Does ODP.NET require Oracle Client installation

Question

I have to connect Oracle 11g DB from .NET code. For that purpose I installed ODP.NET bur after reading some forum posts I recognized that I need Oracle Client installation t

Answer 1

It worked for me (PC without Oracle Client):

Edited:

Although this solution worked well; Today, I think the best approach is to use the Oracle Managed Data Access drivers. Is it better when we need to avoid issues between desktop and server environments when one of them is not using the same (32-bit or 64-bits) architecture;

Thanks to Iron Automation:

Link: http://www.iron-automation.com/2018/02/connecting-to-oracle-database-without-installing-oracle-client/

The solution below will apply both to 11g and 12c databases.

Follow the steps:

• Step 1

  We will need a set of dlls provided by Oracle to use in our project. So at this first step, download Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC) for your version of Windows. As of the posting date of this article, the valid download URL is: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/dotnet/downloads/odacdeploy-4242173.html

  Note: ODAC 32 bit version works both for 32bit and 64bit. And I had several problems when using 64bit version. So I can suggests directly downloading the 32bit version.

  Open the downloaded zip file and get the dlls below together. I listed the dlls with the folder where you will find them. We will later copy them into our debug folder.

    \instantclient_12_2\ 
        oci.dll  
        orannzsbb12.dll  
        oraocci12.dll  
        oraocci12d.dll  
        oraociei12.dll  
        oraons.dll  

    \oramts\bin\  
        oramts.dll  
        oramts12.dll  
        oramtsus.dll  

    \odp.net4\odp.net\bin\4\  
        Oracle.DataAccess.dll  

    \odp.net4\bin\  
        OraOps12.dll  

• Step 2

  Use Visual Studio to create a console application and copy the dlls listed in Step 1 into the same folder as your project executable, the Debug folder. Add a reference to “Oracle.DataAccess.dll” by browsing to your Debug folder where you have just copied this dll into.

It worked for me (PC with Oracle Client Installed):

• Download Driver XCOPY Version:

  https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/dotnet-odacdeploy-downloads.html

  32-bit ODAC 12.2.0.1.0

  ODAC122010Xcopy_32bit.zip

• Just add reference to Oracle.DataAccess.dll in the project references:

    ------------------------------- ------------------- ----------- ----------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- 
    Name                            Date modify         Size        Version           Folder                      Type                  
    ------------------------------- ------------------- ----------- ----------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- 
    Oracle.DataAccess.dll           24/05/2017 16:46    2.100 KB    4.122.1.0         

• Browse to odp.net4 folder (With bulk insert support)

• Copy this files to ouptut bin folder:

    ------------------------------- ------------------- ----------- ----------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- 
    Name                            Date modify         Size        Version           Folder                      Type                  
    ------------------------------- ------------------- ----------- ----------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- 
    oci.dll                         13/02/2017 23:31    1.270 KB    12.2.0.0          InstantClient_12_2          Extensão de aplicativo    
    ociw32.dll                      13/02/2017 22:20      346 KB    11.1.0.1          InstantClient_12_2          Extensão de aplicativo    
    orannzsbb12.dll                 05/12/2016 18:38    4.329 KB    12.2.0.1          InstantClient_12_2          Extensão de aplicativo    
    oraocci12.dll                   13/02/2017 21:29    1.006 KB    12.2.0.1          InstantClient_12_2          Extensão de aplicativo    
    OraOps12.dll                    24/05/2017 16:45      433 KB    2.122.1.0         InstantClient_12_2          Extensão de aplicativo    

• OBS: In my case it´s not necessary:

    ------------------------------- ------------------- ----------- ----------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- 
    Name                            Date modify         Size        Version           Folder                      Type                  
    ------------------------------- ------------------- ----------- ----------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- 
    Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.dll    24/05/2017 16:07    4.763 KB    4.122.1.0