I’m in high need to getting an Oracle installation on a VM (Windows preferred but I could live with Mac or Linux as long as appropriate instructions come with to install whatever clients) with Oracle fully loaded and setup to work with Xojo apps. Also be helpful if you had step by step instructions.
Anyone willing to put one together along with appropriate Xojo project? I can pay for time.
Well it is on the todo list for the weekend although I’m not looking forward to it - l always hate mucking about with Oracle. I started as a DBA with version 7.13 and I swear the install has not improved much!
I gave it a quick try a few weeks ago with no joy - kept getting errors and being told to look in the log file, except there was no log file! But now that I need it for testing I’m more motivated.
I will be trying to install it on Windows Server hosted on VirtualBox if it works out I’ll be happy to share my experience.
Oracle on Linux is much easier to setup than Mac/Win based on my experiences. Especially if it is Oracle Linux.
Good luck @Bob Keeney & @James Dooley
So I tried to install express on a laptop this morning, everything went well and I was left with a get starting icon on the desktop and just when I thought it was done I clicked the icon - bad move:
Seriously what kind of testing do these people do!
They must leave it to the best testers 
The sad story so far:
I’ve failed to get a standard copy of Oracle running on Virtulbox with Windows server installed I keep getting:
I assume it is caused by some setting in VirtualBox, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to figure it out! Of course there was not log at the given location, but that did not surprise me.
I did however manage to get a copy of the express addition installed and running, so the game goes on…
I have Oracle 12c running on a VMWare 64bit Windows2008 Server (Plus MS SQLServer and Postgresql), but I am not able to connect from my Xojo test apps.
I used to connect to a XE instance of Oracle (“Express Edition”) and it worked, but I switched to Oracle 12c because previous versions do not allow a sequence as DEFAULT value like this:
[code]sql = “CREATE TABLE cities (id NUMBER DEFAULT cities_seq.NEXTVAL,” _
Unfortunately I have not found out yet how to make an external network connection work, with Oracle 12c.
Download and install was not difficult:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/index.html
To understand setup and configuration is another thing, i have not found a short quickstart step-by-step guide to setup a working test environment (install oracle, create a database, create an admin and a user, allow network access, connect from a mac-client…)
If you do not have to deal with millions of records and queries, then I’d say: just forget about it. They intentionally keep it complicated and expensive.
Hi Oliver,
It’s a box ticking exercise for me. Just need to be able to say I support it… but if I can’t even get it installed and running it is kind of hard!
James
And testing with the Express installation and the Oracle plug-in I get to:
First question is what console??? And second question was the plug-in perhaps compiled with an earlier version of the CLI???
Trying to use the ODBC plugin instead gives me this:
At this stage I have tried both 64 and 32 bit version with no joy. I can connect to both with Visual Studio using both the native driver and ODBC, so I have no idea of what the issue is.
Perhaps XOJO would care to provide details of their testing environment for this driver??
@Bob Keeney - Oracle is quite special compared to other datbases. Few years ago I hired a specialist for setting up a Oracle testenvironment for a customer project. He was only willing to deliver a closed linux box to which we could connect via a huge expensive odbc driver. Development was done with MS visual studio. It worked well, no issue at all with the databses, but as long as I can avoid dealing with Oracle and their policy …
Oh, I fogot to tell: back in 1999 I did a 3 months project FOR Oracle company, located in Utrecht. (NL). Never did installations since they had dedicated teams for that.
There is a developer license ($92 for 1 year or $460 for a perpetual license): Oracle Database Personal Edition
Then, on the other hand, you seemingly can download and install and run the 12c Enterprise Edition and start developing against it. I haven’t figured out yet how exactly the licensing situation is in that case. As usual with Oracle (see MySQL), you need to hire a lawyer to (maybe) understand their licensing…
Anyway, our customers who decide for Oracle need to have a trained DBA and all the licensing in place.
Hmmm at this stage I think they should be paying me!
That’s it.
Before I take up the battle yet again…
Has anyone tried the ODBC driver from Devart? It does not require an Oracle client install for starters.
[quote=308022:@James Dooley]Before I take up the battle yet again…
Has anyone tried the ODBC driver from Devart? It does not require an Oracle client install for starters.[/quote]
I havent.
OK, good news for a change - Devart ODBC driver works a charm:
I just installed the driver, configured the data source and up it came. This was using the direct method - no oracle client. The OCI version of the driver fell over like the Oracle and MS ones.
Of course it will set you back $150, but I guess is you’re paying for Oracle licences you can afford it 
what are oracle advantages over a postgresql server ?
except licence price and install complexity ?
If all you need to do is checking how Oracle works, http://sqlfiddle.com/ is the place to go. Else I’d look into using https://aws.amazon.com/oracle/?nc1=h_ls before embarking on the adventure of installing it myself.
[quote=308168:@Jean-Yves Pochez]what are oracle advantages over a postgresql server ?
except licence price and install complexity ?[/quote]