How to crate a new database

Question

I have installed the XE edition and the home page and all works. What I would like to do is create a simple database and have an application talk to it via OLEDB. Two problems with that:
1) If you want to create a new database, the simplest option is to use the Database Configuration Assistance (DBCA). But that doesnt come with XE and you dont appear to be able to download it.
Your next option is to use SQL statements. The manual contains some info but it states that your DBA will typically create the database using SQl scripts. It does give some snippets as to what you might do, but it is not complete and hence fails if you try it (bad docs!). I found a few other web pages that contain some commands, e,g this one:
http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/ora/admin/creatingdbmanually.html
which I am about to try next.
Why is creating a new DB using Oracle so hard? Took me 10 min on MySQL and SQL Server. Surely for test purposes if you just want a simple database with default settings, it should be easy to create?
2) Visual Studio 2003 lets you do a database connection test. So with Oracle XE installed, I did a connection test using "Microsfot OLE DB Provider for SQL Server" and I choose local host and give it my admin user name and password. It says "Test connection failed because of an error initializing provider. SQL Server does not exist or access denied". I also installed ODAC101040 which is supposed to install the Oracle OLEDB driver. So if I try and do a connection test for the "Oracle Provider for OLE DB". Just selecting it gives you "OraOLEDBplus10.dll - The specific module could not be found". So what does ODAC101040 install really then?
Any ideas?

Answer 1

I will take the first part of this (BTW - it's often better to have seperate threads for seperate questions - makes it easier to track).
The concept of a database in SQLServer and MySQL is different than the concept of a database in Oracle. In Oracle, we use the concept of a schema to seperate logical objects in a name space, SQLServer and MySQL use a database. We also then use the concept of a tablespace to seperate how physical objects are stored, as opposed to how a database is used in SQLServer and MySQL.
In XE, you can have as many schemas and tablespaces as you want. So instead of looking at CREATE DATABASE (which is really complicated, and not really doing what you think it is doing), you should be instead be considering CREATE USER (creates a schema in which you can then create database objects) and CREATE TABLESPACE (creates a physical storage location). Having said that, XE defaults the physical storage locations to a generic tablespace called USERS, as an aid to simplicity, but you can create your own tablespaces if you wish.
CREATE USER is docced in the 2 DAY DBA guide for XE. CREATE TABLESPACE is in the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 doc - http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/statements_7003.htm#SQLRF01403
So the question really is - what is if that you are wanting to do when you are trying to create a database in Oracle ? What is the problem you are trying to solve ?