I've correctly installed Oracle 11g Express Edition database on my machine. After successfully connecting to my database, why can't I use FME's Oracle writers? I get an error message that says my data type is not supported by my Oracle version, and that I should use Oracle 11g.
Page 1 / 1
It will! Just not for all spatial formats..
While the Oracle "Express Edition" family of databases does support tabular (non-spatial) and vector (spatial) data, complex spatial objects such as rasters, point clouds, and 3D surfaces are not supported without an Enterprise edition database. Consequently, the following FME writers: Oracle Spatial Object, Oracle Spatial Point Cloud, and Oracle Spatial GeoRaster will fail if the underlying database is Oracle Express Edition.The Oracle Express Edition database is based on the Oracle Locator core features, which do not include all spatial objects, as well as some storage and administrative functionality such as partitioning and indexing. For the full details, please consult the Oracle general documentation, or more specifically, Oracle Locator documentation.
Do you have Oracle Locator installed in the Express Edition?
You can check this by typing Desc MDSYS.SDO_GEOMETRY at the SQL prompt of SQL*Plus.
It should return a description of the SDO_GEOMETRY type.
This is assuming you want to write geometries and that is causing the issue.
We recently used Oracle Express 11g on some training machines and we did write geometry but it was simple points, lines, & polygons.
So you can still use the Oracle Spatial writer against an Oracle Express but be aware of the limitations of Oracle Locator feature vs Oracle Spatial option.
The Oracle Locator feature comes in all flavours of server installed Oracle Databases (Express, Standard, & Enterprise) where as Oracle Spatial is an option for Enterprise Edition. Oracle Locator wouldn't suffice as a GIS as you'd be missing much of the typical functions that a GIS would have.
Stepping up to the Oracle Enterprise Edition with the Spatial Option you will be licensed to make full use of Oracle Spatial complex geometries, point clouds and georasters and all the rich GIS like functionality that is part of Oracle Spatial option.
@erik_jan for sure - this is a good way to see if your locator is configured... The locator feature is standard in Oracle 11g+ (Express, Standard, & Enterprise) so it should be there and working out of the box.
What data types are you attempting to write to the database using the Oracle Spatial writer in FME?
I'm using Oracle XE 11g with FME Oracle Spatial Object writer and never had such an issue. I'm curious to know what kind of objects you are trying to write to the database?
The FME writer works. But the SDO_UTIL.TO_WKTGEOMETRY returns NULL because the JVM is not include in Oracle XE. Some of the spatial functions are not working in Oracle XE, for example WKT converter does not work. This may be the reason you see the column "emtpy" - Not empty but not able to view in WKT.