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.NET to Oracle. Gah!

  • 22-11-2004 4:33pm
    #1
    bonkey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭


    I'm hoping someone will have an idea which could save me an awful lot of trouble...

    I'm developing an app, which is .Net winforms client connecting to an Oracle 9i database at the back-end.

    To date, we've been using ODP.Net (Oracle's drivers) 9.2.x, against an Oracle 9i database. Far better than using OLEDB, cause it lets me have named parameters, and supports CLOB datatypes.

    Here's the catch. We've just discovered that the client - despite using 9i databases - still only has the 8i Oracle client installed on the workstations!!! I've checked, and I can't just install the 9i ODP.Net on top of it....or at least...I couldn't on the machine I tried it on.

    Anyone any suggestions? 3rd party Oracle Drivers? Is it possible to install 2 Oracle Client versions on the same desktop?

    I *really* don't want to have to go back to the OLEDB drivers....

    jc


Comments

  • #2
    bonkey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭bonkey


    Looks like Microsoft's own Oracle provider for .Net might just save my proverbials here...

    Here's hoping.


  • #3
    bonkey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭bonkey


    Just to continue this saga...

    MS' Oracle client did indeed appear to sort my troubles out. However, it only appeared to solve them.

    Version 1.5 of this assembly ships with .Net 1.5. However, this has a bug (still unfixed by MS) which only allows a maximum TNS Name of 16 characters. Gah once more.

    So I checked around, and the original version (1.033 or something) didn't have this limitation. W00t, I think to myself. Installing and testing go fine....until we hit one particular view.

    If I select * from this view, I get back a resultset with the correct schema, but no data. If I select only a handful of fields from this view, I get back either the correct schema and no data, or the correct schema with data, depending on what fields I select. I've played with this quite a lot, and there's just no rational explanation.

    So...I now have :

    - The ORacle-supplied driver which requires client software newer than corporate standard of where I'm writing this app for.
    - The current MS-supplied driver, which cannot bind to the corporate-standard name for the DB I want to connect to.
    - The previous MS-supplied driver, which cannot return data correctly in some curcumstances for no clear reason.

    I only have one question at this stage....

    why the **** is it always Oracle drivers that seem to have problems???

    There are days when I *really* get fed up being a developer, and this sure as **** is one of them.

    jc


  • #4
    scojones
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭scojones


    Oracle is a disaster from my experiences. I've tried installing it on a number of machines and it fails everytime. It just stalls. I know this is very off topic bonkey and will not help you in your quest, but i can feel your pain, and know where you're comming from.


  • #5
    Kernel32
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 640 ✭✭✭Kernel32


    Personnally I love the Oracle database. It is a pig to install and setup but so much nicer to work with than SQL Server as long as you don't use any Oracle tools. Anyway, the .net problem. Have you tried Data Direct?
    .Net Drivers from Data Direct

    It doesn't use the OCI and instead talks directly to Oracle, no client installation problems.


  • #6
    bonkey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭bonkey


    Kernel32 wrote:
    Personnally I love the Oracle database. It is a pig to install and setup but so much nicer to work with than SQL Server
    I'm in two minds, personally. I find MSSQL far more "intelligent" when it comes to most query optimisation...but Oracle's PL/SQL is a more feature-rich language than MSSQL.

    My biggest gripe about Oracle itself (and maybe someone can tell me where I'm going wrong on this) is its memory allocation. The system I'm developing has a requirement of less than 20MB storage. The smallest memory-footprint for an Oracle 9i instance that Oracle will let me configure is something like 128MB. Thats just crazy....especially when this is the so-called "Personal Edition" installation option of 9i.
    as long as you don't use any Oracle tools.
    Which is then where drivers start becoming an issue :(
    Kernel32 wrote:
    Anyway, the .net problem. Have you tried Data Direct?
    .Net Drivers from Data Direct

    It doesn't use the OCI and instead talks directly to Oracle, no client installation problems.

    Cool. I'll check that out as soon as I have a day or so to play with it. Thanks.

    In the meantime, we've convinced the client to let us use the non-corporate-standard name for the database.

    jc


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