Before You Begin

This guide provides introductory information for the Oracle Pro*C/C++ precompiler running under the Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95/98 operating systems.

Specific topics discussed in this preface are:

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you are familiar with:

Commands for deleting and copying files and the concepts of the search path, subdirectories, and path names.
The Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating system.
Microsoft Visual C++ version 5.0 or Borland C++ version 5.0.

Intended Audience

This guide is necessary for anyone who wants to use the Oracle Pro*C/C++ precompiler under the Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating system.

How This Guide Is Organized

This guide is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introducing Pro*C/C++"

Describes Pro*C/C++, the Oracle programmatic interface for the C and C++ languages running under the Window NT and Windows 95/98 operating systems.

Chapter 2, "Using Pro*C/C++"

Explains how to create and precompile a project. Also describes the Pro*C/C++ graphical user interface, from which you execute commands with Windows menus and icons or with keyboard equivalents, and using Pro*C/C++ at the command line.

Chapter 3, "Building Pro*C/C++ Applications"

Describes how to build Oracle database applications with Pro*C/C++ using the sample programs that are included with this release, and provides an overview of how to build multi-threaded applications.

Appendix A, "Integrating Pro*C/C++ into Microsoft Visual C++"

Describes how to integrate Pro*C/C++ into the Microsoft Visual C++ version 5.0 integrated development environment.

Appendix B, "Integrating Pro*C/C++ into Borland C++"

Describes how to integrate Pro*C/C++ into the Borland C++ version 5.0 integrated development environment.

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this guide.

Convention Example Meaning

All uppercase plain

ORANT\DATABASE\INITORCL.ORA

Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords, as in ALTER DATABASE. All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names.

Italic

Italic used to indicate a variable:
ORACLE_HOME\filename
Italic used for emphasis:
The WHERE clause may be used to join rows in different tables.

Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you must type the actual name of the file.
Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.

Oracle8 database

The database component of Oracle8.

C:\>

C:\> ORANT\DATABASE

Represents the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt may differ and may, at times, reflect the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.

Backslash (\) before a directory name

\DATABASE

Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.

Oracle home

Go to the ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE directory.

Oracle home is represented as the hard drive letter and the top level directory where your Oracle software is installed. In this guide, the convention ORACLE_HOME is used to indicate your Oracle home directory, which may be:

C:\ORANT for Windows NT

C:\ORAWIN95 for Windows 95

or whatever you may have called your Oracle home.

HOME_NAME

OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener

Represents the Oracle home name if you use multiple Oracle homes. This convention is not applicable for a single Oracle home.
The home name can be up to sixteen alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.

Symbols

period .
comma ,
hyphen -
semicolon ;
colon :
equal sign =
backslash \
single quote `
double quote "
parentheses ()

Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Convention	Example	Meaning
All uppercase plain	ORANT\DATABASE\INITORCL.ORA	Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords, as in ALTER DATABASE. All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names.
Italic	Italic used to indicate a variable: ORACLE_HOME\filename Italic used for emphasis: The WHERE clause may be used to join rows in different tables.	Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you must type the actual name of the file. Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.
Oracle8 database		The database component of Oracle8.
C:\>	C:\> ORANT\DATABASE	Represents the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt may differ and may, at times, reflect the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.
Backslash (\) before a directory name	\DATABASE	Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.
Oracle home	Go to the ORACLE_HOME\DATABASE directory.	Oracle home is represented as the hard drive letter and the top level directory where your Oracle software is installed. In this guide, the convention ORACLE_HOME is used to indicate your Oracle home directory, which may be: C:\ORANT for Windows NT C:\ORAWIN95 for Windows 95 or whatever you may have called your Oracle home.
HOME_NAME	OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener	Represents the Oracle home name if you use multiple Oracle homes. This convention is not applicable for a single Oracle home. The home name can be up to sixteen alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.
Symbols	period . comma , hyphen - semicolon ; colon : equal sign = backslash \ single quote ` double quote " parentheses ()	Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Documentation Library

This guide is part of a larger library of Oracle documentation. The Oracle documentation library consists of two types of documentation:

Documentation Type Describes...

Operating System-specific

Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle products in a Windows NT or Windows 95/98 environment. Operating system-specific documents are occasionally referred to in the generic documentation set. These documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in their title.

Generic

Oracle database, Oracle networking, and Application Programming Interfaces information that is uniform across all operating system platforms. The majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform (or operating system) documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating systems.
To easily identify where these generic documentation references are described in your operating system documentation, see the index of this guide for the following entry:
generic documentation references
All generic documentation references described in this guide appear under this index entry.

Documentation Type	Describes...
Operating System-specific	Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle products in a Windows NT or Windows 95/98 environment. Operating system-specific documents are occasionally referred to in the generic documentation set. These documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in their title.
Generic	Oracle database, Oracle networking, and Application Programming Interfaces information that is uniform across all operating system platforms. The majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform (or operating system) documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating systems. To easily identify where these generic documentation references are described in your operating system documentation, see the index of this guide for the following entry: generic documentation references All generic documentation references described in this guide appear under this index entry.