Query Oracle Data through ODBC in Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. With the CData ODBC Driver for Oracle, you can access live Oracle data from Node.js apps and scripts. In this article, we walk through installing node-odbc and the required tools to create a simple Node.js app with access to live Oracle data.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Oracle data in Node.js. When you issue complex SQL queries from Node.js to Oracle, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Oracle and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Oracle Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

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.

Building node-odbc

In order to connect to Oracle through the CData ODBC Driver, you need to build node-odbc manually (after installing the required tools).

Installing the Required Tools

The following commands install the tools required to build node-odbc (note the -g parameter, which installs the tools globally).

npm i -g windows-build-tools
npm i -g node-gyp

Building node-odbc

After installing the required tools, create a directory for the Node.js app and install odbc (which builds the binary for us to use in our Node.js script).

mkdir nodeodbc
cd nodeodbc
npm i -g node

Querying Oracle from Node.js

With the ODBC Driver installed, a DSN Configured, and node-odbc built, we are ready to query live Oracle data from a Node.js app. The sample code below connects to a specific DSN and queries the Customers table.

myscript.js

const odbc = require('odbc');

async function queryOracleOCI() {
    const connection = await odbc.connect(`DSN=CData OracleOCI Source`);
    const data = await connection.query('SELECT CompanyName, City FROM Customers');
    console.log(data);
}

queryOracleOCI();

Once you write the app, use node to execute the script:

node myscript.js

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Oracle and start working with your live Oracle data in Node.js. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.