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Oracle® Data Provider for .NET Developer's Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2) Part Number B14307-01 |
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# What's New in Oracle Data Provider for .NET?

This section describes new features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET 10g Release 2 (10.2) and provides references to additional information. New features information from previous releases is also retained to help those users migrating to the current release.

The following sections describe the new features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET:

- New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 10.2

- New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 10.1.0.3

- New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 10.1

- New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 9.2.0.4

## New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 10.2

Oracle Data Provider for .NET release 10.2 includes the following:

- Server-Side Features

  Server-side features for Oracle Data Provider for .NET provide data access from .NET stored procedures. Such procedures are enabled by Oracle Database Extensions for .NET, a new feature included with Oracle database on Windows.

  See Also: Chapter 4, "Oracle Data Provider for .NET Server-Side Features" Oracle Database Extensions for .NET Developer's Guide

- Support for Client Identifier

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET exposes the `OracleConnection.ClientId` property, thus providing support for Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD) and application context. Client identifier makes configuring VPD simpler for the developer.

  See Also: "Client Identifier"

- Connection Pool Optimizations for Real Application Clusters (RAC)

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET optimizes connection pooling for RAC database by balancing work requests across RAC instances, based on the load balancing advisory and service goal. Furthermore, the ODP.NET connection pool can be enabled to proactively free resources associated with connections that have been severed due to a down RAC service, instance, or node.

  See Also: "Connection Pooling for a Real Application Clusters (RAC) Database"

- Database Change Notification Support

  Oracle Data Provider for .NET provides a notification framework that supports Database Change Notification. This enables applications to receive notifications when there is a change in a query result set or a change in the state of the database.

  See Also: "Database Change Notification Support" Chapter 7, "Database Change Notification"

- Better LOB performance and functionality with Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2) and later

  See Also: "InitialLOBFetchSize"

- Support for `IN` and `IN`/`OUT` `REF` `CURSOR` Objects

  This feature enables applications to retrieve `REF` `Cursor`s from a PL/SQL procedure or function and pass them to another stored procedure or function.

  See Also: "Passing a REF CURSOR to a Stored Procedure"

## New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 10.1.0.3

Oracle Data Provider for .NET release 10.1.0.3 includes the following:

- Statement Caching

  This feature provides and manages a cache of statements for each session. The developer can control which statements are cached and how many. This improves performance and scalability.

  See Also: "Statement Caching"

- .NET Framework 1.1 Enhancements

  These enhancements expose new ADO.NET functionality that was introduced in Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1.

  See Also: "EnlistDistributedTransaction" "HasRows"

- Support for Command Cancellation

  These two new features relate to command cancellation. The `CommandTimeout` feature cancels the execution of a command when a specified amount of time elapses after the execution, while the `Cancel` method can be called explicitly by the application to terminate the execution of a command.

  See Also: "CommandTimeout" "Cancel"

- `DerivedParameters` Method

  This method populates the parameter collection for the `OracleCommand` that represents a stored procedure or function by querying the database for the parameter information.

  See Also: "DeriveParameters"

- LOB Retrieval Enhancement

  Entire LOB column data can be retrieved even if the select list does not contain a primary key, `ROWID`, or unique key. This enhancement is available by setting the `InitialLOBFetchSize` property value to `-1` for `CLOB` and `BLOB` objects.

  See Also: "Setting InitialLOBFetchSize to -1"

- `LONG` Retrieval Enhancement

  Entire `LONG` column data can be retrieved even if the select list does not contain a primary key, `ROWID`, or unique key. This enhancement is available by setting the `InitialLONGFetchSize` property value to `-1`.

  See Also: "Setting InitialLONGFetchSize to -1"

## New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 10.1

Oracle Data Provider for .NET release 10.1 includes the following:

- Support for Oracle Grids

  ODP.NET is grid-enabled, allowing developers to take advantage of Oracle Database Grid support without having to make changes to their application code.

- Support for `BINARY_FLOAT` and `BINARY_DOUBLE` datatypes in the database

  ODP.NET supports the new database native types `BINARY_FLOAT` and `BINARY_DOUBLE`

  See Also: "Datatypes BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE"

- Support for Multiple Homes

  ODP.NET can be installed in Multiple Oracle Homes.

  In order to make multiple homes available, some of the ODP.NET files include a version number, and the use of a `HOME` `ID` is required.

- Support for Schema-Based `XMLType` in the Database

  ODP.NET supports the native schema-based `XMLType`.

## New Features in Oracle Data Provider for .NET Release 9.2.0.4

Oracle Data Provider for .NET release 9.2.0.4, which was released on Oracle Technology Network (OTN), included the following:

- XML Support in ODP.NET

  With XML support, ODP.NET can now:

  - Store XML data natively in the database as Oracle Database native type, `XMLType`.

  - Access relational and object-relational data as XML data from an Oracle Database instance into a Microsoft .NET environment, process the XML using the Microsoft .NET Framework.

  - Save changes to the database using XML data.

    See Also: "ODP.NET XML Support"

- Support for PL/SQL Associative Array Binding

  ODP.NET supports PL/SQL Associative Array (formerly known as PL/SQL Index-By Tables) binding.

  An application can bind an `OracleParameter`, as a PL/SQL Associative Array, to a PL/SQL stored procedure using `OracleParameter` properties.

  See Also: "PL/SQL Associative Array Binding"

- Support for `InitialLOBFetchSize` property on `OracleCommand` and `OracleDataReader` objects

  See Also: "Obtaining LOB Data"