How to Connect Oracle Database in VB.NET 2017?

In this tutorial, you will learn how to connect Oracle Database in VB.Net 2017 using ADO.NET data access provider.

Follow These Steps to Connect Oracle Database in VB.NET 2017

1. First, download Oracle Data Access Components for .NET from Oracle with the following link: Download ODAC for Visual Studio 2017.
2. After completing the download, install it on your system.
3. Then in Visual Studio 2017, open your project or create a new and do right click on the Reference node in Solution Explorer.
4. From the shortcut menu, choose Add Reference option and then in the Reference Manager window look for Oracle.ManagedDataAccess and check the check-box and click on OK button, as shown in the below image:

Now you are ready to use Oracle Data Access components in your VB.NET 2017 program and below is an example.

VB.NET 2017 Program Example to Connect Oracle Database

In the following example, it will ask the user to enter Employee's ID, and after clicking on the Query button, it will show the employee's first and last name using the MessageBox. The schema used for this example is HR.

Imports System.Data
Imports Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.Client
Imports Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.Types

Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim oradb As String = "Data Source=localhost:1521/orcl;User Id=hr;Password=hrpsw;"
        Dim conn As New OracleConnection(oradb)
        conn.Open()
        Dim cmd As New OracleCommand
        Dim parm As New OracleParameter
        parm.OracleDbType = OracleDbType.Int64
        parm.Value = TextBox1.Text
        cmd.Connection = conn
        cmd.Parameters.Add(parm)
        cmd.CommandText = "select first_name, last_name from employees where employee_id = :1"
        cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text
        Try
            Dim dr As OracleDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader()
            dr.Read()
            MessageBox.Show("Employee Name: " + dr.Item("first_Name") + " " + dr.Item("last_name"), "Employee Info")
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Error")
        End Try
        conn.Dispose()
    End Sub
End Class

Output

See also:

• Connect to Oracle Database Using Python