ANNOUNCE: Oratcl-2.0

Oratcl-2.0 is now available on harbor.ecn.purdue.edu and will be moved to /pub/tcl/extensions/oratcl-2.0.tar.Z (early ftp'ers may have to get it from /incoming).

Major changes for this release are support for Tcl 7.3, and and new makefiles for easier building with standard Tcl or Extended Tcl.

As usual, please forward comments, questions, bug reports to me.

Tom Poindexter tpoind_at_advtech.uswest.com or tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu U S WEST Advanced Technologies, Boulder, Colorado

Oratcl-2.0 README follows:

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
  *
  

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
  -caches return rows from the server for efficiency
  -converts results to strings and returns rows as Tcl lists
  -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.  

	    ("I tried Perl, but never inhaled." - Tom Poindexter)

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.

I normally build Oratcl with Tcl, Extended Tcl, and the X11 Tk widget set yielding tcl and wishx interpreters. Oratcl is written with no dependencies other than Tcl, so it should be possible to link it with the the minimal Tcl library. (Although Oratcl uses "handles", I didn't rely on the handle functions provided by Extended Tcl.)
In practice, I have only built Oratcl with Extended Tcl and Tk.

The specific software versions I used:

	Tcl - 7.3             ftp.cs.berkeley.edu:/ucb/tcl/tcl7.3.tar.Z       
	Tk  - 3.6             ftp.cs.berkeley.edu:/ucb/tcl/tk3.6.tar.Z       
	                      also avaible at 
			      harbor.ecn.purdue.edu:/pub/tcl/sprite-mirror/

	Extended Tcl - 7.3a   harbor.ecn.purdue.edu:
				/pub/tcl/extensions/tclX7.3a.tar.Z

	Oracle OCI libraries -                       $$$    from Oracle 
	Oracle SQL Server - Version 6 or Version 7   $$$$$$ from Oracle 

>>>>>>>	I've put oratcl-2.0.tar.Z on harbor.ecn.purdue.edu as well
        in /pub/tcl/extensions/oratcl-2.0.tar.Z

	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), DG/UX Release 5.4.1 (Sys V.4), and Sequent PTX 2.1 (Sys V.3.2) environments.

Other users have reported successful compiles on:

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

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 Sqlplus for ad hoc queries. Wosql does not attempt to provide any of the report generating and formatting capabilities of Sqlplus.

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

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

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! (If you mailed a bug report to me and I didn't reply, I didn't get your email or your return address didn't make sense to my mailer - I always reply to non-flames.)

INSTALLATION See the file INSTALL. Two Makefiles are provided, for building Oratcl with standard Tcl or Extended Tcl (aka TclX).

OTHER See the file CHANGES for changes in versions of Oratcl.

-finis-

-- 
Tom Poindexter     tpoind_at_advtech.uswest.com  or  tpoindex_at_nyx.cs.du.edu  
U S WEST Advanced Technologies,  Boulder, Colorado
"I hate it when that happens"