I'm considering using MS .net provider for oracle to connect to an
oracle 10g R1 DB.

I was reading thru some documents and it seems that an oracle client
must be installed so i can use this provider.

However, how do I go about installing the client? I have Developer
Suite 10g (9.0.4), but I am not able to select from the installer
which components to install. I am given only 4 options (J2EE
installation, Rapid App Dev Installation, etc... but no custom
option).

What are my options?

Another thing to consider in this is that there already exists a
default home installation (pretty old forms/reports 6i) which MUST be
present on our production environment. So I have to install the new
Oracle Client in another oracle home. Will I be able to use the .net
provider for Oracle in this scenario?

Of course I can use OLEDB/ODBC providers instead if this doesn't work.

Thanks

Hello maz,

OleDB & ODBC providers also need the Oracle client installed. I've run some
tests in the past with different versions of the OracleClient installed and
this will cause you an enourmous headache for sure. I'd consider buildign
a separate server with just the correct OracleClient version. You can download
an installer from the Oracle website that contains just the client & providers
for different systems. That download is your best bet I guess. The latest
client can be found here (Oracle10g Release 2 ODAC 10.2.0.2.21)
http://www.oracle.com/technology/sof...net/index.html

There are some 3rd party ADO.NET providers that acually let you select the
Oracle_Home you want to use. The default driver from MS and Oracle don't
have this ability I'm afraid. There are also some 3rd party ADO.NET providers
that let you access Oracle without havign any oracle client installed at
all. These drivers aren't free, but might be your easiest solution.

http://www.datadirect.com/products/n...acle/index.ssp (100% managed,
no Oracle client installation required)
http://www.crlab.com/oranet/ (Option to bypass oracle client)

Kind regards,

Jesse

On Aug 2, 4:29 pm, Jesse Houwing <Jesse.houw... (AT) nospam-sogeti (DOT) nl>
wrote:
Thanks Jesse, I will check this out.

I'm not sure what u mean by building a server with the oracle client
installed. How can I make the PC's where I will install the VB.NET
programs access the oracle client on this server u mentioned? As u can
see, I haven't had experience with any Oracle application platform
released after Forms 6i. I'd appreciate some pointers or references.
I'm a quick learner tho ;-)

Thanks again.
Mazen

Hello maz,


I was silently hoping it would be a server solution you're building. But
if it's a client application you do not have an option of putting another
machine next to it . can't the Forms 6i applications make use of a 10g
Oracle client? The answer is probably no, but I have no experience what so
ever in Oracle development other than from .NET and that gives me enough
headaches for now.

You could use webservices on a server and let your clients connect tot that,
but it's very different from the kind of solutions you're using right now.

Jesse