Preface

Oracle9iAS Personalization (OP) provides real-time personalization for Web sites using an integrated real-time recommendation engine that is embedded in an Oracle database. OP is based on data mining technology and modeling; it builds a predictive model of customer preferences using Web-based behavioral data collected by a Web site as well as demographic data.

This manual is designed to introduce Java programmers and DBAs to the basic components and interfaces of OP.

Intended Audience

This manual is intended for users of Oracle9iAS Personalization:

• DBA who administers OP

• Web applications designer

• Web applications programmer

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle Corporation is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/.

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Structure

This manual contains the following chapters, an appendix, and a glossary:

• Chapter 1, "Introducing Oracle9iAS Personalization"

• Chapter 2, "The OP Administrative UI"

• Chapter 3, "Using the REAPI Demo"

• Appendix A, "Recommendation Algorithms"

• Glossary

Requirements

To follow the exercises in this manual, you will need to have Oracle9iAS Personalization installed, including the option of installing the REAPI demo. (During installation, you are asked whether you want to install the demo data; you do.)

Oracle9iAS Personalization needs both Oracle9i and Oracle9iAS installed, possibly on different systems. If they are installed on different systems,

• install the MOR, MTR, and RE schemas on the machine where Oracle9i is loaded

• install REAPI and the REAPI demo on the machine where Oracle9iAS is loaded

• the Administrative UI operates from the Oracle9iJServ/HTTP server

The following software is required for the Administrative UI browser:

• Netscape 4.75 or Internet Explorer 5.5 with SP1.

Where to Find More Information

Documentation for Oracle9iAS Personalization at the current release consists of the following documents:

• Oracle9iAS Personalization Release Notes, Release 9.0.2 (contains any platform-specific information, a bug report, and information about any late-breaking changes).

• Oracle9iAS Personalization User's Guide, Release 9.0.2 (this document).

• Oracle9iAS Personalization Administrator's Guide, Release 9.0.2.

• Oracle9iAS Personalization Recommendation Engine API Programmer's Guide, Release 9.0.2. A programmer's manual for programming the recommendation engines in real time and for obaining bulk recommendations. The API classes and methods are also described in Javadoc.

Related Manuals

Oracle9iAS Personalization documentation is a component of the Oracle9i Application Server Documentation Library. See especially:

• Oracle9i Administrator's Guide

• Oracle9i Application Server Installation Guide (the appropriate version for your operating system).

Documentation Formats

Documentation for Oracle9iAS Personalization is provided in PDF and HTML formats.

To view the PDF files, you will need

• Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or later, which you can download from www.adobe.com.

To view the HTML files, you will need

• Netscape 4.x or later, or

• Internet Explorer 4.x or later

Online Help

The OP Administrative UI includes extensive online help that can be summoned from a list of contents and from Help buttons.

Conventions

In this manual, Windows refers to the Windows 95, Windows 98, and the Windows NT operating systems.

The SQL interface to Oracle9i is referred to as SQL. This interface is the Oracle9i implementation of the SQL standard ANSI X3.135-1992, ISO 9075:1992, commonly referred to as the ANSI/ISO SQL standard or SQL92. In examples, an implied carriage return occurs at the end of each line, unless otherwise noted. You must press the Return key at the end of a line of input.

The table below shows the conventions followed in this manual and their meanings:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Commands, menu names, menu items, names of dialogs.
code	Data fields and values, special characters, etc., examples of files, data, filenames, and pathnames.
italics	Argument names and placeholders in command formats.
<>	Angle brackets enclose user-supplied names.
[ ]	Brackets enclose optional clauses from which you can choose one or none.
% user input system output	In interactive examples, user input is shown in bold typewriter, and system output is shown in regular typewriter.