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javaoracle-databasescalajdbctnsnames

"Invalid connection string format" error when trying to connect to Oracle using TNS alias that contains dot character

I am trying to connect to Oracle database using TNS.

The problem is that TNS alias contains dot, so when I am specifying url like this:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS.ALIAS

I've got...

oracle.net.ns.NetException: Invalid connection string format, a valid format is: "host:port:sid"

...during creation of connection.

I know that dot character is a problem, because after removing it from tnsnames.ora file connection to database works.

My question is - is it possible to escape dot character somehow? Maybe there is some connection parameter that can be setup to allow dot character in alias? I would like to avoid removing dot from tnsnames.ora since i am getting the file from outside source.

Here are the options that I've already tried that gave me the same error:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@"TNS.ALIAS"
jdbc:oracle:thin:@\"TNS.ALIAS\"
jdbc:oracle:thin:@`TNS.ALIAS`
jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS\.ALIAS - this one is not compiling
jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS\\.ALIAS
jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS.ALIAS
jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS\".\"ALIAS
jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS%2eALIAS

Here are the options that resulted with oracle.net.ns.NetException: could not resolve the connect identifier:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNSALIAS
jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS-ALIAS
jdbc:oracle:thin:@TNS_ALIAS

Additional context:

  • I am trying to create Java's DataSource (OracleDataSource to be strict) in Scala (it is Play Framework - but I am not using Play's way of creation of DB connections - I am doing it manually)
  • I have SQL Developer that is using exactly the same tnsnames.ora file and it is working there
  • We are having C# applications that are using exactly the same tnsnames.ora file and it is working there (data source is defined like this: <add name="connectionName" connectionString="Data Source=TNS.ALIAS;"/>
Solution

  • I've found the problem - I was using older Oracle driver (ojdbc7.jar for version 12.1.0.1) after change to newer one (ojdbc8.jar for version 12.2.0.1) lookup by TNS alias started to work - there was no need to escape anything