Re: Using Delphi 2.0 with Oracle -- Resources Available?

oradnio_at_albany.net (Gryphon Lady) wrote:

>We've recently installed Oracle7 Workgroup Server on a Unixware
>platform, connected to a Novell 4.1 LAN that connects all of our end
>users, and are thinking about using Delphi to develop our applications.
>It seems very easy to do simple entry/query screens to Oracle databases
>from Delphi, but some of our applications are considerably more
>sophisticated than that. Are there any books that more seasoned
>veterans would recommend that specifically deal with using Delphi with
>Oracle7 Workgroup Server? And are there any books that provide
>advice on deployment in such an environment? Thanks in advance for
>your assistance.

I haven't been Delphi book shopping for about 9 months, so there may be more to choose from. I borrowed a book written by Ray Knopka (sp?) titled something like _Developing Delphi Components_ that had a decent section on DB stuff. I have also used _Delphi Unleashed_ by Charlie Calvert. It had some pretty good C/S stuff. Another title that has cought my eye is _Database Developer's Guide with Delphi 2_ by Ken Henderson. Haven't seen it so I can't comment. I don't know that any of these books address Oracle7 Workgroup Server directly. You'll probably have to draw upon the user base for help and develop your own expertise.

I strongly recommend drawing up a quick prototype that touches on all of the Oracle features you plan on using--sequences, stored procedures, etc. I have a full system in production written in Delphi2 using Oracle 7.0/NT. I found that the combination of Delphi/Data Aware Controls/Oracle is not ideal. The initial glow of dropping a TTable/TQuery on a form and connecting its fields to edit controls and/or a grid quickly faded when I tried to implement a realistic screen that used result sets with a join, sequences, etc. I was able to get each feature to work, but I was not happy with the results. I ended up using regular non-bound controls with TQuery objects. It works and performs very well. There is room for improvement in the area of maintenance. ( The code sort of reminds me of Visual Basic ).

Good Luck.
Chris Lincoln
Ultrax_Inc(); Received on Wed Jul 17 1996 - 00:00:00 CEST