Viewing Oracle Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Oracle, you gain access to live Oracle data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve and update Oracle data. This article will walk through connecting to Oracle using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Oracle

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To connect to Oracle, you'll first need to update your PATH variable and ensure it contains a folder location that includes the native DLLs. The native DLLs can be found in the lib folder inside the installation directory. Once you've done this, set the following to connect:

• Port: The port used to connect to the server hosting the Oracle database.
• User: The user Id provided for authentication with the Oracle database.
• Password: The password provided for authentication with the Oracle database.
• Service Name: The service name of the Oracle database.

Connecting to Oracle Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Oracle data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Oracle and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection.
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Oracle.
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the tables for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a table (for example: Customers) onto the form.

8. Select the CustomersTable object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Customers data.

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to Oracle Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Oracle Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for Oracle Data