[R-sig-DB] RODBC: Oracle Connectivity questions from Windows Box

[m@tt@pettis m@iii@g oii thomso@reuters@com]

Hi,

I am trying to set R up to connect to remote Oracle server (all >=10g) from a Windows XP box.  I want to use RODBC (unless someone has a persuasive reason to use ROracle, which I am totally unfamiliar with).  I have sucessfully connected to these servers before using native Oracle drivers via SAS and SQL*Plus tests from my box, as I have a correct tnsnames.ora file and user/passwords for this.  But I have never made an ODBC connection to Oracle (I have to SQL Server).  I need some help getting the connection set up.

Questions:

1. Do I have to set up a connection in the 'Data Sources (ODBC)' from the Control panel, or can I bypass it and use Oracle drivers directly?  I'd rather not use the 'Data Sources (ODBC)', as using the sofware directly seems cleaner.

2. Failing that, I'm trying to set up a DSN in 'Data Sources (ODBC)'.  I downloaded the Oracle instant client and followed the directions here (http://szamtud-docs.uni-corvinus.hu/tananyagok/Alapkepzes/Portal/Archiv/4/oracle_ODBC/ODBC_IC_Readme_Win.html) to set it up.  It looked sucessful, and I was able to select it as a driver from 'Data Sources (ODBC)' Add button.  I got confused here when I tried to configure it.  The config window has the following 4 fields:

Data Source Name
Description
TNS Service Name
User ID

This is where I get lost.  As I said, I have a tnsnames.ora file with connection strings in them, and I'm thinking I can make this wizard point to that file.  But none of the fields appears to be for a path to my tnsnames.ora file.

Plus, I'm not sure if this matters, but my TNS Service Name field is a dropdown that has gibberish binary characters as options.  Is this an issue, or can I get by with out it?

Can I get this wizard in 'Data Sources (ODBC)' to see and use my tnsnames.ora file?

So given that I have a string in my tnsnames.ora file that looks like:

MyDBIdentifier = 
 (DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = phost1.com)(PORT = 1521))
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = phost2.com)(PORT = 1521))
      (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = phost3.com)(PORT = 1521))
    )
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVICE_NAME = thedbvip.com)
    )
  )

How can I configure either the 'Data Sources (ODBC)' to have the correct connection info or, better yet, get RODBC to interact directly with the Oracle client software, bypassing the 'Data Sources (ODBC)'?  To this point, if the instant clients aren't enough, I have downloaded (but not installed yet) ODAC112012.zip from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/windows/downloads/utilsoft-087491.html .

Thanks,
Matt