Oracle instant client with OraOLE DB provider?

Question

Is it possible to use oracle instant client for application that use oraoledb driver for connecting to oracle 9i DB.

Answer 1

I don't believe so. The Instant Client FAQ states

What can Instant Client be used for? Instant Client can be used to run your OCI, OCCI, ProC, JDBC, and ODBC applications without installing a full Oracle Client. In addition, Instant Client supports SQLPlus. As of Instant Client 10.2, it is also possible to develop applications for OCI and OCCI using the Instant Client SDK download.

OLE DB is conspicuously absent from that list. Now, potentially, you could use the Microsoft OLE DB to ODBC provider along with the Instant Client and ODBC, but adding additional layers to software is never very fun.

Answer 2

I think it is possible. Look for Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC). I've downloaded the ODAC XCopy version, then:

1. unzip on some tmp folder
2. open cmd as administrator
3. run install.bat (I've run: install oledb c:\oracle\odac_12_1 odac true)

Despite being on this script, the command regsvr32 (to register the oraoledb12.dll, in my case) didn't work. But running this command after the script worked. Check the PATH variable as well because the script could only change it for the prompt session.

Now I'm being able to connect to a Oracle DB using OraOLEDB.Oracle provider and Oracle Instant Client.