Joe Lennon

Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (I will refer to this as Oracle XE from here on) is a basic version of the Oracle Database 10g that is freely available for development, deployment and distribution. It is an excellent entry-level database for learning Oracle and PL/SQL and will run on most modern PCs and laptops. I will be using Oracle XE in the majority of the Oracle tutorials and sample applications on this website, so it is highly recommended that you install it so you can follow my examples closely and precisely.

In order to install Oracle XE on your computer, you will need to download it from Oracle’s website. It is available for Microsoft Windows and x86 Linux distributions. For the purpose of this guide I will be showing you how to install Oracle XE on Microsoft Windows XP, but the procedure should be similar for other Windows operating systems.

Oracle has an extensive Installation Guide for its Oracle XE product. Windows users can view this guide at: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B25329_01/doc/install.102/b25143/toc.htm.

Linux users, check out Oracle’s Installation Guide at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/xe/files/install.102/b25144/toc.htm.

This guide will have many similarities to Oracle’s Installation Guide above, but if you follow any naming conventiones I use during installation it will make it much easier for you to follow any future Oracle guides I make available.

The first step in installing Oracle XE is to download the installation package from Oracle’s website. The direct URL to the Windows binary download page is http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/xe/htdocs/102xewinsoft.html. On this page, you must first accept the License Agreement by clicking on the radio button towards the top of the page. Once you have clicked on this, you can click on the relevant download links to download the installer. It is worth mentioning at this stage that you must be logged in to the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) to download Oracle XE. Registration to OTN is free and if you are not logged in you will be prompted to login or register before you will be allowed to proceed with the download.

Figure 1a - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Download Page

The version I am using in my guides is the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.1) Express Edition for Microsoft Windows (Western European). The download is highlighted in blue on Figure 1a above. It weighs in at a heavy 157mb, so it’s best to download this over a high-speed Internet connection if possible.

Once you have downloaded the installation package, run the OracleXE.exe file to start the installer.

Figure 1b - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition InstallShield Wizard

On this welcome screen (see Figure 1b), press Next (Alt+N) to continue to the next screen.

Figure 1c - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition License Agreement

On the License Agreement screen (Figure 1c), select “I accept the terms in the license agreement” (Alt+A) and then press the Next button (Alt+N) to move on.

Figure 1d - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Destination Location

On the “Choose Destination Location” screen (Figure 1d) leave the default values as they are in Figure 1d and press Next (Alt+N) to continue.

Figure 1e - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Database Passwords

On this screen (“Specify Database Passwords” – Figure 1e), you can enter a password that will be used for the SYS and SYSTEM database accounts. Throughout the course of this guide I will always use the password somando1 and I suggest you do the same to make it easier to follow my guides. Obviously these passwords should only be used on development machines, with much stronger and secure passwords being used on production servers. Once you have entered and confirmed the password, hit Next (Alt+N) to continue.

Figure 1f - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Installation Summary

You will now be presented with a summary of the installation options (make a note of the port numbers, they should be as in Figure 1f). If all looks in order, click Install (Alt+I).

Figure 1g - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Setup Status

The installation should now begin, and you may see a screen similar to Figure 1g. The installer will automatically copy the relevant files to your computer and will configure the database. This process may take a considerable amount of time depending on your computer’s specification. On my machine (an Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz with 2GB of RAM) the process took less than five minutes.

Figure 1h - Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Installation Complete

Once the installation has completed you will see a screen like in Figure 1h above. Leave the checkbox for “Launch the Database homepage” checked and click the Finish button. You have now successfully installed Oracle XE on your computer.

Figure 1i - Oracle Database Express Edition Login Screen

If you left the checkbox in Figure 1h checked, your default web browser will open and you will see a page similar to that shown in Figure 1i. Enter SYS in the field for Username and somando1 in the field for Password and click the Login button.

Figure 1j - Oracle Database Express Edition Homepage

If you were able to login successfully, you should see a page similar to that in Figure 1j, which is basically a web-based control panel called Application Express. This utility is in fact a powerful web application which provides you complete control over your database. At this point I highly recommend that you click on the “Getting Started” link at the top right hand section of this screen, which will bring you to a local version of Oracle’s Database Express Edition Getting Started Guide. This guide can also be accessed online at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B25329_01/doc/admin.102/b25610/toc.htm.

The Getting Started Guide will walk you through the process of unlocking a sample user, logging in under the sample user’s account, and creating and running a simple application with Application Express. It will take you 20 minutes to get through, and will give you an idea of how simple it is to create powerful applications using Application Express.

Finally, I will create a user/schema that I will be using in my guides. All the tables that I create in future guides will be created in this schema. To create a user, open the Database Home Page (Start -> Programs -> Oracle Database 10g Express Edition -> Go To Database Home Page) and login with the username SYSTEM and password somando1. Click on the Administration image, then click on Database Users, and then the “Create >” button.

Figure 1k - Create Database User

On the Create Database User screen (as in Figure 1k above), enter the following details:

• Username: somando
• Password: somando1
• Confirm Password: somando1
• Expire Password: Leave this option unchecked
• Account Status: Unlocked
• Roles: Connect and Resource should be checked, DBA should be unchecked.
• Click on the Check All link at the bottom right of the User Privileges box to give this user all Direct Grant System Privileges.

Once you have filled out the form accordingly, click on the Create button at the top right hand corner of the Create Database User box. Once you click this button, the user/schema somando should be created. In order to verify that the user has been set up correctly, click on the Logout link at the right hand top corner of the page, and log back in, except this time log in with the username somando and the password somando1. If you can successfully log in, the user/schema has been created successfully.

That concludes this tutorial. In the next guide, I will be looking at creating tables and inserting data using Application Express. I will also be introducing the SQL Command Line (SQL*Plus) and some basic SQL statements.

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