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Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday launched new technology to help developers build .Net applications using data from Oracle Corp.s databases.
The Microsoft .Net Framework Data Provider for Oracle, now available for free download, lets users of ADO.NET, a core technology in the .Net Framework, access Oracle data. The new tool offers a programming model mimicking the SQL Server Managed Provider, so developers can access data from multiple sources without needing to learn new skills, said officials from the Redmond, Wash., software giant.
“Our customers have all kinds of data stored in Oracle back ends, and they need a way to access this data in the .Net world,” said Tom Button, vice president of Microsofts developer platform and evangelism division, in a statement. “The .Net Framework Data Provider for Oracle is another way for developers to build to the .Net Framework while protecting their investments in existing applications and data.”
The .Net Framework Data Provider offers a native interface to Oracle, allowing it to replace an unmanaged OLE DB provider. The native support can improve performance compared to when an OLE DB driver is used, sometimes as much as 200 percent, Microsoft officials said.
To access data in Oracle databases, the tool also provides a full set of Oracle 9i data types and support for reference cursors and result sets from Oracle-stored procedures, officials said. Because the .Net Framework Data Provider for Oracle has a similar programming model as the SQL Server Managed Provider, developers can use Oracle skills to build and deploy applications on other databases as well.
The .Net Framework Data Provider for Oracle can be downloaded at www.msdn.microsoft.com/downloads
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