Oracle's Visual Studio Quickstart Guide
Welcome, Visual Studio developers! Use this Quickstart guide to start using Oracle's free .NET tools and products as quickly as possible!
Get Installed
Step 1: If you are using Visual Studio 2017 Click here to download ODAC for Visual Studio 2017. Download the newest version available.
If you are using Visual Studio 2015 Click here to download ODAC for Visual Studio 2015. Download the newest version available.
Note: Support for Visual Studio 2019 is coming soon. For coding with our ADO.NET package, find Oracle Data Provider for .NET and Oracle Data Provider for .NET Core on Nuget.
Step 2: Install ODAC:
1) Run the downloaded exe.
2) Choose to install into a new "Oracle Home" (subdirectory)
3) If prompted, select the version(s) of Visual Studio you wish to integrate with (eg Visual Studio 2017)
Step 3: Create a new connection in Visual Studio:
Create a new connection from Server Explorer in Visual Studio and use these images as guides: change the datasource , making sure to choose the flavor of ODP.NET that your .NET application will use (Managed or Unmanaged) - and then connect to oracle. In the Oracle connection dialog, if you have a connection alias choose a "Connection Type" of "TNS" and then choose the alias from the "Data Source Name" drop down list. If you do not have a connection alias, you can choose a Connection Type of "EZ Connect" and then provide the host, port, and service name for the database you wish to connect to.
host[:port][/service_name]
host = the database server machine's host name
port = the port where the database listens for incoming connection requests (default port is 1521 which most databases are configured to use)
service_name = the database's global name
For example
sales-server:1521/sales.us.acme.com
Step 4: Verify that pre-existing connection aliases are available to Visual Studio
If prior to this installation you already had a working connection to Oracle, the installer will attempt to make sure that connect aliases located in your TNSNAMES.ORA file will continue to be available to this new installation. If in the previous step you did not see an alias in the "Data Source Name" drop down that you have used in the past , do the following:
1) When attempting to create a new connection in Server Explorer, look in the Oracle Connection dialog for the current path to TNSNAMES.ORA. This will typically be set to the <installation_directory>\network\admin.
2) Search your machine for copies of TNSNAMES.ORA and copy the relevant one over to this location. If a TNSNAMES.ORA file already exists in the location pointed to in the connection dialog, cut and paste missing aliases into that file.
Note: If prior installations relied upon LDAP (instead of TNSNAMES.ORA) to look up connection aliases and this is no longer is working with the new installation, see the online help for more information.
Get Started
Video: Oracle Integration with Visual Studio
Oracle by Example Step-by-Step Walkthroughs (Basic features)
Oracle by Example Step-by-Step Walkthroughs (New 12c Features)
Technical Article: Getting Started with Oracle Database and Visual Studio
Visit the .NET Developer Center for additional content
Get Help
Get Deployed
ODP.NET is available as both a fully managed driver on Nuget, and also as an unmanaged driver. ODP.NET Unmanaged is available for 32-bit and separately for 64-bit platforms, as it relies on unmanaged Oracle client components. To download 32-bit or 64-bit ODP.NET for deployment purposes, click here.
Get Migrated
Currently using the Microsoft OracleClient for .NET data access? Visit our OracleClient Migration page.