Can't use oci driver

Question

I am now tring to access database use oci8 driver in solaris2.5/oracle816/jdk 1.1.6/classes111.zip, I got a error message "Invalid driver designator" but I am now running the code in a local machine so may be it is not sql*net issue.
who knows the reason, thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Please check the way you are trying to make the connection to the database from Java.
I have just received the same error message (ORA-06401, isn`t it?) and checking my DriverManager.getConnection I have realised that I am using the syntax for the use of the THIN Driver not the OCI. I have not still test it, but I am sure that is the problem.
You can consult the Oracle8i JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference (http://technet.oracle.com/doc/java.815/a64685/basic1.htm) to see how to create an OCI and Thin connection.
Anyway, I transcribe you what it says :
Opening a Connection for the JDBC OCI Driver
For the JDBC OCI driver, you can specify the database by a TNSNAMES entry. You can find the available TNSNAMES entries listed in the file tnsnames.ora on the client computer from which you are connecting. On Windows NT this file is located in [ORACLE_HOME]\NETWORK\ADMIN. On UNIX systems, you can find it in /var/opt/oracle.
For example, if you want to connect to the database on host myhost as user scott with password tiger that has a TNSNAMES entry of MyHostString, enter:
Connection conn =
DriverManager.getConnection ("jdbc:oracle:oci8:@MyHostString",
"scott", "tiger");
Note that both the ":" and "@" characters are necessary.
For the JDBC OCI driver (as with the Thin driver), you can also specify the database with a Net8 keyword-value pair. This is less readable than a TNSNAMES entry but does not depend on the accuracy of the TNSNAMES.ORA file. The Net8 keyword-value pair also works with other JDBC drivers.
For example, if you want to connect to the database on host myhost that has a TCP/IP listener up on port 1521, and the SID (system identifier) is orcl, use a statement such as:
Connection conn =
DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:oci8:@(description=(address=(host= myhost)(protocol=tcp)(port=1521))(connect_data=(sid=orcl)))",
"scott", "tiger");
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