PHP - oci_connect not found

Question

I researched and found out oci_connect() is the way to go. I found out that i could either use the Connect Name from the tnsnames.ora file or use an easy connect syntax. Since my database isn't locally stored and I had no idea where the said, tnsnames.ora file was located in apex.oracle.com, I went with easy connect strings.Here's what I've done so far.

    $username = "myemail";
    $host = "apex.oracle.com";
    $dbname = "name";
    $password = "password";

    // url = username@host/db_name

    $dburl = $username . "@".$host."/".$dbname;

    $conn = oci_connect ($username, $password, $dburl);

    if(!$conn) echo "Connection failed";

I get a

    Call to undefined function oci_connect()

So what would be the way to go?

UPDATE 1:

Here's the list of things I did:

• Installed Oracle DB

• Unzipped Oracle Instance client

• Set the environment variables

• Uncommented the extension=php_oci8_12c.dll in php.ini

• Copied all the *.dll files from the instance client folder to xampp/php and xampp/apache/bin

• also made sure the php/ext folder had the required dlls.

That was last night. I have restarted my PC multiple times, APACHE with it but I'm still getting this error:

    Call to undefined function oci_connect()

At this point I'm frustrated and don't know where to go from here. PHP just doesn't seem to link up to oci8. I can view the databases I made from Database Configuration Assistant in cmd from 'sqlplus' command and a few select statements. So everything seems to be setup right, its just the php that's having problems trying to use oci_connect() . My database.php, now is setup as:

public function __construct()
{
    error_reporting(E_ALL);

    if (function_exists("oci_connect")) {
        echo "oci_connect found\n";
    } else {
        echo "oci_connect not found\n";
        exit;
    }

    $host = 'localhost';
    $port = '1521';

    // Oracle service name (instance)
    $db_name     = 'haatbazaar';
    $db_username = "SYSTEM";
    $db_password = "root";

    $tns = "(DESCRIPTION =
        (CONNECT_TIMEOUT=3)(RETRY_COUNT=0)
        (ADDRESS_LIST =
          (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = $host)(PORT = $port))
        )
        (CONNECT_DATA =
          (SERVICE_NAME = $db_name)
        )
      )";
    $tns = "$host:$port/$db_name";

    try {
        $conn = oci_connect($db_username, $db_password, $tns);
        if (!$conn) {
            $e = oci_error();
            throw new Exception($e['message']);
        }
        echo "Connection OK\n";

        $stid = oci_parse($conn, 'SELECT * FROM ALL_TABLES');

        if (!$stid) {
            $e = oci_error($conn);
            throw new Exception($e['message']);
        }
        // Perform the logic of the query
        $r = oci_execute($stid);
        if (!$r) {
            $e = oci_error($stid);
            throw new Exception($e['message']);
        }

        // Fetch the results of the query
        while ($row = oci_fetch_array($stid, OCI_ASSOC + OCI_RETURN_NULLS)) {
            $row = array_change_key_case($row, CASE_LOWER);
            print_r($row);
            break;
        }

        // Close statement
        oci_free_statement($stid);

        // Disconnect
        oci_close($conn);

    }
    catch (Exception $e) {
        print_r($e);
    }
}

And it outputs:

oci_connect not found

OCI8 is listed in my phpInfo().

Answer 1

Okay I found out the culprit behind this whole ordeal. I had set the PATH Environment Variables but apparently forgot to add a new system environment variable named TNS_ADMIN and set the directory to PATH/TO/INSTANCE/CLIENT . Here's the list of System Environment variable you need to add:

• Edit PATH system variable and add the $ORACLE_HOME/bin dir
• Edit PATH system variable and add the Instance Client dir
• Add new system variable, name it TNS_ADMIN and add the Instance Client dir

I hope this helps those who come looking.

Answer 2

First, this has been asked before, but Oracle doesn't allow remote database connections to their free apex.oracle.com example service . Sorry. You can only interact with it through the web interface.

Second, if you do find a remote Oracle db to connect to, you'll need to install the Oracle Instant Client for your OS, and configure the PHP OCI8 extension .