ODBC question - for the database experts

[Agum]

can anyone explain or give me a link to a page that explains how ODBC really works?

i'm under the impression that ODBC is simply a set of libraries that have functions that let you easily connect to an oracle database (or other database systems as well i assume, like MS Access?) and do stuff to the db using SQL queries from your program. that's kinda what i think it is from what i've done back in one class i took with java servlets and JDBC.

i'm trying to search for stuff on google and there are things like ODBC Drivers, ODBC Driver Managers, none of which i really know anything about at all. it seems like there are many more things than i thought there is.

in particular, at this moment i'm trying to develop some C/C++ applications that interact with an oracle database. i downloaded the free Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit from MS and i was wondering is it actually possible to develop ODBC driven applications at all with it? or must i use the full visual C++ (but i don't actually need to write windows applications, just dos-based is fine)? and no, doing everything in UNIX isn't an option because of the systems i'm designing these applications for so i have to stick with windows api..

it would be great if someone has experiences with any of these could give me some pointers. i'm quite lost at the moment =(

 

[kabatak]

ODBC (Open DataBase Connectity) is a standard method/API made by microsoft used to connect to different DBMS that are ODBC complaint. so its some sort of database abstraction layer that you can use to connect to oracle, mysql, mssql, etc. as long as they're ODBC complaint.

 

[Agum]

if i want to write applications that uses ODBC to connect to a oracle database... what do i need to get?
at the moment i installed the free MS Visual C++ Toolkit 2003, what else do i need to download and install now? anything i can get for free?

 

[kabatak]

i believe it should be builtin already. i'm not so familiar with all languages, i think you should google your specific platform/language that you'll use.

 

[Agum]

I actually found out something more this time..

I found out that without much extra hassles, all you really need are: sql.h, sqlext.h, sqltypes.h header files and their respective libraries, in order to write a C/C++ program that can connect to an Oracle database and query it and retrieve results. I even found some really simple and straightforward code samples online, now it seems like using ODBC in C is pretty straightforward as well, almost as easy as in PHP.

but now the problem is, I don't have those libraries. Apparently they are included with the full Visual Studio suite (or at least just Visual C++). But apparently not with the free Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 DOS compiler. These files seem like pretty standard though, and at some point in the Microsoft web site it says they're available for download (documentation at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/odbcsql/od_6_0crtap_8my6.asp ), only that I can't find them.

so does anyone know where I can get sql.h, sqlext.h and sqltypes.h and their library codes?

Thanks!

 

[Agum]

got it figured out.
download "Windows Platform SDK" from microsoft.com (on Related Downloads on the VC++ Toolkit 2003 main page). (just for those who'd like to know)