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Connecting to Oracle without Configuring the tnsnames.ora File

Connecting to Oracle without Configuring the tnsnames.ora File

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Have you ever wanted to connect to a database without dealing with Oracle’s annoying reliance on the tnsnames.ora file?

The trick is to put the tnsnames information into the ODBC connection string directly, using the Data Source=… option.

The following (untested) code is VB, but the concept should work in any language that supports ODBC:

    Dim TNS_INFO As String    Dim cnxDB As New ADODB.Connection        TNS_INFO = "(DESCRIPTION=" & _                       "(ADDRESS_LIST=" & _                       "(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)" & _                       "(HOST=prodtst1.sdd.hp.com)" & _                       "(PORT=1521)))" & _                       "(CONNECT_DATA=(SID=prod_tst)" & _                       "(SERVER=DEDICATED)))"        cnxDB.ConnectionString = "Provider=OraOLEDB.Oracle;" & _                       "Data Source=" & TNS_INFO & ";" & _                       "user id=cressman;" & _                       "password=mean2me"    Debug.Print cnxDB.ConnectionString    cnxDB.Open
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