Last night, I struggled with the following error for a few hours:

Could not load file or assembly ‘Oracle.DataAccess, Version=2.111.7.20, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89b483f429c47342′ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly ‘Oracle.DataAccess, Version=2.111.7.20, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89b483f429c47342′ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Development Machine Setup:
Windows 7 64 bit
Oracle 11g Release 1 (11.1.0.7.0)

Target Machine Setup:
Windows XP 32 bit
Originally Oracle 10g, now Oracle 11g (11.1.0.6.0)

After many grueling hours of searching the darkest corners of the internet, I found this post: ODP.NET & LLBLGen Pro. The author suggests using a binding redirect to fix a problem with LLBLGen Pro (but same basic error). While I am not exactly sure what is causing my problem, adding a binding redirect fixed it. The solution seems silly. I install Oracle 11g release 1 (11.1.0.7.0), which is what it is asking for and it still cannot be found.
I install Oracle 11g (11.1.0.6.0) and add the binding redirect and it works.

Here is my config:

<assemblyBinding xmlns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1″>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name=”Oracle.DataAccess” publicKeyToken=”89B483F429C47342″/>
<bindingRedirect oldVersion=”2.111.7.20″ newVersion=”2.111.6.0″/>
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>

Note: Assembly redirection can work both ways. You can re-direct calls to a new version of the to an older installed version and vice-versa. You can read more about Binding Redirects on MSDN.

I hope this post can save someone a few headaches.

Database Normalization explained

Photo taken 8/31/2009

Someone must have upgraded my Father. Not only has he joined Facebook, but he started a writing blog about his childhood. Go read his first story. Great stuff. Welcome to the internet Dad.

The following is a chat conversation I had with my wife today:

Susan: oh dear
Bubby ate hairy peanut butter

Edward: yuuuck

Susan: Lauren sent him to the toilet to throw up

Edward: lol

Susan: she is instructing him to make sure he flushes

Edward: for real?

Susan: yes
dead serious

Edward: does he want to throw up?

Susan: apparently he dropped his peanut butter spoon and decided it was okay and he ate it except their was a hair on it.
so Bubby starts gagging
Lauren sends him to the bathroom
Bubby hacks around above the toilet
Lauren turns on the exhaust fan because she doesn’t want the bathroom to smell of peanut butter
i was messaging you and i hear Bubby from the bathroom yell “i got it!”
apparently your son is part cat and can hack up a hairball
cause i went into the bathroom and see the infamous hair on his fingers
he had indeed hacked it up
he washes his hands and gives Lauren a big hug yelling thank you
apparently her advice was just the ticket when you want to hack up a hairball
the only downside Lauren is convinced she smells like peanut butter now and can’t stand it

Kids… you gotta love them!

Sunday, my son showed me his craft from Children’s church, a simple paper with the word “God” and a colorful star. “It a Mario star!” he informed me, “Because we should serve God and Mario!”

Amen.