OCIEnvCreate Failed Error - When accessing .aspx pages

Question

I am currently stuck on an ASP.NET error when trying to access a .aspx page through localhost. This is the error:

OCIEnvCreate failed with return code -1 but error message text was not available.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Exception: OCIEnvCreate failed with return code -1 but error message text was not available.

Stack Trace:

[Exception: OCIEnvCreate failed with return code -1 but error message text was not available.]
   System.Data.OracleClient.OciHandle..ctor(OciHandle parentHandle, HTYPE handleType, MODE ocimode, HANDLEFLAG handleflags) +363
   System.Data.OracleClient.OciEnvironmentHandle..ctor(MODE environmentMode, Boolean unicode) +23
   System.Data.OracleClient.OracleInternalConnection.OpenOnLocalTransaction(String userName, String password, String serverName, Boolean integratedSecurity, Boolean unicode, Boolean omitOracleConnectionName) +122
   System.Data.OracleClient.OracleInternalConnection..ctor(OracleConnectionString connectionOptions) +135
   System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningObject) +36
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreatePooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnectionOptions options) +28
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.CreateObject(DbConnection owningObject) +424
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.UserCreateRequest(DbConnection owningObject) +68
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.GetConnection(DbConnection owningObject) +519
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection) +82
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory) +104
   System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnection.Open() +37
   Wilson.ORMapper.Internals.Connection..ctor(String connectString, CustomProvider customProvider) +287

[ORMapperException: ObjectSpace: Connection String is Invalid - OCIEnvCreate failed with return code -1 but error message text was not available.]
   Wilson.ORMapper.Internals.Connection..ctor(String connectString, CustomProvider customProvider) +357
   Wilson.ORMapper.Internals.Context.Init(XmlDocument xmlMappings, String connectString, CustomProvider customProvider, Int32 sessionMinutes, Int32 cleanupMinutes) +92
   Wilson.ORMapper.Internals.Context..ctor(Stream mappingStream, String connectString, CustomProvider customProvider, Int32 sessionMinutes, Int32 cleanupMinutes) +171
   Wilson.ORMapper.ObjectSpace..ctor(Stream mappingStream, String connectString, Provider providerType, Int32 sessionMinutes, Int32 cleanupMinutes) +66
   zedi.DataManager.GetDefaultInstance() in C:\projects\FINE Application Interface\Production\On-site Backlog\Source\Code\DataAccess\ORClasses\Data\DataManager.cs:155
   zedi.DataManager.get_ObjectSpaceGlobal() in C:\projects\FINE Application Interface\Production\On-site Backlog\Source\Code\DataAccess\ORClasses\Data\DataManager.cs:105
   zedi.DataManager.get_ObjectSpace() in C:\projects\FINE Application Interface\Production\On-site Backlog\Source\Code\DataAccess\ORClasses\Data\DataManager.cs:129
   zedi.DataObjects.CompanyBase.RetrieveQuery(ObjectQuery query) in C:\projects\FINE Application Interface\Production\On-site Backlog\Source\Code\DataAccess\ORClasses\DataObjects\Base\CompanyBase.cs:279
   zedi.DataObjects.CompanyBase.RetrieveAll(String sortClause) in C:\projects\FINE Application Interface\Production\On-site Backlog\Source\Code\DataAccess\ORClasses\DataObjects\Base\CompanyBase.cs:78
   maint_inetpub.siteTemplates.updateDeviceTemplate.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in c:\projects\FINE Application Interface\Production\On-site Backlog\Source\Code\Websites\maint-inetpub\siteTemplates\updateDeviceTemplate.aspx.cs:47
   System.Web.Util.CalliHelper.EventArgFunctionCaller(IntPtr fp, Object o, Object t, EventArgs e) +15
   System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e) +33
   System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +99
   System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +47
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1436

I notice it says the I have an invalid connection string but I have tested it and it works. I currently have Oracle 10g Express installed and before that I had Oracle 8i Client. It was working before I installed 10g Express.

Answer 1

I've come across the same problem with oracle 10g, from what I've read this error seems to mean that the .Net oracle driver can't find the oracle client.

There are various suggestions to fix this, including checking the PATH and ORACLE_HOME environment variables; re-installing the oracle client in the default location (C:\oracle) if it isn't already there; or using oracle's Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) instead of the Microsoft oracle driver (System.Data.OracleClient).

None of the above fixed my problem however, so if anyone has any more suggestions they would be most welcome!

Answer 2

We've recently run into this as well; in our case, restoring the ORACLE_HOME environment variable did the trick (an incomplete installation of OMS10G that had left the system in an inconsistent state with the environment variable registering as null).