Before You Begin

This document is your primary source of introductory, installation, post-installation configuration, and usage information for Oracle COM Automation feature.

Specific topics discussed are:

Prerequisites
Intended Audience
How This Guide Is Organized
Conventions

Prerequisites

This document assumes that you are familiar with the following technologies:

Component Object Model (COM)
Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Automation
Structured Query Language (SQL)
Data Definition Language (DDL)
Data Manipulation Language (DML)
PL/SQL
Oracle object-relational database management (ORDBMS) concepts
Windows NT

Intended Audience

The Oracle COM Automation feature Software Development Kit (SDK) release is intended for developers who develop solutions that use COM.

How This Guide Is Organized

This guide is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introducing Oracle COM Automation Feature"

Provides an overview of Oracle COM Automation feature and Oracle Server architecture. Read this chapter before installing or using Oracle COM Automation feature.

Chapter 2, "Installing Oracle COM Automation Feature"

Describes how to install Oracle COM Automation feature. This chapter also lists the contents of the Oracle COM Automation feature SDK and describes the system requirements.

Chapter 3, "Post-Installation Configuration Tasks"

Describes the configuration tasks you must perform before using Oracle COM Automation feature.

Chapter 4, "Oracle COM Automation Feature Core Functionality"

Describes the core functionality of Oracle COM Automation feature and the PL/SQL APIs for manipulating COM objects using the OLE Automation interface.

Chapter 5, "Using Oracle COM Automation Feature Demos"

Describes how to use Oracle COM Automation feature demos.

Glossary

Describes terms used in this document.

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this guide.

Convention Example Meaning

All uppercase plain

C:\ORACLE\ORA81

Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords, as in ALTER DATABASE. All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names.

Italic

Italic is used to indicate a variable:

filename

Italic is used for emphasis:

The WHERE clause may be used to join rows in different tables.

Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you must type the actual name of the file.
Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.

Square brackets [ ]

X:\[PATHNAME]\ORACLE\
HOME_NAME

Encloses optional items. For example, when you create an OFA-compliant Oracle home directory, you can place an optional pathname before the \ORACLE pathname.
Square brackets also indicate a function key, for example [Enter].

Choose Start >

Choose Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Network Administration > Net8 Easy Config

How to start a program. For example, to start Net8 Easy Config, you must click the Start button on the taskbar and then choose Programs, Oracle - HOME_NAME Network > Administration > Net8 Easy Config.

C:\>

C:\ORACLE\ORADATA>

Represents the Windows NT command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.

Backslash (\) before a directory name

\ORADATA

Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.

ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_BASE

Go to the ORACLE_HOME\ADMIN directory

In previous Oracle8i Enterprise Edition releases, all subdirectories were located under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory, that by default was:

C:\ORANT for Windows NT

C:\ORAWIN95 for Windows 95

C:\ORAWIN for Windows 3.1

or whatever you may have called your Oracle home.
In this Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA)-compliant release, all subdirectories are no longer under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory. There is now a new top level directory called ORACLE_BASE that by default is C:\ORACLE. If you install Oracle8i Enterprise Edition release 8.1.4 on a clean computer (that is, there is no other Oracle software on the computer), the default setting for the first Oracle home directory is C:\ORACLE\ORA81. If you run Oracle Universal Installer again and install release 8.2.x, the second Oracle home directory is called \ORA82. These Oracle home directories are located directly under ORACLE_BASE.

%ORACLE_HOME%

SVRMGR> @%ORACLE_HOME%\ADMIN\DB_NAME\ADHOC\CATALOG.SQL

In Server Manager commands, you may see %ORACLE_HOME%. Server Manager is able to locate your Oracle Home directory using the %ORACLE_HOME% variable. This convention can be used in Server Manager, SQL*Plus, Export Utility, and Import Utility.

HOMEID

HOME0, HOME1, HOME2

Represents a unique registry subkey for each Oracle home directory in which you install products. A new HOMEID is created and incremented each time you install products to a different Oracle home directory on one computer. Each HOMEID contains its own configuration parameter settings for installed Oracle products.

Symbols

period .
comma ,
hyphen -
semicolon ;
colon :
equal sign =
backslash \
single quote `
double quote '
parentheses ()

Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Convention	Example	Meaning
All uppercase plain	C:\ORACLE\ORA81	Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords, as in ALTER DATABASE. All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names.
Italic	Italic is used to indicate a variable: filename Italic is used for emphasis: The WHERE clause may be used to join rows in different tables.	Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you must type the actual name of the file. Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.
Square brackets [ ]	X:\[PATHNAME]\ORACLE\ HOME_NAME	Encloses optional items. For example, when you create an OFA-compliant Oracle home directory, you can place an optional pathname before the \ORACLE pathname. Square brackets also indicate a function key, for example [Enter].
Choose Start >	Choose Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Network Administration > Net8 Easy Config	How to start a program. For example, to start Net8 Easy Config, you must click the Start button on the taskbar and then choose Programs, Oracle - HOME_NAME Network > Administration > Net8 Easy Config.
C:\>	C:\ORACLE\ORADATA>	Represents the Windows NT command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.
Backslash (\) before a directory name	\ORADATA	Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.
ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_BASE	Go to the ORACLE_HOME\ADMIN directory	In previous Oracle8i Enterprise Edition releases, all subdirectories were located under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory, that by default was: C:\ORANT for Windows NT C:\ORAWIN95 for Windows 95 C:\ORAWIN for Windows 3.1 or whatever you may have called your Oracle home. In this Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA)-compliant release, all subdirectories are no longer under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory. There is now a new top level directory called ORACLE_BASE that by default is C:\ORACLE. If you install Oracle8i Enterprise Edition release 8.1.4 on a clean computer (that is, there is no other Oracle software on the computer), the default setting for the first Oracle home directory is C:\ORACLE\ORA81. If you run Oracle Universal Installer again and install release 8.2.x, the second Oracle home directory is called \ORA82. These Oracle home directories are located directly under ORACLE_BASE.
%ORACLE_HOME%	`SVRMGR> @%ORACLE_HOME%\ADMIN\`DB_NAME`\ADHOC\CATALOG.SQL`	In Server Manager commands, you may see %ORACLE_HOME%. Server Manager is able to locate your Oracle Home directory using the %ORACLE_HOME% variable. This convention can be used in Server Manager, SQL*Plus, Export Utility, and Import Utility.
HOMEID	HOME0, HOME1, HOME2	Represents a unique registry subkey for each Oracle home directory in which you install products. A new HOMEID is created and incremented each time you install products to a different Oracle home directory on one computer. Each HOMEID contains its own configuration parameter settings for installed Oracle products.
Symbols	period . comma , hyphen - semicolon ; colon : equal sign = backslash \ single quote ` double quote ' parentheses ()	Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.