Oracle connectivity

[Me]

Evening all

I am trying to work out the best way to communicate with an Oracle database
from a .Net CF application. My main requirements are to be able to:

- Execute an Oracle PL/SQL stored procedure designed to return simple/scalar
values.
- Execute an Oracle PL/SQL stored procedure designed to return a
dataset/datatable (via a Ref Cursor).
- Execute an Oracle PL/SQL stored procedure designed to perform
updates/Inserts. In this case the client application will have to forward a
data structure containing all of the field values for a particular record.

All of the database I/O logic is to be encapsulated inside the stored
procedures. Note that there is no need for direct access to database tables.
The dataset will only be used for browse/display purposes.

As it is, remarkably, there are *no* Oracle data providers for .Net CF
applications. So, I am looking for the next best alternative and I am hoping
to develop a solution that will be host platform independent.

So far I know of two possible options:

1)
Write a Web Service, most likely of the XML variety, to run on the host. The
Web Service receives requests from the client .Net CF application and
processes them by executing the appropriate stored procedure(s) and if
necessary, returning data to the client.

2) Create a set of COM "wrapper" classes to be deployed on a middle tier.
The client application can then use these COM objects to perform the
required stored procedure calls and data transfer functions.


In any case:

What development tool(s) / languages(s) would be the most likely to provide
for the goal of platform independence?

Are there any solutions available in the marketplace that can be adapted to
meet specific requirements? eg A web service containing stored procedure
calls. A .Net CF application using the web service.

Does anyone have a preferred solution and if so what are your reasons?


Thanks for your help

Deej

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

You haven't said whether you are working with Oracle Lite on the device
itself or a remote Oracle server.
For a local Oracle 9i lite database the 5.0.2 release should include the
Oracle.Lite.Data.dll which is a .NETCF provider for the database.
For a remote server there is a third-party library which will work with any
ODBC compliant database on a desktop/server:-
http://www.gui-innovations.com/html/sqllinkce.html

Peter

 

[Me]

In case I didn't make it clear... I was referring to communicating with a
remote Oracle server/host, not a handheld device with Oracle Lite installed.

eg:
..Net CF App (handheld device) <---> XML web service (desktop/server)
<---> Oracle DBMS (same desktop/server)

There must be quite a few solutions out there. Presumably then, there are
quite a few tried and trusted modules/dll's to satisfy the requirements of
the first two parts (above). Are there any samples out there or is it
necessary to re-invent the wheel?