Preface

This guide provides introductory information for the Pro*C/C++ precompiler running on Microsoft Windows operating systems. Specific topics discussed in this preface are:

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you are familiar with:

Commands for deleting and copying files and the concepts of the search path, subdirectories, and path names.
Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating system.
Microsoft Visual C++ version 5.0 or higher.

Intended Audience

This guide is necessary for anyone who wants to use the Pro*C/C++ precompiler on Microsoft Windows.

How This Guide Is Organized

This guide is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introducing Pro*C/C++"

Describes Pro*C/C++, the Oracle programmatic interface for the C and C++ languages running on Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95/98 operating systems.

Chapter 2, "Using Pro*C/C++"

Explains how to create and precompile a project. Also describes the Pro*C/C++ graphical user interface, from which you execute commands with Windows menus and icons or with keyboard equivalents, and using Pro*C/C++ at the command line.

Chapter 3, "Sample Programs"

Describes how to build Oracle database applications with Pro*C/C++ using the sample programs that are included with this release, and provides an overview of how to build multi-threaded applications.

Chapter A, "Integrating Pro*C/C++ into Microsoft Visual C++"

Describes how to integrate Pro*C/C++ into the Microsoft Visual C++ integrated development environment.

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this guide.

Convention Example Meaning

All uppercase plain

SQL> ALTER DATABASE

Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords.

Italic

Italic is used to indicate a variable:
filename

Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you enter the actual name of the file.
Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.

square brackets [ ]

x:\[pathname]\oracle\home_name

Encloses optional items. For example, when you create an OFA-compliant Oracle home directory, you can place an optional pathname before the \oracle pathname.
Square brackets also indicate a function key, for example [Enter].

C:\>

C:\ORACLE>

Represents the Windows platforms command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt may differ and may, at times, reflect the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.

Backslash (\) before a directory name

\bin

Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.

oracle_home and oracle_base

Go to the oracle_base\oracle_home\bin directory.

In this Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA)-compliant release, all subdirectories are no longer under a top level oracle_home directory. There is now a new top-level directory called oracle_base that by default is c:\oracle. The Oracle home directories are located directly under oracle_base.
If you install Oracle8i release 8.1.6 on a computer where there is no other Oracle software on the computer, the default settings for the first Oracle home directory is c:\oracle\ora81. If you run Oracle Universal Installer again and install release 8.2.x, the second Oracle home directory is called \ora82.
All directory path examples in this guide follow OFA conventions. For more information on OFA, see Oracle8i Administrator's Guide for Windows NT.

HOME_NAME

OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener

Represents the Oracle home name. The home name can be up to sixteen alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.

HOMEID

HOME0, HOME1, HOME2

Represents a unique registry subkey for each Oracle home directory in which you install products. A new HOMEID is created and incremented each time you install products to a different Oracle home directory on one machine. Each HOMEID contains its own configuration parameter settings for installed Oracle products.

Symbols

period .
comma ,
hyphen -
semicolon ;
colon :
equal sign =
backslash \
single quote `
double quote "
parentheses ()

Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Convention	Example	Meaning
All uppercase plain	SQL> ALTER DATABASE	Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords.
Italic	Italic is used to indicate a variable: filename	Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type filename, you enter the actual name of the file. Italic is also used for emphasis in the text and to indicate the titles of other guides.
square brackets [ ]	`x:\[pathname]\oracle\home_name`	Encloses optional items. For example, when you create an OFA-compliant Oracle home directory, you can place an optional pathname before the `\oracle` pathname. Square brackets also indicate a function key, for example [Enter].
C:\>	C:\ORACLE>	Represents the Windows platforms command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt may differ and may, at times, reflect the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the MS-DOS command prompt in this guide.
Backslash (\) before a directory name	`\bin`	Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.
oracle_home and oracle_base	Go to the `oracle_base``\``oracle_home``\bin` directory.	In this Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA)-compliant release, all subdirectories are no longer under a top level `oracle_home` directory. There is now a new top-level directory called `oracle_base` that by default is `c:\oracle`. The Oracle home directories are located directly under `oracle_base`. If you install Oracle8i release 8.1.6 on a computer where there is no other Oracle software on the computer, the default settings for the first Oracle home directory is `c:\oracle\ora81`. If you run Oracle Universal Installer again and install release 8.2.x, the second Oracle home directory is called `\ora82`. All directory path examples in this guide follow OFA conventions. For more information on OFA, see Oracle8i Administrator's Guide for Windows NT.
HOME_NAME	OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener	Represents the Oracle home name. The home name can be up to sixteen alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.
HOMEID	HOME0, HOME1, HOME2	Represents a unique registry subkey for each Oracle home directory in which you install products. A new HOMEID is created and incremented each time you install products to a different Oracle home directory on one machine. Each HOMEID contains its own configuration parameter settings for installed Oracle products.
Symbols	period . comma , hyphen - semicolon ; colon : equal sign = backslash \ single quote ` double quote " parentheses ()	Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Documentation Library

This guide is part of a larger library of Oracle documentation. The Oracle documentation library consists of two types of documentation:

Documentation Type Describes...

Operating System-specific

Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle products in a Windows NT or Windows 95/98 environment. Operating system-specific documents are occasionally referred to in the generic documentation set. These documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in their title.

Generic

Oracle database, Oracle networking, and Application Programming Interfaces information that is uniform across all operating system platforms. The majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform (or operating system) documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating systems.
To easily identify where these generic documentation references are described in your operating system documentation, see the index of this guide for the following entry:
generic documentation references
All generic documentation references described in this guide appear under this index entry.