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Introduction to Oracle Provider for OLE DB

This chapter introduces Oracle Provider for OLE DB (OraOLEDB).

This chapter contains these topics:

Overview of OLE DB

OLE DB is an open standard data access methodology which utilizes a set of COM interfaces for accessing and manipulating different types of data. These interfaces are available from various database providers.

Oracle Provider for OLE DB (OraOLEDB) offers high performance and efficient access to Oracle data by OLE DB consumers.

OLE DB Design

OLE DB's design centers around the concept of a consumer and provider. Figure 1-1, "OLE DB Flow" is an illustration of the OLE DB system. The consumer represents the traditional client. The provider places data into a tabular format and returns it to the consumer.

Figure 1-1 OLE DB Flow

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Text description of the illustration oop81002.gif

OLE DB Data Providers

OLE DB data providers are a set of COM components that transfer data from a data source to a consumer. The OLE DB Provider places that data in a tabular format in response to calls from a consumer. Providers can be simple or complex. A provider may return a table, it may allow the consumer to determine the format of that table, and it may perform operations on the data.

Each provider implements a standard set of COM interfaces to handle requests from the consumer. A provider may implement optional COM interfaces to provide additional functionality.

With the standard interfaces, any OLE DB consumer can access data from any provider. Because of COM components, consumers can access them in any programming language that supports COM, such as C++, Visual Basic, and Java.

OLE DB Data Consumers

The OLE DB data consumer is any application or tool that utilizes OLE DB interfaces of a provider to access a broad range of data.

System Requirements

The following items are required on a system to use Oracle Provider for OLE DB:

Windows 95, 98, 2000, or Windows NT 4.0
Access to an Oracle Server (release 8 or later)
Oracle Net Services
Redistributable files provided with Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.1 or higher are required by the provider. These files are available at the Microsoft Web site:
```
www.microsoft.com/data/oledb/
```

Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server (version 9.0 Beta or later). This item is required for consumers using Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) or COM+.

Note:
With the Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server installed, OraOLEDB supports MTS against database versions Oracle9i Release 1 (9.0.1), Oracle8i (8.1.5 or higher) and Oracle8 (8.0.6 or higher).

OraOLEDB Installation

Oracle Provider for OLE DB is included as part of your Oracle installation. It contains the features and demos that illustrate how to use this product to solve real-world problems.

See Also:

The Oracle9i Database installation guide for Windows for installation instructions

During the installation process, the files listed in Table 1-1 are installed on the system.

Table 1-1 Oracle Provider for OLE DB Files

File	Description	Location
`OraOLEDB.dll`	Oracle Provider for OLE DB	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDBrfc.dll`	Oracle rowset file cache manager	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDBrmc.dll`	Oracle rowset memory cache manager	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDBrst.dll`	Oracle rowset	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDBgmr.dll`	Oracle ODBC SQL parser	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDBlang.dll`	Language-specific resource DLL	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDBpus.dll`	Property descriptions	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDButl.dll`	OraOLEDB utility DLL	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDB.tlb`	OraOLEDB type library	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\bin`
`OraOLEDB.h`	OraOLEDB header file	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\oledb\include`
`OraOLEDB.lib`	OraOLEDB library file	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\oledb\lib`
`OraOLEDB``lang``.msb`	Language-specific message file	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\oledb\mesg`
readme and documentation files	Release notes and online documentation	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\``oledb\doc`
sample files	Sample code	`ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME``\oledb\samples`

1 Introduction to Oracle Provider for OLE DB