About the Class Library

The Oracle C++ Class Library enables developers writing C++ code to access Oracle databases easily, quickly, and with a minimum of programming. Visual C++ version 6.X or later are supported on a 32-bit platform.

Users of this library should have some knowledge of C++ and their development environment. Since Oracle is an object-relational database, access to the data in the database is most easily accomplished using the SQL language. Therefore, users of this class library should also have some familiarity with SQL. However, for simple use of the classes, developers unfamiliar with SQL can learn enough from the examples in the accompanying Workbook to get started. See bound.htm in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\oo4o\cpp directory.

This class library is designed to provide object-oriented access to a relational database. It is not intended to make the database appear fully object-oriented. So, for instance, methods are provided for getting data from the database according to a SQL query. But no methods are provided for inserting C++ objects directly into the database.

In terms of data types, the level of this interface is low. The data types supported are the simplest C data types: int, long, double, and char *. There is no explicit support for higher-level data types, although you will not find it difficult to provide this support for your own data types. In terms of operations, the level is high. You can open a connection to an Oracle database simply by constructing an ODatabase object. You can obtain an entire set of records from the database by constructing an ODynaset object. You can navigate forward and backward through sets of records returned from the query. A high-level interface gives the Visual C++ programmer much of the power of the Visual Basic programmer, with bound objects and an interaction model.

The class library was designed to provide ease of connectivity to an Oracle database. The objects will handle most mundane tasks. For instance, you do not have to:

· Log off from the database because the ODatabase object destructor will do that for you.

· Manage memory: the only memory you need to free is the memory you allocate.

· Run any special tools to build your code.

See the following topics:

A Simple Example

About Binding

Class Naming Conventions

Error Handling

Initializing and Uninitializing the Library

Layers of the Library

Memory Ownership Conventions

Objects as Handles

Supported Data Types