Re: ODBC vs OCI - architecture and market

Answers embedded

Hth,
Sybrand Bakker, Oracle DBA

huh wrote in message <7kvdd6$1iji$1_at_ns.felk.cvut.cz>...
>Hello,
>
>I'm new with ORACLE and I am interested in following:
>
>1) Client/server communication architecture.
>
> My understanding is:
> a)OCI: layer 1 - target platform networking stuff.
> layer 2 - ORA network libraries -
> provide logical stream protocol for layer 3
> layer 3 - call interface (OCI)
>
> Is it correct or wrong?

Correct, though the before the 'native' networking stuff will be called sqlnet will be called.

>
> b)ODBC - it is another call interface. Does ORACLE
> driver implement him as a layer 3 (tight to stream protocol)
> or as a layer 4 (over OCI) ?

The routing is

client software interfaces to ODBC.dll
ODBC.dll interfaces to any ODBC driver, including Oracle the Oracle ODBC driver calls sqlnet.

>
>3) Is there any documentation which compares OCI and ODBC?
> I think the ODBC driver contains a subset of OCI functionality...
> Does it contain something what OCI doesn't?
> Does it contain extensions to ODBC standard which covers
> additional OCI functionality?

You shouldn't compare those two. OCI is the lowest layer in communication with Oracle databases there is. Any program, including Sql*plus, will eventually use OCI
The ODBC driver is nor a subset nor a superset it is a generic interface working with sqlserver, Access, excel etc.
>
>4) Can I find somewhere the estimation of market percentage-
> How many people work with OCI and how many with ORACLE ODBC?
> How many tools are available for OCI and ODBC?
>

If you want to interface to an Oracle database only, and don't expect to replace the database by sqlserver, then don't use ODBC. It is a non-native driver, and it doesn't support almost all of the Oracle specific functions. If you want to develop a front-end in VB or Visual C++ you should however consider to use Oracle Objects for Ole. This is an VB/Access like interface to Oracle and it's completely native. OO4O is delivered in the standard kit.

>TIA
>
>--
>Thank you for keeping >anti-spam< habit:
>not including my address in your reply.
>
>
>
Received on Fri Jun 25 1999 - 10:28:12 CDT