JSPs and calling a DB function/procedure

Question

I looked at an example written by Oracle and I saw that they put in the <form> tag (in a JSP) an "action" that is really a name of a DB procedure. It was in the form of:
schemaName.packageName.procedureName
First: I've tried to do that myself -- just create simple HTML page, have an <input> with the "type" of "text", and in the <form>'s action put the procedure's full 'path' name. Did not work. Am I missing anything? What's the right way to do it?
What I see in the browser's URL is:
"http://serverName:portNum/.../pls/portal30/PORTAL30.MYPACKAGE.MYPROCEDURE?" But I see an empty page.
Second: looking at the actual procedure body of the example, I saw that the procedure's parameters are given the same exact name as the names of the <input>'s in the JSP page. Like:
<input type="text" name="txtFirstName">
and in the procedure:
someProcedureName(txtFirstName integer)
Is that the way to pass parameters to a DB procedure? (by using the same name)
Third: Can I call a DB function from a JSP's <form>'s "action" and get the return value somehow? Meaning, I want to know whether the function's operation was successful and no exceptions were thrown. And if there were some exceptions thrown, I want to let the user know somehow.... How?
A lot of questions, I know, but I still gotta know... :-)
Thanks!
Dan

Answer 1

Dan,
Sorry for the late answer, hope it's not too late yet.
1) If you make your DB procudures accessible from a plain browser, you can obviously define that URL as an html form action. Make sure that your procedures are accessible when typing in the URL in your browser. You need to check whether you have privileges to access the procedure, and the DAD settings too.How do I make my DB procedures accessible from a plain browser?
Is just making a "GRANT" to that procedure to that user enough? And what do I need to do with the DAD?
Is the "?" question mark in your URL, or has it been added by the forum only? You don't need it as long as you don't want to pass parameters.Question mark was added by the browser..
3) I'd probably do it through passing the error code to the JSP as a parameter. You find information about reading parameters in the PDK. Yes, but how do I pass it BACK to the browser? I do know how to pass parameters to a "regular" JSP (one that has nothing to do with the portal). But this one involves the DB -- how do I tell my DB function to send an "answer" back to the browser? It would send the function's return value straight to the browser because the browser was the thing that called it in the first place?
Dan