Unable to Connect to Oracle 10gR1 database from JDeveloper 11g using OCI JD

Question

We are migrating our application from OC4J to Weblogic server. As a part, I am trying to create a database connection in JDeveloper 11g (11.1.1.3.0 - Build JDEVADF_11.1.1.3.PS2_GENERIC_100408.2356.5660) to Oracle 10gR1 database. Previously I had Oracle 10g Client installed in the machine. Created a database connection using OCI driver and when I try to test connect, I got "Test Failed: no ocijdbc11 in java.library.path". I searched through Metalink and forums and one suggestion was to install Oracle 11g Client on the machine where Jdeveloper 11g is installed. I installed 11g R1 client and tried the same test connection using OCI driver. Now I am getting "Test failed: ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified" error.
The same database connection works good with Thin driver with both Oracle 10g client and 11gR1 client.
Previously I had Jdeveloper 10.1.3.2 and Oracle 10g Client and I was able to connect to database without any errors.
Could you provide me the steps for this or if I missed any steps?
Steps to Replicate:
For the error: no ocijdbc11 in java.library.path
1) Install JDeveloper 11g (With embedded Weblogic Server)
2) Install Oracle 10g Client on the same machine
3) Create a database connection in the "Application Resources --> Connection"
4) Use OCI driver. Enter the host details about the Oracle 10g R1 database
5) Test connect to the database.
ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified
1) Install JDeveloper 11g (With embedded Weblogic Server)
2) Install Oracle 11gR1 Client on the same machine
3) Create a database connection in the "Application Resources --> Connection"
4) Use OCI driver. Enter the host details about the Oracle 10g R1 database
5) Test connect to the database.
Note: Tried the same scenarios with Oracle 11gR2 client as well. It was not working at all.
Any ideas and pointers would be great.

Answer 1

1. will my problem get solved after i install oracle 11g client on my machine.Yes, your problem should get solved. The version of the Oracle 11g Client must match the version of the JDev's JDBC drivers. Alternatively you may install an Oracle 11g Client and replace JDev's Oracle JDBC drivers with these from the installed client. Please, read carefully my 1st posting above in this thread.
2. can i patch JDeveloper 11g on my machine to work with 10g client, or can i do the same with 10g client.You might succeed if you replace JDev's built-in JDBC drivers (which are 11g versions) with 10g versions, but I do not recommend you to try that because JDeveloper 11g and ADF 11g may be using some 11g features that do not exist in 10g drivers, so you may have problems.
I also have PLSql developer installed on my machine and it works well.PL/SQL Developer does not use JDBC drivers, so it is not an relevant example in this case.
My generall recommendation is to use Oracle JDBC Thin drivers. Oracle claimed that OCI drivers had better performance, but this was really true about earlier releases. Current Oracle 11g JDBC Thin drivers offer excellent performance and they offer all the features of the OCI versions (which was not true about earlier releases). In my opinion, the most important disadvantage of Oracle JDBC OCI drivers is that most versions have native memory leaks so all the RAM would get consumed after long application execution. The fact that WebLogic Server does not offer Oracle JDBC OCI drivers by default anymore says that Oracle discourages the usage of the OCI driver in favour of Thin driver.
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