PHP - oci_connect not found - php

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.