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OLE DB Provider for Oracle

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The OLE DB Provider for Oracle allows high-performance, functional access to Oracle data for Microsoft? Visual Basic? applications.

The Oracle provider exposes interfaces to consumers wanting access to data on one or more Oracle servers. You can use it to develop an optimized OLE DB consumer for Oracle databases.

The OLE DB Provider for Oracle is an OLE DB version 2.0-compliant provider. It is designed to be used with Oracle 7.3x versions and later; however, it does have limited support for Oracle 8x. It is designed to be used with only one Oracle client on each computer.

What the Oracle Provider Allows You to Do

The OLE DB Provider for Oracle supports a simple OLE DB architecture by providing access to data stored in Oracle as well as limited access to Oracle8 databases. The Oracle provider requires the complete installation of Oracle's SQL*Net or Net8 protocols if the database is remote. The following illustration shows this simple configuration.

data flow of OLE DB Provider for Oracle

COM and OLE DB Services can be invoked as follows:

  • Connecting via ADO or IDataInitialize invokes OLE DB services. For more information about these, see the OLE DB Programmer's Reference.

  • The OLE DB Provider for Oracle supports Component Services (or Microsoft Transaction Server, if you are using Windows NT) functionality. Component Services functionality enables OLE DB session object pooling and enlistment of automatic transactions.

  • The OLE DB Provider for Oracle allows existing Oracle 7.3x applications to run without modification aside from updating the ClassID/ProgID.

  • The OLE DB Provider for Oracle, using an Oracle8.x or Oracle8i server, supports DTC/XA.

Who Can Use the Oracle Provider

Application and consumer developers, including ADO developers, can use the OLE DB Provider for Oracle to access data stored in existing Oracle and Oracle8 databases.

Note

A C or Microsoft Visual C++? compiler supporting COM component construction is required to develop a consumer.

Security Considerations

Review OLE DB Security Best Practices for information about security with OLE DB.

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