Paul, I can only answer question #2: I successfully connect to an Oracle db from Rbase through the standard Rbase ODBC driver (6.5++ WIN). Although I am the dba on the Oracle db (in name only, I didn't set it up), I have to log in as dba each time I access the tables to create tables, forms and reports in RB. On the other hand, my users login with a different username/pwd which I created for them in the Oracle users table (in my case, with read only rights as they only do lookups). I haven't tried to set up views yet but now that you mention it I will try next time I'm in the office (next week).
On the varchar issue, if/when you design RB tables to mirror the Oracle tables (sconnect--I'm not brave enough to sattach any of the Oracle tables yet), you are given the opportunity to pick the fields in Oracle and change the data type to be used in the RB table. Hope this helps... ~Claudine :) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 10:07 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Rbase Connection to Oracle db via ODBC Greetings all. This question may turn out to be a philosopy question. I'm on Rbwin 6.5++, and the latest beta patch, issued last week... Friday? The patch doesn't have anything to do with it, though, the behavior below was there before. I'm running MS Windows 2000, service pack 2. I'm trying to sconnect and sattach to an Oracle database via ODBC. My university uses SCT's Banner product, which uses Oracle as the database, but from my level, which is a lowly user and not the DBA, it's unclear as to how much of the structure I see is Oracle and how much is Banner's screening through security levels. I do have read access on the Oracle tables. I can sucessfully sconnect and sattach to tables. The problem is that the data types don't come out in Rbase as what they are in Oracle. See the tables below at the end of the e-mail. A 'varchar' data type (which I think means variable character) in Oracle, gets translated as a Note data type in Rbase. Question #1: Where do I look to solve the problem? I'm thinking it's in the oracle specific ODBC driver, but I'm not sure. I have two different drivers connecting to the Oracle database. One came with Win2K from Microsoft, and I use it to connect MS Access to the same database sucessfully. I've tried using this driver with Rbase, but it appears that Rbase (or something) passes the connection information to the driver in the wrong order. Or at least in a order that the driver doesn't understand. Anyway, when using this driver with MS Access, the varchar datatype is correctly interpreted as Text. I have another driver, supplied by Oracle, and which was installed for ODBC access by another SCT application. This is the driver I use to make the connection from Rbase. And it works. But I'd rather have the varchar2 data type interpreted as TEXT in Rbase. Question #2: Does anybody know the correct driver for Rbase to use to connect to Oracle tables? Question #3: Will Rbwin 7 do this any differently? Question #4: Can I use views to handle this? Can I redefine a data type in a view? I haven't worked enough with views in Rbase to know, but I suspect it's a silly question. The oracle database is so rigorously normalized, and I have so many tables to work with, I know I'm going to have to create views. My object is to get rid of MS Access. It works, but I'd rather have the control I can get from the mighty R>, and command files, instead of having to learn VB. Besides, I'm drooling in anticipation of Rbwin 7, just from the e-mails on this list. TIA Paul Patrick [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, OK 73034 (405) 974-2336 fax (405) 341-4964 This is the table as defined in Oracle. Database version is 8.1.7.3. COLUMN_NAME NULLABLE DATA_TYPE DATA_LENGTH DATA_PRECISION DATA_SCALE SSRFEES_TERM_CODE N VARCHAR2 6 SSRFEES_CRN N VARCHAR2 5 SSRFEES_DETL_CODE N VARCHAR2 4 SSRFEES_FEE_IND N VARCHAR2 1 SSRFEES_FEE_IND_IND N NUMBER 1 1 0 SSRFEES_AMOUNT N NUMBER 8 6 2 SSRFEES_ACTIVITY_DATE N DATE 7 SSRFEES_LEVL_CODE Y VARCHAR2 2 After sattach in Rbase (and after assigning alias to too-long column names) I get the following. Unfortunately, I hosed the driver last night and can't reconnect until my IT department reinstalls stuff, so the following is from memory. But the note part is accurate. SSRFEES_TERM_CODE Note SSRFEES_CRN Note SSRFEES_DETL_CODE Note SSRFEES_FEE_IND Note SSRFEES_FEE_IND2 Integer SSRFEES_AMOUNT Real SSRFEES_ACTIVDATE Datetime (this is correct, the DATE field above is really date/time) SSRFEES_LEVL_CODE Note And, when browsing/editing the table, the note fields show up as the correct length for the data. ================================================ TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l ================================================ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l ================================================ TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ ================================================ TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l ================================================ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l ================================================ TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/
