title: Connecting to Oracle database
body: <p>Today is my first day trying to use Oracle databases in Asp.NET so I have no idea of what I need to do.</p>
  
  <p>I have added this code</p>
  
  <pre><code>Dim oOracleConn As OracleConnection = New OracleConnection()
  oOracleConn.ConnectionString = "Data Source=xxxxx;User Id=yyy;Password=psw;"
  oOracleConn.Open()
  Response.write("Connected to Oracle.")
  oOracleConn.Close()
  oOracleConn.Dispose()
  End Sub
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But it gives me the error </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Type 'OracleConnection' is not defined.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Now i've had a look on the internet and it says that it may be the reference to the DLL that is missing?</p>
  
  <p>I know I have got a DLL reference in my page and I don't think I even have the DLL anywhere on my server.</p>
  
  <p>Where do I get this DLL from?</p>
  
  <p>I've downloaded the ODBC .NET data provider but this didn't seem to help.</p>
  
  <p>I've tried to add a reference in Visual Studio but I can't find the Oracle client reference in the list.</p>
  
  <p>Any ideas?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>