Oracle vs Oracle ODBC - sql

Question

The following code works fine from within Oracle's SqlPlus (using Oracle 11.2.02.0g) however when I connect with and ODBC connection via C# code, I get told I have an invalid character.
Since the single quote didn't work in SQLplus, I'm assuming the characters that are consider invalid by ODBC are the double quotes. I've tried braces '{' and brackets '[' but still get the same error -> ERROR [HY000][Oracle][ODBC][Ora]ORA-00911:invalid character <-
Any help would be much appreciated. I still don't understand why SQL statements would be interpreted differently because of the connection type.
CREATE USER "AD1\EGRYXU" IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY;
Error if ran alone that states the username conflicts with another user or role name. It does create the user in the database.
C# Code is below.
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string happy = "";
string sql1 = "";
string sql2 = "";
string sql3 = "";
string sql4 = "";
string column;
int rownum = -1;
bool frst = false;
string dirIni = "\\\\ramxtxss021-f01\\hou_common_013\\globaluser\\";
string fileIni = "add_users.sql";
string transIniFullFileName = Path.Combine(dirIni, fileIni);
System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection conn = new System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection();
num_users = (usrdetails.Count > 0);
if (regions && num_users)
{
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(transIniFullFileName))
{
for (int y = 0; y < usrdetails.Count; y++)
{
switch(usrdetails[y].add_del.ToUpper())
{
case "A":
sql1 = "CREATE USER \"" + usrdetails[y].userID.ToUpper() + "\" IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY;";
sql2 = "GRANT EDMROLE TO \"" + usrdetails[y].userID.ToUpper() + "\";";
sql3 = "INSERT INTO MD_SITE_USER VALUES(generate_key(5), (select user_id from MD_SITE_USER where user_name = '" +
usrdetails[y].group + "') , {" + usrdetails[y].userID.ToUpper() + "}, " + usrdetails[y].seclev +
", '" + usrdetails[y].username.ToUpper() + "', 'U', '" + usrdetails[y].isext.ToUpper() + "', 'N');";
sw.WriteLine(sql1);
sw.WriteLine(sql2);
sw.WriteLine(sql3);
break;
case "D":
sql2 = "DELETE MD_SITE_APP_ACTION_OWNER WHERE user_id in (SELECT user_id FROM MD_SITE_USER where user_name = ‘"+ usrdetails[y].userID + "’+ and user_or_group = ‘U’);";
sql3 = "DELETE FROM MD_SITE_USER where user_name = ‘"+ usrdetails[y].userID + "’ and user_or_group = ‘U’;";
sql4 = "DROP USER "+ usrdetails[y].userID + " FROM USERS;";
sw.WriteLine(sql2);
sw.WriteLine(sql3);
sw.WriteLine(sql4);
break;
default:
MessageBox.Show("Add/Delete command argument not recognized for user\r\n" + usrdetails[y].userID + " \r\n Argument -> " + usrdetails[y].add_del);
break;
}
}
sw.Close();
}
for (int x = 0; x < region.Count; x++)
{
OdbcCommand command = new OdbcCommand();
conn.ConnectionString = "Driver={Oracle in OraClient11g_home1};" +
"Dbq=" + region[x].dbname +
";Uid=" + region[x].username + ";Pwd=" + region[x].password + ";";
try
{
string cmdTexts = File.ReadAllText(transIniFullFileName);
conn.Open();
using (conn)
{
command.Connection = conn;
command.CommandText = cmdTexts;
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
OdbcDataReader dr = command.ExecuteReader();
Form6.dataGridView2.AutoGenerateColumns = false;
if (!frst)
{
for (int i = 0; i < dr.FieldCount; i++)
{
column = dr.GetName(i);
Form6.dataGridView2.Columns.Add("col" + i, column);
Form6.dataGridView2.Columns[i].FillWeight = 1;
}
frst = true;
}
rownum++;
dataGridView1.Rows.Add();
dataGridView1.Rows[rownum].Cells[0].Value = "Results for Region -> " + Form5.region[x].dbname;
dataGridView1.Refresh();
while (dr.Read())
{
rownum++;
Form6.dataGridView2.Rows.Add();
for (int i = 0; i < dr.FieldCount; i++)
{
column = dr.GetValue(i).ToString();
Form6.dataGridView2.Rows[rownum].Cells[i].Value = column;
}
}
Form6.dataGridView2.Refresh();
Form6.dataGridView2.Show();
Form6.Show();
}
conn.Close();
Form6.dataGridView2.Refresh();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Error Message: " + ex.Message);
}
}
}
else
{
if (!regions)
happy = "Error - You have not selected any regions.\r\n";
else
happy = "Regions are now selected.\r\n";
if (!num_users)
happy = happy + "Error - You have not entered any users.\r\n";
MessageBox.Show(happy);
}
File.Delete(transIniFullFileName);
}

Answer 1

Don't use ";" (semi-colon) in the command text..
The command text within ODBC or ODP should be a command, e.g. not a set of commands, therefore - ";" is not relevant, and is an invalid character.
it appears you are trying to run a script..
if that is your intent, it should be padded with a "begin" and "end" for the code to be able to run:
BEGIN
INSERT...;
DELETE ...;
END;
(refer to http://www.intertech.com/Blog/executing-sql-scripts-with-oracle-odp/ for more info)
Last thing - if you want to run a "create user" (or any other DDL) from within an anonymous block or a procedure you need to run it with "execute immediate" syntax:
BEGIN
execute immediate 'CREATE USER test IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY';
END;