[ANNOUNCE] Oratcl-2.5b3

I've uploaded Oratcl 2.5b3 to Neosoft. You can grab it at:

  http://www.neosoft.com/tcl/ftparchive/sorted/databases/oratcl-2.5b3/   or
  ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/sorted/databases/oratcl-2.5b3

This is likely to be the last beta release, so grab it and try it out.

Windows users: DLLs for Tcl 7.6 and Tcl 8.0 are included. Use WinZip to unpack the tar.gz archive. Tcl 8.0p1 is recommended.

Changes since beta2:

-Fix bug in orafetch /w commands under Tcl 8.0
-Windows DLL now seems to work fine under Tcl 8.0p1 
-Wosql mostly works under Windows, some problems to be fixed before final
-Newer install script for Windows.
-Simplified shared library pkgIndex.tcl
-Wosql now allows logging into a new server without exiting, edit window size

Please mail me on any problems. News at my site has be sporadic lately, so I might miss any news postings on Oratcl.

Attached is the README.

Tom Poindexter
tpoindex_at_nyx.net

Oratcl - Tcl interface to Oracle database server

• Oracle interface to Tcl
  *
  
• Copyright 1993 Tom Poindexter and U S WEST Advanced Technologies, Inc.
  *
  
• Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
• documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided
• that the above copyright notice appear in all copies.
• Tom Poindexter and U S WEST make no representations about the suitability
• of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or
• implied warranty. By use of this software the user agrees to
• indemnify and hold harmless Tom Poindexter and U S WEST from any
• claims or liability for loss arising out of such use.
  *
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 1.0 July, 1993
• Tom Poindexter, Boulder Colorado
• tpoind_at_advtech.uswest.com or tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.0 November, 1993
• Tom Poindexter, Boulder Colorado
• tpoind_at_advtech.uswest.com or tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.1 February, 1994
• Tom Poindexter, Boulder Colorado
• tpoind_at_advtech.uswest.com or tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.11 April, 1994
• Tom Poindexter, Boulder Colorado
• tpoind_at_advtech.uswest.com or tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.2 October, 1994
• Tom Poindexter, Denver Colorado
• tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu <<<note new address!
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.3 August, 1995
• Tom Poindexter, Denver Colorado
• tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.4 September, 1996
• Tom Poindexter, Denver Colorado
• tpoindex_at_nyx.net
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.41 December, 1996
• Tom Poindexter, Denver Colorado
• tpoindex_at_nyx.net
  *-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Version 2.5 November, 1997
• Tom Poindexter, Denver Colorado
• tpoindex_at_nyx.net
  *
  *
  

WHAT IS ORATCL? Oratcl is an extension to Tool Command Language (Tcl) that provides access to a Oracle Database server. Oratcl adds additional Tcl commands that login to an Oracle Server, pass SQL code, read results, etc. Oratcl was inspired by similar tools written for Perl (sybperl, oraperl) but was written from scratch instead of borrowing on the work of either Perl extension.

Oratcl was based on my earlier effort with Sybtcl. The sample program "wosql" is a direct descendent of Sybtcl's "wisql".

Oratcl features:

  -supports multiple connections to the same or different Oracle Servers
  -sends Sql code or anonymous PL blocks to the server
  -supports nonblocking (asynchronous) SQL execution (Oracle 7.2+)
  -caches return rows from the server for efficiency
  -converts results to strings and returns rows as Tcl lists
  -allows cursor variables to be returned from PL/SQL (Oracle 7.2+)
  -allows user defined null values to be returned
  -Version 7 stored procedures can be executed and return values accessed
  -accesses column names, lengths, and datatypes of rows & return values
  -provides feedback of Oracle messages and codes
  -reads/writes long columns to files
  -commit, rollback, and autocommit options

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

	John Ousterhout (ouster_at_sprite.berkeley.edu) for Tcl and Tk -
	    wonderful software in my opinion.

	Karl Lehenbauer (karl_at_NeoSoft.com) and 
	    Mark Diekhans (markd_at_Grizzly.com) for Extended Tcl -
	    more good stuff.

	Michael Peppler (mpeppler_at_itf0.itf.ch) for sybperl, which gave me
	    the inspiration to write Oratcl.  

REQUIREMENTS Since Oratcl is an extension to Tcl, you should already have Tcl, or be prepared to get it via Ftp [sites listed below].

Of course, you must also have access to a Oracle Databaser Server. Oratcl must be linked with the Oracle OCI libraries.

Starting with version 2.4, Oratcl supports building a dynamic load library on systems that support dynamic loading. If you build static libraries and executables, I recommend building with Extended Tcl.

The specific software versions I used:  

        Tcl - 7.6p2           ftp.sunlabs.com:/pub/tcl/tcl7.6p2.tar.gz
        Tk  - 4.2p2           ftp.sunlabs.com:/pub/tcl/tk4.2p2.tar.gz
                              also avaible at
                              ftp.neosoft.com:/pub/tcl/mirror/ftp.smli.com
			      and 
			      http://www.neosoft.com/tcl
 
        Extended Tcl - 7.6.0  ftp.neosoft.com
                                /pub/tcl/TclX/tclX7.6.0.tar.gz


	Also works with:

	Tcl - 8.0p1           ftp.sunlabs.com:/pub/tcl/tcl8.0p1.tar.gz
	Tk - 8.0p1            ftp.sunlabs.com:/pub/tcl/tk8.0p1.tar.gz
	Extended Tcl - 8.0.0  ftp.neosoft.com
				/pub/tcl/TclX/tclX8.0.0b2.tar.gz


	Oracle SQL Server - Version 6 or Version 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3   
	Oracle OCI libraries

>>>>>>>	I've put oratcl-2.5.tar.gz on ftp.neosoft.com 
        in /pub/tcl/sorted/databases/oratcl-2.5/oratcl-2.5.tar.gz

	Also available at:  
	http://www.neosoft.com/tcl/ftparchive/sorted/databases

	see the newsgroup comp.lang.tcl for general Tcl discussion and
	the Tcl Frequently Asked Questions.

I've built Oratcl in SunOS 4.1.2 (BSD), Solaris 2.5 (Sys 5.4), Dec Unix V4.x, and HP-UX 10.x, and Windows NT 4.0/VC++ 4.0.

Other users have reported successful compiles on:

Data General DG/UX
Sequent PTX 2.1
IBM AIX
SGI Irix

(mail to me on a successful port on other platforms; I'll add to this list)

WINDOWS NT/95 AND MACINTOSH DLLs for Windows NT/95 are supplied in the ./win directory. Two DLLs are supplied, one compiled with Tcl 7.6, the other compiled with Tcl 8.0. Run the 'install.tcl' to install the correct version.

See the win/README.win file for more information.

At this time, no Macintosh libraries are supplied. (Anyone with a Mac, a C compiler, and Oracle libraries care to contribute? email me!)

SAMPLES Some samples are included using the Extended Tcl tcl(1) and wishx(1) interpreters. In particular, the "wosql" (Windowing Oracle SQL) program is a handy replacement for Sql*Plus for ad hoc queries. Wosql does not attempt to provide any of the report generating and formatting capabilities of Sql*Plus.

Also in ./samples is iud_maker, an Oratcl that builds insert-update-delete applications for a single table.

The ODDIS graphical data dictionary application is included in ./samples/oddis. OSQL in ./samples/osql - another SQL query tool (requires TclX, [incr tcl], Blt).
Check them out!

See ./samples/README.samples plus each file's comments and code.

MAN PAGE You're in luck! I've written one.

OTHER DOCUMENTATION Oratcl is explained in greater detail in "Tcl/Tk Tools", edited by Mark Harrison, and published by O'Reilly and Associates. "Tcl/Tk Tools" is a new book that covers many of the popular Tcl extensions, written by the authors of each extension (I wrote the chapters on Sybtcl and Oratcl.) 1st Edition published September 1997, ISBN: 1-56592-218-2 See your local bookstore, or try:

	http://www.softpro.com
	http://www.amazon.com
	http://www.ora.com
	http://www.barnesandnoble.com

BUG REPORTS Comments, suggestions, et.al., should be mailed to me at the above email address, or posted to comp.lang.tcl if general enough nature. Hell, you can even mail to me if you like Oratcl!

Mail bug reports to: tpoindex_at_nyx.net

If you post a question or bug report to comp.lang.tcl, I may not see it, so please copy me also.

Please ALWAYS include:

        -version of Oratcl
        -version of Tcl, Tk, and TclX
        -version of Oracle server and OCI libary
        -version of your operating system
	-switches used with configure (see config.status)
        -compiler used, stock cc or Gcc
        -samples of SQL or Oratcl code causing problems
        -relevant database table definitions, views, procedures

KNOWN BUGS !!! Certain bugs in Oracle's OCI library may cause problems for Oratcl. Oracle's 7.1.4 and 7.1.5 releases seems to have introduced several problems with their Oracle Call Interface (OCI) libraries that Oratcl uses. Symptoms include excessively long connect times (2+ minutes) when using Sql*Net, or possibly "fetch out of sequence" errors when retrieving rows. Use 7.0.x or 7.1.6+ OCI libraries if you experience problems with 7.1.4 or 7.1.5.

See the file OCI714.bug for additional details.

Oracle's 7.3.2.3 release also exhibits a tendency to core dump when using oralogon. This is a known bug in Oracle's OCI library build.

See the file OCI7323.bug for addititional details.

I've also received a few reports of Oratcl (OCI problems again) having some bad interaction with Tcl's 'exec' command. It sounds like OCI and the 'exec' command are battling over signals. If you're having problems using 'exec' with Oratcl, try using 'exec' with in a 'catch' command. Mail to me on this problem if you have any explanations, and again, contact Oracle tech support.

ORATCL WWW PAGE   I keep terse, but usually up to date information at:

        http://www.nyx.net/~tpoindex  

TCL DATABASE MAILING LIST A mailing list is available for specific discussions about using Tcl with databases, including Oratcl, Sybtcl, etc. Feel free to join and mail to the list. The list is hosted by De Clarke.

To subscribe to this list send mail to  

        listserv_at_ucolick.org  

and in the body of the message write  

        subscribe tcldb  

To unsubscribe... (well, you get the idea).  

Please remember to write to tcldb-owner with problems about the list itself, or to postmaster_at_ucolick.org if you have difficulties getting through to the tcldb-owner address. Please do not send subscribe and unsubscribe messages to the list itself.  

INSTALLATION   Quickie install instructions:  

        ./configure --prefix=/same/prefix/path/as/with/tcl/configure  \
                    --exec-prefix=/same/exec-prefix/path/as/with/tcl/configure 
        make
        make install
 

Didn't work? You'll have to read the INSTALL file. Maybe you should read it anyway.

If you are having problems trying to build a dynamic load library for Oratcl (--enable-shared), check the notes in the INSTALL file.

OTHER Try out the Oratcl C API. It allows your C programs to access Oracle using the Oratcl model. It's experimental; please mail to me if it works for you, or if you have improvements. See ./oratcl-capi/*

See the file CHANGES for changes in versions of Oratcl.

-finis-

-- 
Tom Poindexter   
tpoindex_at_nyx.net
http://www.nyx.net/~tpoindex/