Do you know this problem you get a csv file and need to import it into your database. Of course with APEX you can use the data load utility (Home>Utilities>Data Load/Unload>Load). But what if you don't have APEX or you need some changes on your import data. Using functions/processes or the SQL*Loader can be quite tricky especially at the beginning or if you haven't worked with it in a while. What if your task become even more difficult. For example: Importing one csv file into oracle, mysql and ms sql database.
There is a nice solution available:
Data mapping toolsI am really a fan of visual data mapping tools and want to introduce you into a tool called
FlowHeater which can make your life as a database administrator or application developer much easier.
In my example I used a portal version on my USB stick of the
FlowHeater (\FlowHeater\BIN).
After I downloaded the Oracle Instant Client driver (10.2.0.4). I created the following batch to run my application:
ECHO off
ECHO Run application FlowHeater
ECHO All settings correlates on the current session inside this batch file
ECHO 1. Variablen setzen
ECHO 1.1 Path Variable
set PATH=D:\instantclient_10_2;%PATH%
ECHO 1.2 ORACLE_HOME Variable
set ORACLE_HOME=D:\instantclient_10_2
ECHO 1.3 TNS_ADMIN Variable
set TNS_ADMIN=D:\instantclient_10_2
ECHO 1.4 NLS_LANG Variable
set NLS_LANG=German_Germany.AL32UTF8
ECHO 2. Open application folder
cd \PortableApps\DATABASE\DATA_MAPPING\FlowHeater
ECHO 3. Run application
\PortableApps\DATABASE\DATA_MAPPING\FlowHeater\FlowHeater.exe
I had one issue running FlowHeater from USB-Stick. It had to do with the Oracle .Net driver and FAT32 file rights. There is an issue where you need the "authenticated user" group with full rights on the oracle home directory. Error: "System.Data.OracleClient requires Oracle Client software version 8.1.7 or greater" There are lots of entries about this error available. That is the reason why my oracle home is now located on volume D:. I didn't want to recreate my whole stick just because of NTFS!
Anyway in case you install the FlowHeater on you PC as normal then no issues like that should occur.
Now watch the flash movie I made:
Data mapping with FlowHeaterDownload PDF version:
oracle-csv-export.pdf
