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Firstly I'm open to suggestions if people have better solutions or ideas. I want to create a Dashboard with CRUD operations from the Oracle data and planning on using SPD External Content Types.

I've installed BCS on the server and need to make a connection to Oracle. In SPD > External Content Type I get options for .NET, SQL Server, WCF Service and no Oracle at the moment.

I've seen some 3rd part tools to do this but want to know if I can create my own XML file and add it to the BCS section in Central Admin.
This link on the Microsoft site shows a sample of the xml file but not sure if it will work the way I intend. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff464424(v=office.14).aspx

Do I need to ONLY copy the code on the linked page into notepad and make a few adjustments and add into BCS (Import BDC Model) ?

Do I need to use Visual Studio as mentioned in several articles?

Thanks

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Be aware of this important point

If the retrieving items from oracle database are more than 2000 items you will face performance issue so I advise you to check external list limitation before you try to use BCS even if you increase its default max to absolute max via powershell.

Regarding using Oracle with visual studio you should

  • Make sure that the Instance Oracle Client and Oracle Data Provider for .Net (x64) have been installed.
  • Open Visual Studio > Tools Menu > Select Connect to Database.
  • Select Oracle DB and for data provider select .Net Framework Data Provider for Oracle > Click Continue.
  • Add Connectiontion based on tnsnames.ora file

For real scenario, you can also check Connect to Oracle DB via Visual Studio

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  • Hi Im not sure if the items retrieved from Oracle will ever be greater than 2000. If I was not to use ECT's then what other options are available ? Is another choice to create a VS solution and add to SharePoint (i.e. webpart /application page)? – Raj Chahal Jul 11 '16 at 7:32
  • In my opinion, The appropriate solution is creating a web service that read from oracle database then consume it in your SharePoint solutions. also, you can check this article blog.devoworx.net/2013/03/07/… Please don't forget to vote me if mu answer helped you – Mohamed El-Qassas MVP♦ Jul 11 '16 at 10:11
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You could use SharePoint Designer to do this. In Visual Studio you will have more possibilities but it is way more complicated. I think for your purpose SharePoint Designer will do the job.

Ingo Karstein: Create a simple BCS connection with SharePoint Designer 2010

this helped me a lot to get started with BDC connections ;)

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  • Need to connect to Oracle so solution provided is not applicable. – Raj Chahal Jul 8 '16 at 9:58

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