1
Introduction to Pro*C/C++

This chapter describes Pro*C/C++, the Oracle programmatic interface for the C and C++ language running under the Window operating system. Pro*C/C++ enables you to build Oracle database applications in a WIN32 environment. This chapter includes:

• What is Pro*C/C++?
• Features

  Note: For general information on using Pro*C/C++ under all operating systems, see Programmer's Guide to the Oracle Pro*C/C++ Precompiler.

What is Pro*C/C++?

The Pro*C/C++ precompiler takes SQL statements embedded in your C and C++ program and converts them to standard C and C++ code, respectively. When you successfully precompile this code, the result is a C or C++ program that you can compile and use to build applications that access an Oracle database.

To access an Oracle database, a high-level query language called Structured Query Language (SQL) is used. Pro*C/C++ is a precompiler that converts SQL statements in EXEC SQL commands into C and C++ statements so that the resulting output file can then be compiled by a C and C++ compiler.

Pro*C/C++ embeds SQL statements in a C and C++ program, allowing you to create applications that access your Oracle database whenever rapid development and compatibility with other systems are your priorities.

PL/SQL Support

Pro*C/C++ supports PL/SQL, Oracle's procedural language extensions to the SQL language standard for enhancing performance of the Oracle database.

Note: PL/SQL is supported for releases of Oracle databases version 8.0. You can also embed PL/SQL blocks in Pro*C/C++ applications that use the transaction processing option to access an Oracle database.

Additional Information: For more information on PL/SQL, see the PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference, available with your Oracle8 Server documentation. For information on PL/SQL in your Pro*C/C++ applications, see the Programmer's Guide to the Oracle Pro*C/C++ Precompiler.

Features

This release of Pro*C/C++ supports these features:

• remote (by way of Net8) or local access to Oracle8 Servers, version 8.0
• embedded PL/SQL blocks
• bundled database calls, which can provide better performance in client/server environments
• full ANSI compliance for embedded SQL programming
• PL/SQL version 8.0 and host language arrays in PL/SQL procedures
• calls to stored PL/SQL anonymous blocks
• multi-threaded applications
• full ANSI C compliance
• Microsoft Visual C++ support, version 5.0 for 32-bit applications
• Borland C++ support, version 5.0 for 32-bit applications

Limitations

Pro*C/C++ Release 8.0 does not support local parsing of PL/SQL. All PL/SQL is processed by the Oracle8 Server and must be in anonymous PL/SQL blocks. Therefore, access to an Oracle8 server must be available when precompiling files with PL/SQL blocks.

---