Copyright: Copyright (C) 1995 Lotus Development Corporation


Oracle 7 ODBC Driver

The Oracle driver supports Oracle 7 database systems.

The driver filename is IVOR7nn.DLL.

Oracle ODBC Setup dialog box

Configuring data sources

Connecting to Oracle using a Logon dialog box

Connecting to Oracle using a connection string

Data types

Isolation and lock levels supported

Logon to Oracle dialog box

Number of connections and statements supported

ODBC implementation level

System requirements

copyright


Oracle ODBC Driver Setup dialog box

Data Source Name

A string that identifies this Oracle data source configuration in ODBC.INI.  Examples include "Accounting" or "Oracle-Serv1."

Description

An optional long description of a data source name.  For example, "My Accounting Database" or "Oracle on Server number 1."

Server Name

The SQL*Net connection string designating the server and database to be accessed.  The information required varies depending on the SQL*Net driver you are using.  See Connecting to Oracle using a connection string for the format of the SQL*Net connection string.

The following values are optional:

Server List

The list of SQL*Net connection strings that will appear in the logon dialog box.  Separate the strings with commas.  If the SQL*Net connection string contains a comma, enclose it in quotation marks; for example, "Serv,1", "Serv,2", "Serv,3."

Default User Name

The default user name used to connect to your Oracle database.  A default user name is required only if security is enabled on your database.  Your ODBC application may override this value or you may override this value in the logon dialog box or connection string.

Lock Time Out

A value that specifies whether Oracle should wait for a lock to be freed before raising an error when processing a Select...For Update Of statement.  Values can be -1 (wait forever) or 0 (don't wait).  The default is -1.

Array Size

The number of bytes the driver uses for fetching multiple rows.  Values can be 0 to 65536; the default is 60000.  Larger values increase throughput by reducing the number of times the driver fetches data across the network.  Smaller values increase response time, as there is less of a delay waiting for the server to transmit data.

Catalog Comments

Check this box if you want to retrieve the contents of the COMMENTS column in your Oracle tables.  Doing so may impact the performance of your queries.

Translate

Displays the Select Translator dialog box to allow you to perform a translation of data from one character set to another. Select the INTERSOLV OEM ANSI translator to translate data from the IBM PC character set to the ANSI character set.


Logon to Oracle dialog box

Server Name

Type the SQL*Net connection string of the computer containing the Oracle database tables you wish to access, or select the string from the Server Name drop-down box, which displays the names you specified in the Setup dialog box.

User Name

 If required, type your Oracle user name.

Password

 If required, type your Oracle password.

 See related topics


System requirements

The Oracle SQL*Net product is required to access remote Oracle databases.

The following files must be on your path or in your Windows NT \SYSTEM32 or Windows 95 \SYSTEM directory:

•	ORA7NT.DLL

•	ORA71NT.DLL

•	CORENT23.DLL

•	CORENT.DLL

By default, the Setup program installs these files in your Windows NT \SYSTEM32 or Windows 95 \SYSTEM directory. Otherwise, the following message appears when you try to configure an Oracle 7 data source:

"The setup routines for the INTERSOLV Oracle7 ODBC driver could not be loaded.  You may be low on memory and need to quit a few applications."


Configuring data sources

To configure an  Oracle data source, do the following:

1.	Start the ODBC Administrator.

A list of data sources appears.

2.	If you are configuring a new data source, click Add.

A list of installed drivers appears.

3.	Select INTERSOLV Oracle or INTERSOLV Oracle7 and click OK.

4.	If you are configuring an existing data source, select the data source name and click Setup.

The setup dialog box appears.

5.	Specify the values you want to use.

6.	Click OK to write these values to ODBC.INI.

These values are now the defaults when you connect to the data source.  You can change the defaults by configuring your data source again.  You can override the defaults by connecting to the data source using a connection string with alternate values.


Connecting to Oracle using a Logon dialog box

Some ODBC applications display a logon dialog box when you are connecting to a data source.  In these cases, the data source name has already been specified.

In the Logon dialog box, do the following:

1.	Type the SQL*Net connection string of the computer containing the Oracle database tables you want to access, or select the string from the Server Name drop-down box, which displays the names you specified in the setup dialog box.

2.	If required, type your Oracle user name.

3.	If required, type your Oracle password.

4.	Click OK to log on to the Oracle database installed on the server you specified and to update the values in ODBC.INI.


Connecting to Oracle using a connection string

If your application requires a connection string to connect to a data source, you must specify the data source name that tells the driver which ODBC.INI section to use for the default connection information.  Optionally, you may specify attribute=value pairs in the connection string to override the default values stored in ODBC.INI.  These values are not written to ODBC.INI.

You can specify either long or short names in the connection string.  The connection string has the form:

DSN=data_source_name[;attribute=value[;attribute=value]...]

An example of a connection string for Oracle is

DSN=Accounting;SRVR=X:IVSRVR;UID=JOHN;PWD=XYZZY

If the server name contains a semicolon, enclose it in quotation marks:

DSN=Accounting;SRVR="X:IV;SRVR";UID=JOHN;PWD=XYZZY

The following table gives the long and short names for each attribute, as well as a description.

The defaults listed in the table are initial defaults that apply when no value is specified in either the connection string or in the data source definition in ODBC.INI.  If you specified a value for the attribute when configuring the data source, that value is your default.

Attribute	Description
DataSourceName (DSN)	A string that identifies an Oracle data source configuration in ODBC.INI.  Examples include "Accounting" or "Oracle-Serv1."
LogonID (UID)	The logon ID (user name) that the application uses to connect to your Oracle database. A logon ID is required only if security is enabled on your database. If so, contact your system administrator to get your logon ID.
Password (PWD)	Your password.
LockTimeOut (LTO)	A value that specifies whether Oracle should wait for a lock to be freed before raising an error when processing a Select...For Update Of statement.  Values can be -1 (wait forever, the initial default) or 0 (don't wait).
ArraySize (AS)	The number of bytes the driver uses for fetching multiple rows.  Values can be 0 to 65536.  The initial default is 60000.  Larger values increase throughput by reducing the number of times the driver fetches data across the network.  Smaller values increase response time, as there is less of a delay waiting for the server to transmit data.
ServerName (SRVR)	The SQL*Net connection string designating the server and database to be accessed.  The information required varies depending on the SQL*Net driver you are using.  The SQL*Net connection string has the following form: driver_prefix:computer_name[:sid] driver_prefix is a letter identifying the network protocol being used.  The driver prefix can be as follows:  P (named pipes), X (SPX), B (NetBIOS), T (TCP/IP), D (DECNet), A (Oracle Async), or AT (AppleTalk).  Check your Oracle documentation for other protocols. computer_name is the name of the Oracle Listener on your network. sid is the Oracle System Identifier and refers to the instance of Oracle running on the host.  This item is required when connecting to systems that support more than one instance of an Oracle database. If the SQL*Net connection string contains semicolons, enclose it in quotation marks.  See your SQL*Net documentation for more information.
CatalogComments (CC)	A value that specifies whether the driver returns the contents of the COMMENTS column for catalog functions. Retrieving the COMMENTS column may reduce the performance of data catalog operations. Values can be 1 (return COMMENTS) or 0 (do not return them, the initial default).


Data types

The Oracle 7 data types are mapped to the standard ODBC data types as follows:

Oracle 7	ODBC
Char	SQL_CHAR
Date	SQL_TIMESTAMP
Long	SQL_LONGVARCHAR
Long Raw	SQL_LONGVARBINARY
Number	SQL_DOUBLE
Number(p,s)	SQL_DECIMAL
Raw	SQL_VARBINARY
Varchar2	SQL_VARCHAR


Isolation and lock levels supported

Oracle 7 supports isolation level 2 (repeatable read) only, and record-level locking.

.


ODBC implementation level

The Oracle 7 driver supports the Core, Level 1, and Level 2 API functions listed in Supported ODBC Functions.  The Oracle 7 driver also supports the following Level 2 functions:

•	SQLBrowseConnect

•	SQLProcedures

•	SQLPrimaryKeys

The driver supports the minimum SQL grammar.


Number of connections and statement supports

Oracle 7 supports multiple connections and multiple statements per connection.


Copyright 1995 INTERSOLV Inc. All rights reserved. INTERSOLV is a registered trademark, and DataDirect is a trademark of INTERSOLV, Inc. Other company or product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.