odbc instructions to connect to oracle

Question

I am trying to connect to an oracle database from my website (asp.net-mvc). The only information i have to connect to the database is ODBC instructions which tells me to go:

1. It says to go into an oracle directory on the machine and enter this into a TSNNames.ora file and enter this in:

   DBNAME=(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=[machine])(port=[port]))
      (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=[DBNAME])))
   

2. and then go to control panel and manually add a connection through the GUI wizard.

Is there anyway i can connect to this database without have to set this up? I was hoping to simply stick a connection string in and be on my way. I deploy to different machines and i dont want the burden of having to update the .ora files or walk through this GUI wizard setup.

Does anyone have a suggestion for me?

Answer 1

Don't use ODBC. ODP.NET is a driver provided by Oracle which is based on the same model as SQL Server: simply download the assembly, reference it in your project and use it:

    using (var conn = new OracleConnection("Some connection string"))
    using (var cmd = conn.CreateCommand())
    {
       conn.Open();
       cmd.CommandText = "SELECT id FROM foo";
       using (var reader = cmd.ExecuteReader())
       {
          while (reader.Read())
          {
             int id = reader.GetInt32(0);
          }
       }
    }