How to connect Forms 6i & Reports 6i with oracle 10g R2?

Question

Hey everybody,
I need your help in connecting both Forms 6i & Reports 6i with Oracle 10g Release 2 db, MS Access(2003, 2007) and SQL database(Microsoft Visual Studio 2008). I am a newbie. I have installed all of them on my HP notebook, with Windows 7 Ultimate(32 bit OS) installed. I want to generate forms & reports by accessing data from above mentioned databases. Please provide me with the configuration steps.
Thanks in advance...!

Answer 1

Welcome to the forum ;-)
Please be sure to review the following:
http://blogs.oracle.com/shay/entry/10_commandments_for_the_otn_fo
First, I think it would be a good idea if we can understand why you have chosen to use a nearly new operating system yet install Oracle products that are 10 years old (i.e. Forms/Reports 6i) on it. In general, this is not a good idea. Although running such an old version on Win7 can be made to work, the possibility of having problems is likely. If you are infact new to the product, using a configuration where you are likely to have problems may not be a good starting place. Also, you should be aware that Forms/Reports 6i was desupported several years ago. Documentation and other information is gradually being replaced by newer information, so resources for this old version are going away. The latest version of Forms/Reports is part of Fusion Middleware 11R2 (version 11.1.2.0) and requires WebLogic Server 10.3.5 (or 10.3.6) in order to be installed.
Second, if you decide to stick with F/R 6i, are you planning to run the applications you create in a browser or as a client/server application? This information is important because how you connect to a database will slightly differ depending on which option you choose. Also, if you want to connect to non-Oracle data sources you can use ODBC for client/server or Oracle Transparent Gateway. However, if you plan to deploy the applications using a browser, Gateway is your only option for connecting to non-Oracle datasources. As for connecting to MS Access, I believe ODBC is your only option, so web deployment may not be an option.
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/gateways.102/b14270/ch1.htm
There are many other references available. Try a Google search.
As for connecting to an Oracle database, this is generally easy. For the Builder(s) and client/server runtime to connect, add the db information to the tnsnames.ora found in the Oracle Home (installation directory) \network\admin. If you are unfamiliar with what goes in the file you can copy the entries created for your database. The db will have a similar file found in a similar place in its installation directory (Oracle Home). For example, you might find something like this:
ORCL =
(DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = YOURSERVER.COM)(PORT = 1521))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = orcl)
)Simply copy this information to the end of your tnsnames.ora found where Forms/Reports is installed then restart any running Forms or Builders.