Manipulate Advertisements - DML Operations on Dataset For LOB Columns Through Oracle Provider for OLEDB

Table of Contents 

Overview of the Sample Application 
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This .NET sample application aims at demonstrating how to perform DML operations on Data Set for LOB (Large Objects) columns like images, sounds etc. through Oracle Provider for OLE DB . The Oracle9i Release 2 OLE DB provider introduces full support for .NET via the Microsoft OLE DB .NET data provider. With OLE DB .NET, applications can access the Oracle database from any .NET programming language. OLEDB .NET Data Provider provides a collection of classes that are used to  access database.  Figure 1.1, describes how the data is accessed using OLEDB .NET Provider. 

Figure 1.1 Data Access Using OLEDB .NET  Provider

DataSet is a major component of ADO .NET. It is an in-memory cache of the data retrieved from the database. OleDbDataAdapter  represents a set of data commands and a database connection that are used to fill the Dataset based on the query given.  OleDbCommand represents SQL statements to execute against datasource. OleDBConnection is used to build the database connection. 
This sample is used to create/update advertisements for products. When this sample is run, a drop down list populated with products is displayed.The user can select a product from the list for which he/she wishes to create/update the advertisement.  The user can create a new advertisement or update an existing one by entering advertisement text in the text box and selecting image from the file-dialog, by clicking the 'Browse' button. 'Save' button can be clicked to commit changes and 'Close' button can be clicked to exit out of the application. 

 

User Notes with Screen Shots
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When this sample application is run, a list of products populated from database table 'Products' is displayed. If the advertisement 
text and image already exists for the selected product then advertisement text and image is displayed as shown in figure 1.2


                            Figure 1.2 Screen Shot for Manipulate Advertisement Sample Initial Screen.

To insert/update an advertisement for a product selected from the list, the user can enter the value of Advertisement text. 
To select an image for the advertisement, the user can click on 'Browse' button. A file dialog is displayed as shown in figure 1.3. 

Figure 1.3 Screen Shot displaying File Dialog Box For Image

The selected image appears in the 'New Ad Image' picture box as shown in figure 1.4 . The user can commit 
the changes by clicking the 'Save' button. 

Figure 1.4 Screen Shot After Selecting Image From File Dialog Box 

The user can click on 'Close' button to exit from the application.
 

Required Software 
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1. Visual C# installed with MS Development Environment 7.0 version (MS Visual Studio .NET)  including MS .NET Framework 1.0 version

2. Oracle8i Database or later running SQL*Net TCP/IP listener (can be downloaded here )

3. Oracle Provider for OLE DB (can be downloaded here)
 

Extracting the Sample
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Unzip DSwithLOB.zip using Winzip or command utility to your convenient directory. Extraction of the zip file results 
in the creation of 'DSwithLOB' directory.  Refer Description of Sample Files section for more details. 
 

Database Setup 
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Connect to your database as any user and run the script DSwithLOB\setup\DatabaseSetup.sql at the 
SQL prompt
SQL> @<your directory structure>\DSwithLOB\setup\DatabaseSetup.sql

This creates a user "OraNet" with password "OraNet". All the database objects required by the application
are created and populated with initial data.

Following is the list of database objects that get created by running DatabaseSetup.sql file. 
Object Name Description
Products Table that store information about products.
Printmedia Table that stores information about the advertisement related to products.
Prodid_seq Sequence for auto generating Product IDs.
Adid_seq Sequence for auto generating Advertisement ID.
PopulateProduct_ID Trigger for populating Product ID column of  'Products' table on insertion. 
Populate_AdID Trigger for populating  Ad_ID column of 'PrintMedia'  table on insertion.

Preparing and Running the Sample
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1. Ensure that the Database setup has been completed. 

2. Open DSwithLOB.sln using Visual Studio .NET from <your-directory-structure>\DSwithLOB\src folder. 

3. Edit ConnectionParams.cs file to change the database connection parameters i.e. TNSName for  database
you want to use . Save this file. 

4. Ensure that the following .NET Component References have been added to DSwithLOB project: 
           System, 
           System.Data, 
           System.Drawing, 
           System.Windows.Forms, 
           System.XML. 

To add the above .NET Components 
     a)Go to Menu ->View-> Solution Explorer.
     b)Right click on DSwithLOB project, choose 'Add Reference'. 
     c)Choose the above .NET Components from the list displayed.
     d)Click 'Select', then OK.
     e) The chosen .NET component gets added to the project.

5. Build and run the sample. 
 

Description of Sample Files 
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Directory File Name Description
DSwithLOB\doc Readme.html This file
blaf.css This is a cascading stylesheet applied to Readme.html
DSwithLOB\doc\images This folder contains images used in the Readme.html file
DSwithLOB\src DSwithLOB.sln Microsoft Visual Studio Solution
  DSwithLOB.suo Solution User option (this file gets automatically generated when a Visual Studio Solution is created)
DSwithLOB\src\ ConnectionParams.cs This C# file contains parameters for database connection
ManipulateAds.cs This C# file contains source code for UI for sample application and its functionality
DSwithLOB.csproj C# project file
DSwithLOB.csproj.user Visual Studio Project User Options (this file gets automatically generated when a Visual Studio Project is created)
ManipulateAds.resx .NET XML Resource Template (this file gets automatically generated when a Visual Studio Project is created)
DSwithLOB\setup DatabaseSetup.sql This is a SQL script file 

 


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