ODP.NET

Just read a article that describes how to use the latest Oracle Data Provider for .NET, also known as "ODP.NET". You must know that there are type types of this provider. One is the managed driver. The other is the unmanaged one. I was interested in the unmanaged driver.

You need to have, at a minimum, Visual Studio 2010. At work I run with Visual Studio 2008. But at home I use Visual Studio 2010 for school. So I am good to go to try things out. Apparently you also need to download Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio, also know as ODT.

The example I read had me setting up my Visual Studio project to add a reference to Oracle DataAccess. Then in my code I would add using statements to Oracle.DataAccess.Client and Types. After that I should be good to go to use the driver.

There is some bolierplate for the data access code I write. Create an OracleConnection. Set the ConnectionString. Call the CreateCommand. Set CommandText to my SQL. Then ExecuteReader and Read. Simple right?