Oracle JDBC for Windows

This tutorial shows how to set up a data source and connect to an Oracle^® database using the Database Explorer app or the command line. This tutorial uses the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.3) JDBC driver for use with JDK™ 1.6 to connect to an Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 database.

Step 1. Verify the driver installation.

If the JDBC driver for Oracle is not installed on your computer, find the link on the Driver Installation page to install the driver. Follow the instructions to download and install this driver on your computer.

Step 2. Set up the operating system authentication.

Windows^® authentication enables you to connect to a database using your system or network username and password. In this case, the database does not require a different username and password. Windows authentication facilitates connecting to the database and maintaining database access credentials. After you add the required libraries to the system path, the Oracle JDBC driver enables connectivity using Windows authentication. The following steps show how to add these libraries to the Java^® library path in MATLAB^®. For details about Java libraries, see Java Class Path.

Ensure that you have the latest Oracle OCI libraries installed on your computer. To install the latest library, see Driver Installation.
Run the prefdir function in the Command Window. The output of this command is a file path to the MATLAB preferences folder on your computer. For details, see prefdir.
Close MATLAB.
Navigate to the folder from step 2, and create a file named javalibrarypath.txt in the folder.
Open javalibrarypath.txt and insert the path to the Oracle OCI libraries. The entry must include the full path to the library files. The entry must not contain the library file names. The following is an example of the path: C:\DB_Libraries\instantclient_11_2. Save and close javalibrarypath.txt.
In the environment variables of the advanced system settings, add the Oracle OCI library full path to the Windows Path environment variable.
Restart MATLAB.

Step 3. Set up the data source.

You set up a data source using the Database Explorer app or the command line.

Set Up Data Source Using Database Explorer App

Open the Database Explorer app by clicking the Apps tab on the MATLAB Toolstrip. Then, on the right of the Apps section, click the Show more arrow to open the apps gallery. Under Database Connectivity and Reporting, click Database Explorer. Alternatively, enter databaseExplorer at the command line.
In the Data Source section, select Configure Data Source > JDBC.
The JDBC Data Source Configuration dialog box opens.
In the Name box, enter the name of your data source. (This example uses a data source named ORA.) You use this name to establish a connection to your database.
From the Vendor list, select Oracle.
Note
To use the full entry from your tnsnames.ora file, select Other instead and enter the full entry in the resulting URL box. Then, enter the full path to the JDBC driver file in the Driver Location box and the name of the driver in the resulting Driver box. Save the JDBC data source. For details about these steps, see Other ODBC-Compliant or JDBC-Compliant Databases.
In the Driver Location box, enter the full path to the JDBC driver file.
If you want to store your user credentials for this data source, click the Set Credentials button.
In the Database box, enter the name of your database.
The name can be the service name or the Oracle system identifier (SID), depending on your specific Oracle database setup. For details, see your tnsnames.ora file, which is often stored in <ORACLE_HOME>\NETWORK\ADMIN, where <ORACLE_HOME> is the folder containing the installed database or Oracle client.
In the Server box, enter the name of your database server. Consult your database administrator for the name of your database server. In the Port Number box, enter the port number.
To establish the data source with Windows authentication, set Driver Type to oci.
Or, to establish the data source without Windows authentication, set Driver Type to thin.
Under Connection Options, in the Name column, enter the name of an additional driver-specific option. Then, in the Value column, enter the value of the driver-specific option. Click the plus sign + to specify additional driver-specific options.
Click Test.
- If you stored your user credentials using the Set Credentials button, the Database Explorer app attempts to make the connection.
- If you have not stored your credentials, the Test Connection dialog box opens. Enter the username and password for your database. If you are connecting with Windows authentication, then leave these boxes blank. Click Test.
If your connection succeeds, the Database Explorer dialog box displays a message indicating the connection is successful. Otherwise, it displays an error message.
Click Save. The JDBC Data Source Configuration dialog box displays a message indicating the data source is saved successfully. Close this dialog box.

Set Up Data Source Using Command Line

Create a JDBC data source for an Oracle database.

vendor = "Oracle";
opts = databaseConnectionOptions("jdbc",vendor);

Set the JDBC connection options. To set the connection options with Windows authentication, use the 'DriverType' name-value argument. For example, this code assumes that you are connecting to a JDBC data source named ORA, full path of the JDBC driver file C:\Drivers\ojdbc7.jar, database name toystore_doc, database server dbtb05, port number 1521, and driver type oci (for Windows authentication).
```
opts = setoptions(opts, ...
    'DataSourceName',"ORA", ...
    'JDBCDriverLocation',"C:\Drivers\ojdbc7.jar", ...
    'DatabaseName',"toystore_doc",'Server',"dbtb05", ...
    'PortNumber',1521,'DriverType',"oci");
```
To set the connection options without Windows authentication, omit the 'DriverType' name-value argument.
For a data source with Windows authentication, test the database connection by leaving the username and password blank.
```
username = "";
password = "";
status = testConnection(opts,username,password);
```
To test without Windows authentication, specify a username and password.
When a database requires authentication, the recommended practice is to store credentials in your MATLAB vault using setSecret instead of including them in your code. Retrieve your credentials by using the getSecret function.
Before R2024a: setSecret and getSecret are not available. Specify your username and password using character vectors or strings.
```
setSecret("usernameoracle");
setSecret("passwordoracle");
status = testConnection(opts,getSecret("usernameoracle"),getSecret("passwordoracle"));
```
Save the JDBC data source.
```
saveAsDataSource(opts)
```

After you complete the data source setup, connect to the Oracle database using the Database Explorer app or the JDBC driver and command line.

Step 4. Connect using the Database Explorer app or the command line.

Connect to Oracle Using Database Explorer App

On the Database Explorer tab, in the Connections section, click Connect and select the data source for the connection.
- If you stored your user credentials using the Set Credentials button, the Database Explorer app makes the connection and the Catalog and Schema dialog box opens.
- If you have not stored your user credentials, the connection dialog box opens. If you create a connection with Windows authentication, leave the Username and Password boxes blank in the connection dialog box, and click Connect. Otherwise, enter your username and password and click Connect and the Catalog and Schema dialog box opens.
In the Schema list, select the schema. Click OK.
The app connects to the database and displays its tables in the Data Browser pane. A data source tab appears to the right of the pane. The title of the data source tab is the data source name that you defined during the setup. The data source tab contains empty SQL Query and Data Preview panes.
Select tables in the Data Browser pane to query the database.
Close the data source tab to close the SQL query. In the Connections section, close the database connection by clicking Close Connection.
Note
If multiple connections are open, close the database connection of your choice by selecting the corresponding data source from the Close Connection list.

Connect to Oracle Using JDBC Driver and Command Line

To connect with Windows authentication, use the configured JDBC data source and specify a blank username and password. For example, this code assumes that you are connecting to a JDBC data source named ORA_Auth.
```
datasource = "ORA_Auth";
username = "";
password = "";
conn = database(datasource,username,password);
```
To connect without Windows authentication, use the configured JDBC data source and specify the username and the password by using the setSecret and getSecret functions.
For example, this code assumes that you are connecting to a JDBC data source named ORA.
```
datasource = "ORA";
setSecret("usernameoracle")
setSecret("passwordoracle")
conn = database(datasource,getSecret("usernameoracle"),getSecret("passwordoracle"));
```
If you have trouble using the database function, use the full entry from your tnsnames.ora file in the URL string as one consecutive line. Leave the first argument blank. For example, this code assumes that the value of the 'URL' name-value argument is set to the specified tnsnames.ora file entry for an Oracle database.
```
conn = database('',getSecret("usernameoracle"),getSecret("passwordoracle"), ...
    'Vendor','Oracle', ...
    'URL',['jdbc:oracle:thin:@(DESCRIPTION = ' ...
    '(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = sname)' ...
    '(PORT = 123456)) (CONNECT_DATA = ' ...
    '(SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = dbname) ) )']);
```
Close the database connection.
```
close(conn)
```