DBI - Database independent interface for Perl (DRAFT ONLY)
use DBI; $dbh = DBI->connect($database, $username, $auth); $dbh = DBI->connect($database, $username, $auth, $driver); $dbh = DBI->connect($database, $username, $auth, $driver, \%attr); $rc = $dbh->disconnect; $rv = $dbh->do($statement); $rv = $dbh->do($statement, \%attr); $sth = $dbh->prepare($statement); $sth = $dbh->prepare($statement, \%attr); $rv = $sth->execute; $ary_ref = $sth->fetch; @row_ary = $sth->fetchrow; $hash_ref = $sth->fetchhash; $tbl_ary_ref = $sth->fetch_all; $rc = $sth->finish; $rv = $sth->rows; $sql = $dbh->quote($string); $rc = $h->err; $str = $h->errstr; $rv = $h->state;
This documentation is a new draft $Revision: 1.69 $ dated $Date: 1997/05/07 15:55:58 $
It is expected to evolve and expand quite quickly (relative to previous drafts :-) so it is important to check that you have the latest copy.
The Perl DBI is a database access Application Programming Interface (API) for the Perl Language. The DBI defines a set of functions, variables and conventions that provide a consistent database interface independant of the actual database being used.
It is important to remember that the DBI is just an interface. A thin layer of 'glue' between an application and one or more Database Drivers. It is the drivers which do the real work. The DBI provides a standard interface and framework for the drivers to operate within.
This document is a work-in-progress. Although it is incomplete it should be useful in getting started with the DBI.
|<- Scope of DBI ->| .-. .--------------. .-------------. .-------. | |---| XYZ Driver |---| XYZ Engine | | Perl | |S| `--------------' `-------------' | script| |A| |w| .--------------. .-------------. | using |--|P|--|i|---|Oracle Driver |---|Oracle Engine| | DBI | |I| |t| `--------------' `-------------' | API | |c|... |methods| |h|... Other drivers `-------' | |... `-'
The API is the Application Perl-script (or Programming) Interface. The call interface and variables provided by DBI to perl scripts. The API is implemented by the DBI Perl extension.
The Switch is the code that 'dispatches' the DBI method calls to the appropriate Driver for actual execution. The Switch is also responsible for the dynamic loading of Drivers, error checking/handling and other general duties.
The Drivers implement support for a given type of Engine (database). Drivers contain implementations of the DBI methods written using the private interface functions of the corresponding Engine. Only authors of sophisticated/multi-database applications or generic library functions need be concerned with Drivers.
DBI static 'top-level' class name $dbh Database handle object $sth Statement handle object $drh Driver handle object (rarely seen or used in applications) $h Any of the $??h handle types above $rc General Return Code (boolean: true=ok, false=error) $rv General Return Value (typically an integer) @ary List of values returned from the database, typically a row of data $rows Number of rows processed by a function (if available, else -1) $fh A filehandle undef NULL values are represented by undefined values in perl
Note that Perl will automatically destroy database and statement objects if all references to them are deleted.
Handle object attributes are shown as:
$h->{attribute_name} (I<type>)
where type indicates the type of the value of the attribute (if it's not a simple scalar):
\$ reference to a scalar: $h->{attr} or $a = ${$h->{attr}} \@ reference to a list: $h->{attr}->[0] or @a = @{$h->{attr}} \% reference to a hash: $h->{attr}->{a} or %a = %{$h->{attr}}
The DBI does not have a concept of a `current session'. Every session has a handle object (e.g., a $dbh) returned from the connect method and that handle object is used to invoke database related methods.
Most data is returned to the perl script as perl strings (null values are returned as undef). This allows arbitrary precision numeric data to be handled without loss of accuracy. Be aware that perl may not preserve the same accuracy when the string is used as a number.
Dates and times are returned as character strings in the native format of the corresponding Engine. Time Zone effects are Engine/Driver dependent.
Perl supports binary data in perl strings and the DBI will pass binary data to and from the Driver without change. It is up to the Driver implementors to decide how they wish to handle such binary data.
Multiple SQL statements may not be combined in a single statement handle, e.g., a single $sth.
Non-sequential record reads are not supported in this version of the DBI. E.g., records can only be fetched in the order that the database returned them and once fetched they are forgotten.
Positioned updates and deletes are not directly supported by the DBI. See the description of the CursorName attribute for an alternative.
Individual Driver implementors are free to provide any private functions and/or handle attributes that they feel are useful. Private functions can be invoked using the DBI call method. Private attributes are accessed just like standard attributes.
call
Character sets: Most databases which understand charaacter sets have a default global charset and text stored in the database is, or should be, stored in that charset (if it's not then that's the fault of either the database or the application that inserted the data). When text is fetched it should be (automatically) converted to the charset of the client (presumably based on the locale). If a driver needs to set a flag to get that behaviour then it should do so. It should not require the application to do that.
The DBI package and all packages below it (DBI::*) are are reserved for use by the DBI. Package names begining with DBD:: are reserved for use by DBI database drivers. All environment variables used by the DBperl Switch or Adaptors begin with 'DBI_'.
The letter case used for attribute names is significant and plays an important part in the portability of DBI scripts. The case of the attribute name is used to signify who defined the meaning of that name and its values.
Case of name Has a meaning defined by ------------ ------------------------ UPPER_CASE Standards, e.g., X/Open, SQL92 etc (portable) MixedCase DBI API (portable), underscores are not used. lower_case Driver or Engine specific (non-portable)
It is of the utmost importance that Driver developers only use lowercase attribute names when defining private attributes.
The DBI allows an application to `prepare' a statement for later execution. A prepared statement is identified by a statement handle object, e.g., $sth.
Typical method call sequence for a select statement:
connect, prepare, execute, fetch, fetch, ... finish, execute, fetch, fetch, ... finish, execute, fetch, fetch, ... finish.
Typical method call sequence for a non-select statement:
connect, prepare, execute, execute, execute.
$dbh = DBI->connect($database, $username, $password, $driver); $dbh = DBI->connect($database, $username, $password, $driver, \%attr);
Establishes a database connection (session) to the requested database.
Returns a database handle object. DBI->connect installs the requested driver if it has not been installed yet. It then returns the result of $drh->connect. It is important to note that driver installation always returns a valid driver handle or it dies with an error message which includes the string 'install_driver' and the underlying problem. So, DBI->connect will die on a driver installation failure and will only return undef on a connect failure, for which $DBI::errstr will hold the error.
The $database, $username and $password arguments are passed to the driver for processing. The DBI does not define ANY interpretation for the contents of these fields. As a convenience, if the $database field is undefined or empty the Switch will substitute the value of the environment variable DBI_DBNAME if any.
If $driver is not specified, the environment variable DBI_DRIVER is used. If that variable is not set and the Switch has more than one driver loaded then the connect fails and undef is returned.
The driver is free to interpret the database, username and password fields in any way and supply whatever defaults are appropriate for the engine being accessed.
Portable applications should not assume that a single driver will be able to support multiple simultaneous sessions and also should check the value of $dbh-{AutoCommit}>.
$dbh-
Where possible each session ($dbh) is independent from the transactions in other sessions. This is useful where you need to hold cursors open across transactions, e.g., use one session for your long lifespan cursors (typically read-only) and another for your short update transactions.
@ary = DBI->available_drivers; @ary = DBI->available_drivers($quiet);
Returns a list of all available drivers by searching for DBD::* modules through the directories in @INC. By default a warning will be given if some drivers are hidden by others of the same name in earlier directories. Passing a true value for $quiet will inhibit the warning.
$str = DBI::neat($value, $maxlen);
Return a string containing a neat (and tidy) representation of the supplied value. Strings will be quoted and undefined (NULL) values will be shown as undef. Unprintable characters will be replaced by dot (.) and the string will be truncated and terminated with '...' if longer than $maxlen (0 or undef defaults to 400 characters).
undef
$str = DBI::neat_list(\@listref, $maxlen, $field_sep);
Calls DBI::neat on each element of the list and returns a string containing the results joined with $field_sep. $field_sep defaults to ", ".
", "
$rows = DBI::dump_results($sth, \@listref, $maxlen, $lsep, $fsep, $fh);
Fetches all the rows from $sth, calls DBI::neat_list for each row and prints the results to $fh (defaults to STDOUT) separated by $lsep (default "\n"). $fsep defaults to ", " and $maxlen defaults to 35. This function is designed as a handy utility for prototyping and testing queries.
STDOUT
"\n"
These attributes are always associated with the last handle used.
Where an attribute is Equivalent to a method call, then refer to the method call for all related documentation.
Equivalent to $h->err.
Equivalent to $h->errstr.
Equivalent to $h->state.
Equivalent to $h->rows.
$rv = $dbh->err;
Returns the native database engine error code from the last driver function called.
$str = $dbh->errstr;
Returns the native database engine error message from the last driver function called.
$rv = $dbh->state;
Returns an error code in the standard SQLSTATE five character format. Note that the specific success code 00000 is translated to 0 (false). If the driver does not support SQLSTATE then state will return S1000 (General Error) for all errors.
00000
0
S1000
These attributes are common to all types of DBI handle.
Some attributes are inherited by child handles. That is, the value of an inherited attribute in a newly created statement handle is the same as the value in the parent database handle. Changes to attributes in the new statement handle do not affect the parent database handle and changes to the database handle do not affect existing statement handles, only future ones.
$h->{Warn}
Enables useful warnings for certain bad practices. Enabled by default. Some emulation layers, especially those for perl4 interfaces, disable warnings.
$h->{CompatMode}
Used by emulation layers (such as Oraperl) to enable compatible behaviour in the underlying driver (e.g., DBD::Oracle) for this handle. Not normally set by application code.
$h->{InactiveDestroy}
This attribute can be used to disable the effect of destroying a handle (which would normally close a prepared statement or disconnect from the database etc). It is specifically designed for use in unix applications which 'fork' child processes. Either the parent or the child process, but not both, should set InactiveDestroy on all their handles.
$h->{ChopBlanks}
This attribute can be used to control the trimming of trailing space characters from fixed width char fields. No other field types are affected.
The default is false (it is possible that that may change). Applications that needs specific behaviour should set the attribute as needed. Emulation interfaces should set the attribute to match the behaviour of the interface they are emulating.
Drivers are not required to support this attribute but any driver which does not must arrange to return undef as the attribute value.
Prepare a single statement for execution by the database engine and return a reference to a statement handle object which can be used to get attributes of the statement and invoke the $sth->execute method.
$sth = $dbh->prepare($statement); $sth = $dbh->prepare($statement, \%attr);
Drivers for engines which don't have the concept of preparing a statement will typically just store the statement in the returned handle and process it when $sth->execute is called. Such drivers are likely to be unable to give much useful information about the statement, such as $sth->{NUM_OF_FIELDS}, until after $sth->execute has been called. Prepare never executes the statement, even if it is not a select statement.
$rc = $dbh->do($statement); $rc = $dbh->do($statement, \%attr);
Prepare and execute a statement. This method is typically most useful for non-select statements which either cannot be prepared in advance (due to a limitation in the driver) or which do not need to be executed repeatedly.
$rc = $dbh->commit;
Commit (make permanent) the most recent series of database changes if the database supports transactions.
$rc = $dbh->rollback;
Roll-back (undo) the most recent series of uncommited database changes if the database supports transactions.
$rc = $dbh->disconnect;
Disconnects the database from the database handle. Typically only used before exiting the program. The handle is of little use after disconnecting.
The transaction behaviour is of disconnect is undefined. Applications should explicitly call commit or rollback before calling disconnect.
The database is automatically disconnected (by the DESTROY method) if still connected when there are no longer any references to the handle. The DESTROY method for each driver should explicitly call rollback to undo any uncommited changes. This is vital behaviour to ensure that incomplete transactions don't get commited simply because Perl calls DESTROY on every object before exiting.
$rc = $dbh->ping;
Attempts to determine, in the most efficient way, if the database server is still running and the connection to it is still working. The default implementation currently always returns true without actually doing anything. Individual drivers should implement this function in the most suitable manner for their database engine.
$sql = $dbh->quote($string);
Quote a string literal for use in an SQL statement by escaping any special characters (such as quotation marks) contained within the string and adding the required type of outer quotation marks.
$sql = sprintf "select foo from bar where baz = %s", $dbh->quote("Don't\n");
For Oracle quote would return 'Don''t' and for Ingres it would return 'Don'+X'27+'t' (including the outer quotation marks).
'Don''t'
'Don'+X'27+'t'
$sth->{AutoCommit} ($)
If true then database changes cannot be rolledback (undone). If false then database changes occur within a 'transaction' which must either be commited or rolledback using the commit or rollback methods.
Drivers for databases which support transactions should always default to AutoCommit mode.
Some drivers only support AutoCommit mode and thus after an application sets AutoCommit it should check that it now has the desired value. All portable applications must explicitly set and check for the desired AutoCommit mode.
$rc = $sth->execute;
Perform whatever processing is necessary to execute the prepared statement. An undef is returned if an error occurs.
For a non-select statement execute returns the number of rows affected (if available). Zero rows is returned as "0E0" which Perl will treat as 0 but will regard as true.
For select statements execute simply 'starts' the query within the Engine. Use one of the fetch methods to retreive the data. Note that the execute method does not return the number of rows that will be returned by the query (because for most Engines it can't tell in advance).
$ary_ref = $sth->fetch;
Fetches the next row of data and returns a reference to an array holding the field values. If there are no more rows fetch returns undef. Null values are returned as undef.
@ary = $sth->fetchrow;
An alternative to fetch. Fetches the next row of data and returns it as an array holding the field values. If there are no more rows fetchrow returns an empty list. Null values are returned as undef.
fetch
$hash_ref = $sth->fetchhash;
An alternative to fetchrow. Fetches the next row of data and returns it as a reference to a hash containing field name and field value pairs. Null values are returned as undef. If there are no more rows fetchhash returns undef.
fetchrow
The keys of the hash are the same names returned by $sth->{NAME}. If more than one field has the same name only one will be returned. For this reason fetchhash should not be used to fetch data from such queries.
Because of the extra work fetchhash and Perl have to perform it is not as efficient as fetch or fetchrow and not recommended where performance is very important.
$tbl_ary_ref = $sth->fetch_all;
The fetch_all method can be used to fetch all the data to be returned from a prepared statement. It returns a reference to an array which contains one array reference per row (as returned by fetch).
fetch_all
If there are no rows to return, fetch_all returns a reference to an empty array.
$rc = $sth->finish;
Indicates that no more data will be fetched from this statement before it is either prepared again via prepare or destroyed. It is helpful to call this method where appropriate in order to allow the server to free off any internal resources (such as read locks) currently being held. It does not affect the transaction status of the session in any way.
prepare
$rv = $sth->rows;
Returns the number of rows affected by the last database altering command, or -1 if not known or available.
Generally you can only rely on a row count after a do() or non-select execute(). Some drivers only offer a row count after executing some specific operations (e.g., update and delete).
It is generally not possible to know how many rows will be returned from an arbitrary select statement except by fetching and counting them. Also note that some drivers, such as DBD::Oracle, implement read-ahead row caches for select statements which means that the row count may be incorrect while there are still more records to fetch.
$rv = $sth->bind_col($column_number, \$var_to_bind); $rv = $sth->bind_col($column_number, \$var_to_bind, \%attr);
Binds a column (field) of a select statement to a perl variable. Whenever a row is fetched from the database the corresponding perl variable is automatically updated. There is no need to fetch and assign the values manually. See bind_columns below for an example. Note that column numbers count up from 1.
The binding is performed at a very low level using perl aliasing so there is no extra copying taking place. So long as the driver uses the correct internal DBI call to get the array the fetch function returns it will automatically support column binding.
$rv = $sth->bind_columns(\%attr, @refs_to_vars_to_bind);
e.g.
$sth->prepare(q{ select region, sales from sales_by_region }) or die ...; my($region, $sales); # Bind perl variables to columns. Note use of perl's handy \(...) syntax. $rv = $sth->bind_columns(undef, \($region, $sales)); # Column binding is the most eficient way to fetch data while($sth->fetch) { print "$region: $sales\n"; }
Calls bind_col for each column of the select statement. bind_columns will croak if the number of references does not match the number of fields.
$sth->{NUM_OF_FIELDS} ($)
Number of fields (columns) the prepared statement will return. Non-select statements will have NUM_OF_FIELDS == 0.
$sth->{NUM_OF_PARAMS} ($)
The number of parameters (placeholders) in the prepared statement. See SUBSTITUTION VARIABLES below for more details.
$sth->{NAME} (\@)
Returns a reference to an array of field names for each column.
print "First column name: $sth->{NAME}->[0]\n";
$sth->{NULLABLE} (\@)
Returns a reference to an array indicating the possibility of each column returning a null.
print "First column may return NULL\n" if $sth->{NULLABLE}->[0];
$sth->{CursorName} ($)
Returns the name of the cursor associated with the statement handle if available. If not available or the database driver does not support the "where current of ..." SQL syntax then it returns undef.
"where current of ..."
Also known as place holders and substitution variables.
This section has not yet been formalised.
my $dbh = DBI->connect($database, $user, $password, 'Oracle') or die "Can't connect to $database: $DBI::errstr"; my $sth = $dbh->prepare( q{ SELECT name, phone FROM mytelbook }) or die "Can't prepare statement: $DBI::errstr"; my $rc = $sth->execute or die "Can't execute statement: $DBI::errstr"; print "Query will return $sth->{NUM_FIELDS} fields.\n\n"; print "$sth->{NAME}->[0]: $sth->{NAME}->[1]\n"; while (($name, $phone) = $sth->fetchrow()) { print "$name: $phone\n"; } # check for problems which may have terminated the fetch early warn $DBI::errstr if $DBI::err; $sth->finish;
Detailed debugging can be enabled for a specific handle (and any future children of that handle) by executing
$h->debug($level);
Where $level is at least 2 (recommended). Disable with $level==0;
You can also enable debugging by setting the PERL_DBI_DEBUG environment variable to the same values. On unix-like systems using a bourne-like shell you can do this easily for a single command:
PERL_DBI_DEBUG=2 perl your_test_script.pl
The debugging output is detailed and typically very useful.
The DBI is alpha software. It is only 'alpha' because the interface (api) is not finalised. The alpha status does not reflect code quality or stability.
SQL Language Reference Manual.
Programming Perl 2nd Ed. by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen & Randal Schwartz. Learning Perl by Randal Schwartz. Dr Dobb's Journal, November 1996. The Perl Journal, April 1997.
perl(1), perlmod(1), perlbook(1)
The dbi-users mailing list is the primary means of communication among uses of the DBI and its related modules. Subscribe and unsubscribe via:
http://www.fugue.com/dbi
Mailing list archives are held at:
http://www.rosat.mpe-garching.mpg.de/mailing-lists/PerlDB-Interest/ http://www.coe.missouri.edu/~faq/lists/dbi.html
The DBI 'Home Page' (not maintained by me):
http://www.hermetica.com/technologia/DBI
Other related links:
http://www-ccs.cs.umass.edu/db.html http://www.odmg.org/odmg93/updates_dbarry.html http://www.jcc.com/sql_stnd.html ftp://alpha.gnu.ai.mit.edu/gnu/gnusql-0.7b3.tar.gz
DBI by Tim Bunce. This pod text by Tim Bunce, J. Douglas Dunlop and others. Perl by Larry Wall and the perl5-porters.
I would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of the many people I have worked with on the DBI project, especially in the early years (1992-1994): Kevin Stock, Buzz Moschetti, Kurt Andersen, Ted Lemon, William Hails, Garth Kennedy, Michael Peppler, Neil S. Briscoe, David J. Hughes, Jeff Stander, Forrest D Whitcher, Larry Wall, Jeff Fried, Roy Johnson, Paul Hudson, Georg Rehfeld, Steve Sizemore, Ron Pool, Jon Meek, Tom Christiansen, Steve Baumgarten, Randal Schwartz, and a whole lot more.
The DBI module is Copyright (c) 1995,1996,1997 Tim Bunce. England. The DBI module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
This document is Copyright (c) 1997 by Tim Bunce. All rights reserved. Permission to distribute this document, in full or part, via email, usenet or ftp/http archives or printed copy is granted providing that no charges are involved, reasonable attempt is made to use the most current version, and all credits and copyright notices are retained. Requests for other distribution rights, including incorporation in commercial products, such as books, magazine articles, or CD-ROMs should be made to Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk (please don't use this mail address for other DBI related mail - use the dbi-users mailing list).
The DBI is free software. IT COMES WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
Commercial support agreements for Perl and the DBI, DBD::Oracle and Oraperl modules can be arranged via The Perl Clinic. See http://www.perl.co.uk/tpc for more details.
bind variables blob_read error handling portability data dictionary methods test harness support methods etc
Read the information in the references below. Please do not post CGI related questions to the dbi-users mailing list (or to me).
http://www.perl.com/perl/faq/idiots-guide.html http://www3.pair.com/webthing/docs/cgi/faqs/cgifaq.shtml http://www.perl.com/perl/faq/perl-cgi-faq.html http://www-genome.wi.mit.edu/WWW/faqs/www-security-faq.html http://www.boutell.com/faq/ http://www.perl.com/perl/faq/
For information on the Apache httpd server and the mod_perl module see http://www.osf.org/~dougm/apache
The installed location of the DBIXS.h file changed with 0.77 (it was being installed into the 'wrong' directory but that's where driver developers came to expect it to be). The first thing to do is check to see if you have the latest version of your driver. Driver authors will be releasing new versions which use the new location. If you have the latest then ask for a new release. You can edit the Makefile.PL file yourself. Change the part which reads "-I.../DBI" so it reads "-I.../auto/DBI" (where ... is a string of non-space characters).
"-I.../DBI"
"-I.../auto/DBI"
The latest version of the DBI and, at least, the DBD::Oracle module will build - without changes - on NT/Win32 if your are using the standard Perl 5.004 and not the ActiveWare port.
Jeffrey Urlwin <jurlwin@access.digex.net> (or <jurlwin@hq.caci.com>) is helping me with the port (actually he's doing it and I'm integrating the changes :-).
See the statement and following notes in the DBI README file.
Author: Tim Bunce Email: dbi-users@fugue.com
Author: Jonathan Leffler Email: dbi-users@fugue.com
Author: Thomas Wenrich Email: wenrich@site58.ping.at, dbi-users@fugue.com
Author: Edmund Mergl Email: mergl@nadia.s.bawue.de, dbi-users@fugue.com
To be used with the Apache daemon together with an embedded perl interpreter like mod_perl. Establishes a database connection which remains open for the lifetime of the http daemon. This way the CGI connect and disconnect for every database access becomes superfluous.
The server is written in Perl. The client classes that talk to it are of course in Java. Thus, a Java applet or application will be able to comunicate via the JDBC API with any database that has a DBI driver installed. The URL used is in the form jdbc:dbi://host.domain.etc:999/Driver/DBName. It seems to be very similar to some commercial products, such as jdbcKona.
Carl is developing a generic proxy object module which could form the basis of a DBD::Proxy driver in the future.
To install DBI, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm DBI
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install DBI
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.