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Introduction

This chapter describes the main features of Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++ and defines terminology used to describe it. Topics include the following:

• What Is Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++?

 
• Oracle Objects for OLE Overview

 
• Installing Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++

 
• Basic Oracle AppWizard Concepts

 

What Is Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++?

Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++ lets you easily create a starter Oracle application. Oracle AppWizard gives your application the following features:

• Connection to an Oracle database

 
• Execute SQL statements and retrieve information from the Oracle database

 
• Navigate effortlessly through records

 
• Update, insert, and delete data from the database

 

The basic functionality Oracle AppWizard designs into your application frees you to spend more time to doing what you do best: writing code for those important custom features that will make your application successful.

Oracle AppWizard uses standard Oracle Objects for OLE and Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) Library classes to build an application with these advantages:

• Commented code

 
• Easy to manipulate and retrieve information from the Oracle database

 
• Handles any errors returned by the database

 
• MFC-compliant code uses the document/view architecture

 
• Uses Hungarian notation

 
• Optionally lets you update the data through your new application

 

The Oracle AppWizard runs seamlessly within the Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 development environment and is operated almost identically to the standard MFC AppWizard.

Oracle Objects for OLE Overview

Oracle Objects for OLE is an application programming interface for Windows that interacts with the Oracle database. The application you generate with the Oracle AppWizard uses the Oracle Objects for OLE C++ Class Library to access the Oracle database.

To learn more about Oracle Objects for OLE C++ Class Library, do the following:

Choose Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Application Development > Oracle Objects for OLE Class Library Help.

The on-line Help describes each class in the C++ Class Library.

Installing Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++

Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++ is included with the following products:

• Oracle8 Enterprise Edition

 
• Oracle8 Client

 
• Oracle Programmer
 

IMPORTANT: You must install Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 before you install Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++.

To install Oracle AppWizard, start Oracle Universal Installer and do one of the following.

For...	Do This...
Oracle8 Enterprise Edition	In the Installation Types dialog box, select Custom.  In the Available Product Components dialog box, select Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++.
Oracle8 Client	In the Installation Types dialog box, select Custom.  In the Available Product Components dialog box, select Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++.
Oracle Programmer	In the Installation Types dialog box, select Custom.  In the Available Product Components dialog box, select Oracle AppWizard for Microsoft Visual C++  or  In the Installation Types dialog box, select Typical.

See the installation instructions in your CD-ROM insert for more information on how to install these products.

Basic Oracle AppWizard Concepts

To use the Oracle AppWizard successfully to generate a starter application, you need to understand how to select and build the type of application you want.

Displaying Records

You can generate three types of applications with Oracle AppWizard.

• Single-Record Display Form

 
• Multiple-Record Display Form

 
• Master-Detail Display Form

 

Each of these displays records differently.

Single-Record Display Form

When you design your application to display one record at a time, your application uses edit controls to display records, as seen below.
 

Multiple-Record Display Form

When you design your application to display more than one record at a time, your application uses a database grid control, as seen below.
 

Master-Detail Display Form

When you design a master-detail form, the master records are displayed in edit controls and the detail records are displayed in a database grid control.
 

Definitions

The following terms are discussed throughout this manual.

Term	Description
Join	A query that combines rows from two or more tables or views.
Single-record display form	Displays one record from a table at a time in a form.
Multiple-record display form	Displays information in multiple-record format from a table at one time in a form.
Master-detail display form	Displays information single-record format from a master table and in multiple-record format from a detail table.
Single-document interface (SDI)	SDI applications allow only one open document frame to be open at once during a session.
Multiple-document interface (MDI)	MDI applications allow multiple document frames to be open at once during a session.
Dialog-based interface	Dialog-based applications use a dialog-box interface exclusively.