mono/web/oracle

* Oracle Data Provider

<ul>

	<li>ADO.NET Data Provider for <a href="http://www.oracle.com/">Oracle</a> databases</li>

	<li>Exists in namespace System.Data.OracleClient and assembly System.Data.OracleClient</li>

	<li>Works on Windows and Linux</li>

	<li>Works with Oracle 8i and 9i.</li>

	<li>Uses the Oracle CLI (Call Level Interface) which is a C library (API) for the Oracle Client 
		software</li>

	<li>Internally, the OracleClient provider has OCI abstracted to an object-oriented programming model</li>

	<li>Created by Daniel Morgan and Tim Coleman</li>

	<li>Bugs with Mono or the data provider should be reported 
	in Mono's Bugzilla <a href="http://bugzilla.ximian.com/">here</a>.  If you
	do not have Bugzilla user account, it is free 
	and easy to 
	create one <a href="http://bugzilla.ximian.com/createaccount.cgi">here</a>.</li>
	
</ul>
	
** Current Status

<ul>
	<li>OracleConnection can connect and disconnect to an Oracle 8i or 9i database on 
	Windows and Linux via OCI (Oracle Call-level Interface)</li>
	
	<li>Can have multiple connections with different transactions where each transaction is
	separated from the others, so a rollback or commit in one transaction 
	does not affect the other.</li>
	
	<li>Can execute simple DML SQL statements, such as, 
	INSERT a row into the EMP table via the OracleCommand's ExecuteNonQuery method</li>
	
	<li>Can retrieve data via ExecuteReader and OracleDataReader.  Currently, 
	supports character, numeric, some date data types.  ExecuteScalar
	also works.</li>

	<li>Simple input parameters (character and numeric data) can now
	be used in SQL queries.  Output parameters do not yet work.</li>
			
	<li>OracleException and Error handling exists now.</li>

	<li>Message handling needs to be added for non-critical messages
	received from Oracle</li>
	
	<li>Handling of various data types need to be added.</li>
	
	<li>Data Adapter exists, and a DataSet can be filled using it.</li>
	
	<li>Lots of missing functionality and bugs.</li>
	
	<li>Works with SQL# command-line and GTK# GUI versions.</li>
	   
</ul>
	
** Action Plan

<ul>
	<li>Be able to retrieve results via a data reader (WORKING)</li>
	<li>Parameters support (IN PROGRESS)</li>
	<li>transactions (WORKING)</li>
	<li>Stored Procedures, Functions, and Packages support</li>
	<li>Be able to fill a DataTable in a DataSet via a data adapter (IN PROGRESS)</li>
	<li>Support for Oracle 8i on Linux and Windows (WORKING)</li>
	<li>Support for Oracle 9i on Linux and Windows (WORKING)</li>
	<li>Support for Oracle 10g on Linux and Windows [TODO].  Please let us 
	know on mono-list if Mono OracleClient works with Oracle 10g or not.  If not, what errors do you get</li>
	<li>Support Large OBjects</li>
	<li>Support all the data types</li>
	<li>Implement Connection pooling</li>
	<li>Security</li>
	
</ul>

** Testing System.Data.OracleClient

<ul>
	<li>Have a working mono and mcs</li>
	
	<li>Have access to an Oracle 8i or 9i database or download it from
	<a href="http://www.oracle.com/">Oracle</a>.  If you are connecting
	remotely to an Oracle database, you need the Oracle client software.
	Registration to the <a href="http://technet.oracle.com/">Oracle Technology Network</a> is free.  If installing on Linux, 
	I suggest you do a lot of searching to see how others installed Oracle on Linux.</li>
	
	<li>Make sure System.Data.OracleClient.dll assembly is built.</li>
	
	<li>Take a look at TestOracleClient.cs found at mcs/class/System.Data.OracleClient/Test</li>
	
	<li>The Data Source is an Oracle TNSNAME</li>
	
	<li>Has a connection string format:
<pre>
"Data Source=tnsname;User ID=userid;Password=password"
</pre>	
	</li>
	<li>C# Example:
<pre>
 using System;
 using System.Data;
 using System.Data.OracleClient;
 
 public class Test 
 {
    public static void Main (string[] args)
    {
       string connectionString = 
          "Data Source=testdb;" +
          "User ID=scott;" +
          "Password=tiger;";
       OracleConnection dbcon = null;
       dbcon = new OracleConnection (connectionString);
       dbcon.Open ();
       OracleCommand dbcmd = dbcon.CreateCommand ();
       string sql = "SELECT ename, job FROM scott.emp";
       dbcmd.CommandText = sql;
       OracleDataReader reader = dbcmd.ExecuteReader ();
       while (reader.Read ()) {
          string employeeName = (string) reader["ename"];
          string job = (string) reader["job"];
          Console.WriteLine ("Employee Name: {0}  Job: {1}",
		                    employeeName, job);
       }
       // clean up
       reader.Close ();
       reader = null;
       dbcmd.CommandText = sql;
       dbcmd.ExecuteNonQuery ();
       dbcmd.Dispose ();
       dbcmd = null;
       dbcon.Close ();
       dbcon = null;
    }
 }
</pre>
	</li>
	<li>Building C# Example:
	<ul>
		<li>Save the example to a file, such as, TestExample.cs</li>
		<li>Build on Linux:
<pre>
	mcs TestExample.cs -r System.Data.dll \
	    -r System.Data.OracleClient.dll
</pre>
		</li>
		<li>Build on Windows:
<pre>
	mcs TestExample.cs  /r:System.Data.dll \
	    /r:System.Data.OracleClient.dll
</pre>
		</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>Running the Example:
<pre>
mono TestExample.exe
</pre>
	</li>

</ul>