VB 2005 Express compatibility question

[adshocker]

hi all,

i recently downloaded the VB 2005 Express Edition and I'm having a hardtime using it to connect to an Oracle Database. When I try to add a DataSource using the wizard, I only get 2 options... MS Access and SQL Server. No Oracle available.

I guess my question is, Is this one of the limitations of VB 2005 Express Edition?

thanks..

 

[JuggaloBrotha]

use OleDB classes and get the oracle connection string from http://www.connectionstrings.com/

 

[adshocker]

use OleDB classes and get the oracle connection string from http://www.connectionstrings.com/

alrighty.. thanks so much.

 

[cjard]

I dont think that will work in the way youre expecting. VB Express has been crippled to only connect to Access and SQLServer for purposes of DataSet generation, and the wizard reflects this. Microsoft is smart enough to realise that allowing ODBC via OLEDB as a wizard option would remove their deliberate crippling.

THere is nothing stopping you referencing the System.Data.OracleClient dlls, connecting to Oracle and writing all the dataaccess code yourself. Your code would look a lot like:

Dim con as New System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnection(connString)
Dim cmd as New System.Data.OracleClient.OracleCommand("SELECT * FROM..", con)

...

I dont know what your budget it like, or what you think "expensive" is, but heck.. Given that VS Standard is available on amazon for GBP £175 and Pro £550, and maybe secondhand on ebay for even cheaper than that, I definitely think it's worth it not to have to write all the DAL code by hand. If I'd had to generate the same code by hand, in every project I've worked on, that the IDE has generated for me I'd be looking at weeks and weeks of work and thousands of pounds - spending 500 quid actually saved a huge amount of money in the longer run.. See if that makes sense to your situation

 

[adshocker]

I dont know what your budget it like, or what you think "expensive" is, but heck.. Given that VS Standard is available on amazon for GBP £175 and Pro £550, and maybe secondhand on ebay for even cheaper than that, I definitely think it's worth it not to have to write all the DAL code by hand. If I'd had to generate the same code by hand, in every project I've worked on, that the IDE has generated for me I'd be looking at weeks and weeks of work and thousands of pounds - spending 500 quid actually saved a huge amount of money in the longer run.. See if that makes sense to your situation

actually, i just used the express edition as a test run. but i am planning on upgrading to PRO.=)
i also wanted to see the difference between the VB.Net 2003 and 2005 and tried to consider if it will be easy to learn it since I am just learning VB.Net 2003 as well.