Oracle 9 ODBC connection

[michlm]

My coworkers keep insisting that I need to install Oracle 9 in order to use VFP 6.0 to connect up to an Oracle database. I thought all I needed was an Oracle 9 ODBC connection (I'm struggling with believing that every VFP developer connecting to Oracle actually has to purchase Oracle for his PC).

So, can anyone give me guidance on this issue? I need to hear it from the experts!

TIA,
Michelle

 

[Mike Lewis]

Michelle,

You are right. What you need is an Oracle driver. You don't need Oracle installed on your PC. You do, of course, need to have a connection to a server on which Oracle is installed.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[michlm]

Thanks for replying Mike.

Now, that being said, I cannot find a Microsoft driver for Oracle 9i anywhere. I've searched the Microsoft site and became a little concerned when I read the following:

SUMMARY
This article describes the limitations of the current version of Microsoft ODBC Driver and OLE DB Provider for Oracle. These components are currently in maintenance mode. No new updates are planned for future releases of these components including their support against versions later than Oracle 8i.

So, my next question would be has anyone on this forum actually connected up to Oracle 9i using VFP through an ODBC connection (without installing the client on their machine)? If so, where can I find the ODBC driver that will work for Oracle 9i?

This seems like it's way harder than it should be!

TIA,
Michelle

 

[Mike Lewis]

Michelle,

You don't need a Microsoft driver for Oracle. Microsoft invented ODBC, but they don't have a monoploy on the drivers. You might try a general web search, or check the Oracle site (e.g.

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/windows/odbc/index.html)

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[michlm]

Thanks Mike. I already went the Oracle route and installed one of those drivers before I posted my initial post. The readme.txt file indicated: "The ODBC driver depends on the Net Client being already installed on the system." So, it seemed I needed to go a different route as I could not find Net Client anywhere.

Perhaps I don't understand what the Net Client is . .. .

Anyway, have you connected up to Oracle 9i using ODBC through VFP?

I do understand there are other drivers out there - I've Googled and still haven't really found anything I could use for free that wouldn't upset the "company installation police."

Thanks for your patience .. . . . .
Michelle

 

[Mike Lewis]

Michelle,

have you connected up to Oracle 9i using ODBC through VFP?

One of my clients has done this. Next time I am at their site, I will get the details of their driver, (but it won't be in the near future).

Re the net client, I would guess that this will already have been installed, otherwise your PC wouldn't be able to see the Oracle machine.

I'm surprised you have not been able to find a third-party driver. Given the popularity of Oracle, I would have thought there was a good market for them. Perhaps someone else can suggest a source.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[Neil Toulouse]

michlm

Have you actually tried one of these drivers yet (regardless of the 'Net Client' issue)?

The link Mike gave you seems to have all the Oracle ODBC drivers so I would be surprised if none of them work!

Neil

I like work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours...

 

[michlm]

Mike - actually, I can't see the Oracle machine at the moment (I'm pretty confident the net client isn't installed).

Neil - I did try to install the drivers - they don't work if you don't have the correct software installed that Oracle indicates. You don't even see an Oracle 9i option when you try to set up your connection string.

I just talk to my LAN folks and they say I have to have the client installed. So, in the interest of time (although I'd be shocked if it can't be done without the client), I'm going to succumb and just have the client installed. :-(

Mike - if you ever see that Oracle ODBC driver on your client's machine, I'd love to know how they did it without installing the Oracle client.

BTW, I posted the same question to the Oracle 9i forum and not one person has answered so perhaps it's not an easy task.

Thank you to both of you for your time! It is much appreciated.

Michelle

 

[Mike Lewis]

Michelle,

I'll certainly look out for more information next time I at the client's site. However, I think your problem is now beyond the stage of linking VFP to Oracle, but is a more general question of how to link up with the Oracle server from your PC. I appreciate that you didn't get any answers on the Oracle forum, but it might still be better to focus on the general connectivity problem. Perhaps the person or vendor who installed Oracle at your site might be able to help.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[DSummZZZ]

I had to download and install the "Instant Client" to get 10g to work. Not sure about 9x:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/oci/instantclient/htdocs/winsoft.html

Be sure and set the install path in the system 'Path' variable.


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[michlm]

Ok. I learned something new today after looking in the Oracle Forum where I had also posted the question. Turns out that there are two different kinds of ODBC. You need the ODBC that has a wire protocol in order to use ODBC without installing the Oracle client. If you use the non-wire protocol ODBC (for lack of knowing what its proper name is), you must install the Oracle client. Of course, at this point I have the client installed, have the 9i driver but now simply can't get the driver to make the connection with the database. Looks like there's something wrong with the driver but at least I'm getting closer!

Thanks to all who responded and hopefully you too learned something new!

Michelle