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Oracle® Provider for OLE DB Developer's Guide
10g Release 1 (10.1)

Part Number B10115-01
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Preface

Based on an open standard, Oracle Provider for OLE DB (OraOLEDB) allows access to Oracle databases. This documentation describes OraOLEDB's provider-specific features and properties.

This document describes the features of Oracle Database for Windows that apply to the Windows NT Server, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

This preface contains these topics:

Audience

Oracle Provider for OLE DB Developer's Guide is intended for programmers developing applications to access an Oracle database using Oracle Provider for OLE DB. This documentation is also valuable to systems analysts, project managers, and others interested in the development of database applications.

To use this document, you must be familiar with OLE DB and have a working knowledge of application programming using Microsoft C/C++, Visual Basic, or ActiveX Data Objects (ADO). Knowledge of Component Object Model (COM) concepts are also useful.

Readers should also be familiar with the use of Structured Query Language (SQL) to access information in relational database systems.

Organization

This document contains:


Chapter 1, " Introduction to Oracle Provider for OLE DB "

This chapter discusses OLE DB, Oracle Provider for OLE DB (OraOLEDB), requirements, and installation.


Chapter 2, " Features of OraOLEDB "

This chapter discusses OraOLEDB components and describes how to use OraOLEDB to develop consumer applications.


Appendix A, " Provider-Specific Information"

This appendix discusses OLE DB information that is specific to Oracle Provider for OLE DB.


Glossary

Related Documentation

For more information, see these Oracle resources:

For information about Oracle error messages, see Oracle Database Error Messages. Oracle error message documentation is available only in HTML. If you only have access to the Oracle Documentation CD, you can browse the error messages by range. Once you find the specific range, use your browser's "find in page" feature to locate the specific message. When connected to the Internet, you can search for a specific error message using the error message search feature of the Oracle online documentation.

Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

http://otn.oracle.com/membership/

If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

http://otn.oracle.com/documentation/

For additional information, see:

http://www.microsoft.com/data/

Conventions

This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this documentation set. It describes:


Conventions in Text

We use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms. The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Convention Meaning Example
Bold Bold typeface indicates terms that are defined in the text or terms that appear in a glossary, or both. When you specify this clause, you create an index-organized table.
Italics Italic typeface indicates book titles or emphasis. Oracle Database Concepts

Ensure that the recovery catalog and target database do not reside on the same disk.

UPPERCASE monospace (fixed-width) font Uppercase monospace typeface indicates elements supplied by the system. Such elements include parameters, privileges, datatypes, RMAN keywords, SQL keywords, SQL*Plus or utility commands, packages and methods, as well as system-supplied column names, database objects and structures, usernames, and roles. You can specify this clause only for a NUMBER column.

You can back up the database by using the BACKUP command.

Query the TABLE_NAME column in the USER_TABLES data dictionary view.

Use the DBMS_STATS.GENERATE_STATS procedure.

lowercase monospace (fixed-width) font Lowercase monospace typeface indicates executables, filenames, directory names, and sample user-supplied elements. Such elements include computer and database names, net service names, and connect identifiers, as well as user-supplied database objects and structures, column names, packages and classes, usernames and roles, program units, and parameter values.

Note: Some programmatic elements use a mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase. Enter these elements as shown.

Enter sqlplus to open SQL*Plus.

The password is specified in the orapwd file.

Back up the datafiles and control files in the /disk1/oracle/dbs directory.

The department_id, department_name, and location_id columns are in the hr.departments table.

Set the QUERY_REWRITE_ENABLED initialization parameter to true.

Connect as oe user.

The JRepUtil class implements these methods.

lowercase italic monospace (fixed-width) font Lowercase italic monospace font represents placeholders or variables. You can specify the parallel_clause.

Run Uold_release.SQL where old_release refers to the release you installed prior to upgrading.



Conventions in Code Examples

Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements. They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from normal text as shown in this example:

SELECT username FROM dba_users WHERE username = 'MIGRATE';

The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and provides examples of their use.

Convention Meaning Example
[ ]
Brackets enclose one or more optional items. Do not enter the brackets.
DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])
{ }
Braces enclose two or more items, one of which is required. Do not enter the braces.
{ENABLE | DISABLE}
|

A vertical bar represents a choice of two or more options within brackets or braces. Enter one of the options. Do not enter the vertical bar.
{ENABLE | DISABLE}
[COMPRESS | NOCOMPRESS]
...
Horizontal ellipsis points indicate either:
  • That we have omitted parts of the code that are not directly related to the example

  • That you can repeat a portion of the code

CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery;

SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM employees;
.
 .
 .
Vertical ellipsis points indicate that we have omitted several lines of code not directly related to the example.
SQL> SELECT NAME FROM V$DATAFILE;
NAME
------------------------------------
/fsl/dbs/tbs_01.dbf
/fs1/dbs/tbs_02.dbf
.
.
.
/fsl/dbs/tbs_09.dbf
9 rows selected.
Other notation You must enter symbols other than brackets, braces, vertical bars, and ellipsis points as shown.
acctbal NUMBER(11,2);
acct    CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;
Italics
Italicized text indicates placeholders or variables for which you must supply particular values.
CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password
DB_NAME = database_name
UPPERCASE
Uppercase typeface indicates elements supplied by the system. We show these terms in uppercase in order to distinguish them from terms you define. Unless terms appear in brackets, enter them in the order and with the spelling shown. However, because these terms are not case sensitive, you can enter them in lowercase.
SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES;
DROP TABLE hr.employees;
lowercase
Lowercase typeface indicates programmatic elements that you supply. For example, lowercase indicates names of tables, columns, or files.

Note: Some programmatic elements use a mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase. Enter these elements as shown.

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
sqlplus hr/hr
CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;


Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

The following table describes conventions for Windows operating systems and provides examples of their use.

Convention Meaning Example
Choose Start > How to start a program. To start the Database Configuration Assistant, choose Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Configuration and Migration Tools > Database Configuration Assistant.
File and directory names File and directory names are not case sensitive. The following special characters are not allowed: left angle bracket (<), right angle bracket (>), colon (:), double quotation marks ("), slash (/), pipe (|), and dash (-). The special character backslash (\) is treated as an element separator, even when it appears in quotes. If the file name begins with \\, then Windows assumes it uses the Universal Naming Convention.
c:\winnt"\"system32 is the same as C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32
C:\> Represents the Windows command prompt of the current hard disk drive. The escape character in a command prompt is the caret (^). Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the command prompt in this manual.
C:\oracle\oradata>
Special characters The backslash (\) special character is sometimes required as an escape character for the double quotation mark (") special character at the Windows command prompt. Parentheses and the single quotation mark (') do not require an escape character. Refer to your Windows operating system documentation for more information on escape and special characters.
C:\>exp scott/tiger TABLES=emp QUERY=\"WHERE job='SALESMAN' and sal<1600\"
C:\>imp SYSTEM/password FROMUSER=scott TABLES=(emp, dept)
HOME_NAME
Represents the Oracle home name. The home name can be up to 16 alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.
C:\> net start OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener
ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_BASE In releases prior to Oracle8i release 8.1.3, when you installed Oracle components, all subdirectories were located under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory. For Windows NT, the default location was C:\orant.

This release complies with Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) guidelines. All subdirectories are not under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory. There is a top level directory called ORACLE_BASE that by default is C:\oracle. If you install the latest Oracle release on a computer with no other Oracle software installed, then the default setting for the first Oracle home directory is C:\oracle\orann, where nn is the latest release number. The Oracle home directory is located directly under ORACLE_BASE.

All directory path examples in this guide follow OFA conventions.

Refer to Oracle Database Platform Guide for Windows for additional information about OFA compliances and for information about installing Oracle products in non-OFA compliant directories.

Go to the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\admin directory.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/


Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.


Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.