Connect Oracle Without installing Oracle Client

[ozmenbetul]

Hello,
We are using Oracle 10.2 or 11g at the server side. For all client pc we are installing oracle client. but its taking soo much time when installing new pc. Our costumer dont want to install anything except teamdeveloper depoloyment.

is it possible to connect oracle without installing Oracle Client

Thank You

[Jeff Luther]

Hmm, I don't think so. Let me ask... I left a v/m with our router developer. If I hear something like "Yes, you can!" from him, I will let you know. But as far as I am aware, you need an oracle client to talk to an oracle server.

[Christof]

It is definitely possible to install the Oracle client on a network drive. Client applications just need a proper PATH environment to gain access to the Oracle client.
Path settings can be done from within the application, so no client installation is necessary.

hth,
Christof

[ozmenbetul]

@Christof could you explain more please, did you use by this way before?

Thank You So Much

Sincerly Yours
Betul OZMEN

[Dave Rabelink]

You can also use Oracle Instant Client.

It is a smaller install package which can be deployed using xcopy. So no setup needed.
You can add the runtime files to you app folder during install of your app.

https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/datab ... 00365.html

[Christof]

Dave's suggestion is also a good option.

But if your customer does prefer a central client installation on a network drive, your application needs to ensure following:
- the PATH environment variable has to be extended with 'bin'-directory of the Oracle installation,
- the environment variable ORACLE_HOME has to point to the Oracle Client directory,
- the variable NLS_LANG should be set with a proper value, e.g. GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P1 (for a German environment)

All can be done by the application using the APIs SetEnvironmentVariableA/W and GetEnvironmentVariableA/W in kernel32.dll.

Greetings
Christof

[mina]

@Christof,
Your solution in that case is the most interesting proposal.
Have you a working sample using these APIs?

Thanks in advance!

[Christof]

Ok, here you are:

Declare external functions:

Code: Select all

Library name: Kernel32.dll
    ThreadSafe: No
    Function: SetEnvironmentVariableA
        Description:
        Export Ordinal: 0
        Returns
            Boolean: BOOL
        Parameters
            String: LPCSTR
            String: LPCSTR
    Function: GetEnvironmentVariableA
        Description:
        Export Ordinal: 0
        Returns
            Number: DWORD
        Parameters
            String: LPCSTR
            Receive String: LPSTR
            Number: DWORD

(These are the ANSI versions of these APIs. Ensure the correct types for the string parameters, wenn dealing with the Unicode world.)

Setup the environment for current application:

Code: Select all

! Get the Oracle installation path from somewhere...
Set sOraclePath = "L:\\Oracle\\Win"
! Get current PATH environment
Call SalStrSetBufferLength( sPath, 1001 )
Set nSize = GetEnvironmentVariableA( "PATH", sPath, 1000 ) 
! Ensure correct internal string representation
Set sPath = SalStrLeftX( sPath, nSize )
! Expand PATH
Set sPath = sOraclePath || "\\bin;" || sPath
Call SetEnvironmentVariableA( "PATH", sPath )
! Set Oracle Home
Call SetEnvironmentVariableA( "ORACLE_HOME", sOraclePath )
! Set required language support
Call SetEnvironmentVariableA( "NLS_LANG", "GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P1" )

Greetings
Christof

[mina]

Thanks - very useful !!

We also have german enviroment with some engl and some german xp pc's.
Every oracle client installation added GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8MSWIN1252
and not WE8ISO8859P1 in the registry.
Should we replace it?

[ozmenbetul]

@Christof 's answer solve all problem. Thank you soo much

[micsto]

We are using a combination of Oracle Instant Client and setting the appropriate environment variables on startup.
Works like a charm, and there's no need to perform an oracle client installation. A simple network folder with the Oracle Instant Client files + a tnsnames.ora is sufficient.