Oracle Database Connection String for ODP.NET without TNSNames.ora file

I was recently attempting to follow the Oracle database connection string listed on https://www.connectionstrings.com/oracle/ using the ODP.NET Data Provider in order to establish a database connection to my Oracle 11g server, but I was soon faced with this error message:

ORA-12514: TNS: listener does not currently know of service requested in connect descriptor

I couldn't figure out the cause of this problem, since this same connection information is listed in the Oracle documentation (under the section for "Specifying the Data Source Attribute")!  https://docs.oracle.com/html/E10927_01/featConnecting.htm

Fortunately, one of my co-workers suggested using the following alternative connection string by replacing SERVICE_NAME with SID:


Making this simple change resolved my connectivity issues!