Connecting to Oracle Database without Oracle Client

Question

Hi:

I would like to know the other options to connect oracle database (10g) without using oracle client. At present we are using ODP.NET (Oracle.DataAccess.dll) to connect to oracle to fetch/insert/update. I don't want to use oracle libraries any more because of oracle 
32 /64 bit issues in 10.2. Please provide me other list of options.

Please throw some light on this.

VinceAngelo · Answer

Direct Connect works with both 32-bit and 64-bit if you follow Oracle's instructions to place the 64-bit client in the PATH first. If you aren't connecting to a geodatabase, then you should really be asking this question in an oracle.com forum. -V

LakshmananVenkatesan · Answer

Vince,

Thanks for your reply. Does instant client work in both 32bit and 64 bit? .I want to connect to oracle using .NET (programmetically) in custom Geoprocessing tool which is registered with ArcGIS 10.2 (32bit) and ArcGIS server 10.2 which is 64bit. 
When I use Oracle.DataAccess.dll there is an compatibility issue between ArcGIS desktop, Server and Oracle libaries. Please throw some light on this. Thanks again.

VinceAngelo · Answer

You can't connect to an Oracle database without Oracle libraries.  The closest you can come is using an ArcSDE application server connection, but that is deprecated.  Far better to learn how to use Instant Client and move on. - V