Preface

The Oracle Call Interface (OCI) is an application programming interface (API) that lets applications written in C or C++ interact with one or more Oracle database servers. OCI gives your programs the capability to perform the full range of database operations that are possible with an Oracle database server, including SQL statement processing and object manipulation.

Audience

This guide is intended for programmers developing new applications or converting existing applications to run in the Oracle environment. This comprehensive treatment of OCI will also be valuable to systems analysts, project managers, and others interested in the development of database applications.

This guide assumes that you have a working knowledge of application programming using C. Readers should also be familiar with the use of Structured Query Language (SQL) to access information in relational database systems. In addition, some sections of this guide also assume a knowledge of the basic concepts of object-oriented programming.

Documentation Accessibility

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Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

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Related Documents

Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas, which are installed by default when you select the Basic Installation option with an Oracle Database installation. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

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The Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide does not contain all information that describes the features and functionality of OCI in the Standard Edition and the Enterprise Edition products.

Oracle C++ Call Interface

For C++ programmers, the Oracle C++ Call Interface provides OCI functionality for C++ programs and lets you manipulate database objects (of user-defined types) as C++ objects.

Other Sources of Information about OCI

For other sources of information about OCI:

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention	Meaning
boldface	Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic	Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
`monospace`	Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.