database,
make sure you have already created or have access to a database on an existing
server.
One way to create a data connection is to create the connection while
you are creating a relational record or relational record list for your Faces
JSP pages. Wizards help you through the process of creating the connection
and have steps similar to the following steps. You also have the option of
creating a connection before you create relational records and record lists
on your Faces JSP pages.
Refer
to Connecting to a database using a wizard for information
on using a wizard to connect to a database.
If you drag a relational
record list or a relational record from the Data drawer of the palette, and
you do not already have a data connection defined, you will be prompted for
the relevant information. When you have created a connection to a database,
you can share data between your dynamic Web pages and the database by binding
the data to Faces components on your pages. You can also create a new relational
record list or a relational record from the Page Data view.
Note: A page
code file is required if you want to add a relational record or relational
record list to a Faces JSP. If you have page code suppression turned on when
adding a relational record or relational record list, you are prompted to
allow a page code file to be generated.