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NAME

       odbc - Erlang ODBC application

DESCRIPTION

       This  application  provides  an  Erlang  interface  to  communicate  with  relational SQL-
       databases. It is built on top of Microsofts ODBC interface and therefore requires that you
       have an ODBC driver to the database that you want to connect to.

   Note:
       The  functions  first/[1,2],  last/[1,2],  next/[1,2],  prev[1,2] and select/[3,4] assumes
       there is a result set associated with the connection to  work  on.  Calling  the  function
       select_count/[2,3]  associates such a result set with the connection. Calling select_count
       again will remove the current result set association and  create  a  new  one.  Calling  a
       function  which  dose  not  operate on an associated result sets, such as sql_query/[2,3],
       will remove the current result set association.

       Alas some drivers only support sequential traversal of the result set, e.i.  they  do  not
       support  what  in the ODBC world is known as scrollable cursors. This will have the effect
       that functions such  as  first/[1,2],  last/[1,2],  prev[1,2],  etc  will  return  {error,
       driver_does_not_support_function}

COMMON DATA TYPES

       Here follows type definitions that are used by more than one function in the ODBC API.

   Note:
       The type TimeOut has the default value infinity, so for instance:
       commit(Ref,  CommitMode)  is the same as commit(Ref, CommitMode, infinity). If the timeout
       expires the client will exit with the reason timeout.

        connection_reference() - as returned by connect/2

        time_out() = milliseconds() | infinity

        milliseconds() = integer() >= 0

        common_reason() = connection_closed | extended_error() | term() - some kind of
        explanation of what went wrong

        extended_error() = {string(), integer(), Reason} - extended error type with ODBC
        and native database error codes, as well as the base reason that would have been
        returned had extended_errors not been enabled.

        string() = list of ASCII characters

        col_name() = string() - Name of column in the result set

        col_names() - [col_name()] - e.g. a list of the names of the
                  selected columns in the result set.

        row() = {value()} - Tuple of column values e.g. one row of the
                  result set.

        value() = null | term() - A column value.

        rows() = [row()] - A list of rows from the result set.

        result_tuple() =
             {updated, n_rows()} | {selected, col_names(), rows()}

        n_rows() = integer() - The number of affected rows for UPDATE,
                  INSERT, or DELETE queries. For other query types the value
                  is driver defined, and hence should be ignored.

        odbc_data_type() = sql_integer | sql_smallint | sql_tinyint |
             {sql_decimal, precision(), scale()} |
             {sql_numeric, precision(), scale()} |
             {sql_char, size()} |
             {sql_wchar, size()} |
             {sql_varchar, size()} |
             {sql_wvarchar, size()}|
             {sql_float, precision()} |
             {sql_wlongvarchar, size()} |
             {sql_float, precision()} |
             sql_real | sql_double | sql_bit | atom()

        precision() = integer()

        scale() = integer()

        size() = integer()

ERROR HANDLING

       The error handling strategy and possible errors sources are described in the  Erlang  ODBC
       User's Guide.

EXPORTS

       commit(Ref, CommitMode) ->
       commit(Ref, CommitMode, TimeOut) -> ok | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 CommitMode = commit | rollback
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 Reason             =             not_an_explicit_commit_connection             |
                 process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection | common_reason()

              Commits or rollbacks a transaction. Needed on connections where automatic commit is
              turned off.

       connect(ConnectStr, Options) -> {ok, Ref} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 ConnectStr = string()
                   An  example  of  a  connection string: "DSN=sql-server;UID=aladdin;PWD=sesame"
                   where DSN is your ODBC Data Source Name, UID is a database user id and PWD  is
                   the  password  for that user. These are usually the attributes required in the
                   connection string, but some drivers have other driver specific attributes, for
                   example  "DSN=Oracle8;DBQ=gandalf;UID=aladdin;PWD=sesame"  where  DBQ  is your
                   TNSNAMES.ORA entry name e.g. some Oracle specific configuration attribute.
                 Options = [] | [option()]
                   All options has default values.
                 option()  =  {auto_commit,   on   |   off}   |   {timeout,   milliseconds()}   |
                 {binary_strings,  on  | off} | {tuple_row, on | off} | {scrollable_cursors, on |
                 off} | {trace_driver, on | off} | {extended_errors, on | off}
                 Ref = connection_reference() - should be used to access the connection.
                 Reason = port_program_executable_not_found | common_reason()

              Opens a connection to the database. The connection is associated with  the  process
              that  created  it  and can only be accessed through it. This function may spawn new
              processes to handle the connection. These processes will terminate if  the  process
              that created the connection dies or if you call disconnect/1.

              If  automatic  commit  mode  is  turned  on,  each  query  will be considered as an
              individual transaction and will  be  automatically  committed  after  it  has  been
              executed.  If  you  want more than one query to be part of the same transaction the
              automatic commit mode should be turned off. Then you will  have  to  call  commit/3
              explicitly to end a transaction.

              The default timeout is infinity

              >If the option binary_strings is turned on all strings will be returned as binaries
              and strings inputted to param_query will be expected to be binaries. The user needs
              to  ensure  that the binary is in an encoding that the database expects. By default
              this option is turned off.

              As default result sets are returned as a lists  of  tuples.  The  TupleMode  option
              still  exists  to keep some degree of backwards compatibility. If the option is set
              to off, result sets will be returned as a lists of lists  instead  of  a  lists  of
              tuples.

              Scrollable  cursors  are  nice but causes some overhead. For some connections speed
              might be more important  than  flexible  data  access  and  then  you  can  disable
              scrollable cursor for a connection, limiting the API but gaining speed.

          Note:
              Turning the scrollable_cursors option off is noted to make old odbc-drivers able to
              connect that will otherwise fail.

              If trace mode is turned on this tells the ODBC driver to write a trace log  to  the
              file  SQL.LOG  that is placed in the current directory of the erlang emulator. This
              information may be useful if you suspect there might be a bug in  the  erlang  ODBC
              application,  and  it  might  be relevant for you to send this file to our support.
              Otherwise you will probably not have much use of this.

          Note:
              For  more  information  about  the  ConnectStr  see  description  of  the  function
              SQLDriverConnect in [1].

              The  extended_errors  option  enables  extended  ODBC  error  information  when  an
              operation fails. Rather than returning {error, Reason}, the failing  function  will
              return   {error,   {ODBCErrorCode,   NativeErrorCode,   Reason}}.  Note  that  this
              information is probably of little use when writing database-independent  code,  but
              can  be  of  assistance in providing more sophisticated error handling when dealing
              with a known underlying database.

                * ODBCErrorCode is the ODBC error string returned by the ODBC driver.

                * NativeErrorCode is the numeric error code returned by the underlying  database.
                  The  possible  values  and  their  meanings are dependent on the database being
                  used.

                * Reason is as per the Reason field when extended errors are not enabled.

          Note:
              The current implementation spawns a port program written in  C  that  utilizes  the
              actual  ODBC  driver. There is a default timeout of 5000 msec for this port program
              to connect to the Erlang ODBC application. This timeout can be changed  by  setting
              an  application  specific  environment  variable  'port_timeout' with the number of
              milliseconds for the ODBC application. E.g.: [{odbc, [{port_timeout,  60000}]}]  to
              set it to 60 seconds.

       disconnect(Ref) -> ok | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 Reason = process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection | extended_error()

              Closes  a connection to a database. This will also terminate all processes that may
              have been spawned when the connection was opened. This call will always succeed. If
              the  connection  cannot  be  disconnected  gracefully  it  will be brutally killed.
              However you may receive an error message as result  if  you  try  to  disconnect  a
              connection started by another process.

       describe_table(Ref, Table) ->
       describe_table(Ref, Table, Timeout) -> {ok, Description} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 Table = string() - Name of database table.
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 Description = [{col_name(), odbc_data_type()}]
                 Reason = common_reason()

              Queries  the  database  to find out the ODBC data types of the columns of the table
              Table.

       first(Ref) ->
       first(Ref, Timeout) -> {selected, ColNames, Rows} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 ColNames = col_names()
                 Rows = rows()
                 Reason  =   result_set_does_not_exist   |   driver_does_not_support_function   |
                 scrollable_cursors_disabled     |     process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection     |
                 common_reason()

              Returns the first row of the result set and positions a cursor at this row.

       last(Ref) ->
       last(Ref, TimeOut) -> {selected, ColNames, Rows} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 ColNames = col_names()
                 Rows = rows()
                 Reason  =   result_set_does_not_exist   |   driver_does_not_support_function   |
                 scrollable_cursors_disabled     |     process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection     |
                 common_reason()

              Returns the last row of the result set and positions a cursor at this row.

       next(Ref) ->
       next(Ref, TimeOut) -> {selected, ColNames, Rows} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 ColNames = col_names()
                 Rows = rows()
                 Reason  =  result_set_does_not_exist  |  process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection  |
                 common_reason()

              Returns  the  next  row  of the result set relative the current cursor position and
              positions the cursor at this row. If the cursor is positioned at the  last  row  of
              the  result  set when this function is called the returned value will be {selected,
              ColNames,[]} e.i. the list of row values is empty indicating that there is no  more
              data to fetch.

       param_query(Ref, SQLQuery, Params) ->
       param_query(Ref, SQLQuery, Params, TimeOut) -> ResultTuple | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 SQLQuery  =  string() - a SQL query with parameter markers/place holders in form
                 of question marks.
                 Params  =  [{odbc_data_type(),  [value()]}]  |[{odbc_data_type(),   in_or_out(),
                 [value()]}]
                 in_or_out = in | out | inout
                   Defines IN, OUT, and IN OUT Parameter Modes for stored procedures.
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 Values  = term() - Must be consistent with the Erlang data type that corresponds
                 to the ODBC data type ODBCDataType

              Executes a parameterized SQL query. For an example see the "Using the  Erlang  API"
              in the Erlang ODBC User's Guide.

          Note:
              Use  the  function  describe_table/[2,3]  to  find out which ODBC data type that is
              expected for each column of that table. If  a  column  has  a  data  type  that  is
              described  with  capital  letters,  alas  it  is  not  currently  supported  by the
              param_query function. Too know which Erlang data type corresponds to an  ODBC  data
              type see the Erlang to ODBC data type mapping in the User's Guide.

       prev(Ref) ->
       prev(ConnectionReference, TimeOut) -> {selected, ColNames, Rows} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 ColNames = col_names()
                 Rows = rows()
                 Reason   =   result_set_does_not_exist   |   driver_does_not_support_function  |
                 scrollable_cursors_disabled     |     process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection     |
                 common_reason()

              Returns the previous row of the result set relative the current cursor position and
              positions the cursor at this row.

       start() ->
       start(Type) -> ok | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Type = permanent | transient | temporary

              Starts the odbc application. Default type is temporary. See application(3erl)

       stop() -> ok

              Stops the odbc application. See application(3erl)

       sql_query(Ref, SQLQuery) ->
       sql_query(Ref, SQLQuery, TimeOut) -> ResultTuple | [ResultTuple] |{error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 SQLQuery = string()  -  The  string  may  be  composed  by  several  SQL-queries
                 separated by a ";", this is called a batch.
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 ResultTuple = result_tuple()
                 Reason = process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection | common_reason()

              Executes  a SQL query or a batch of SQL queries. If it is a SELECT query the result
              set is returned, on the format {selected, ColNames, Rows}. For  other  query  types
              the  tuple  {updated,  NRows}  is  returned, and for batched queries, if the driver
              supports them, this function can also return a list of result tuples.

          Note:
              Some drivers may not have the information of the number of affected rows  available
              and then the return value may be {updated, undefined} .

              The list of column names is ordered in the same way as the list of values of a row,
              e.g. the first ColName is associated with the first Value in a Row.

       select_count(Ref, SelectQuery) ->
       select_count(Ref, SelectQuery, TimeOut) -> {ok, NrRows} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 SelectQuery = string()
                   SQL SELECT query.
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 NrRows = n_rows()
                 Reason = process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection | common_reason()

              Executes a SQL SELECT query and associates the result set with  the  connection.  A
              cursor  is  positioned  before  the  first row in the result set and the tuple {ok,
              NrRows} is returned.

          Note:
              Some drivers may not have the information of the number of rows in the result  set,
              then NrRows will have the value undefined.

       select(Ref, Position, N) ->
       select(Ref, Position, N, TimeOut) -> {selected, ColNames, Rows} | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Ref = connection_reference()
                 Position = next | {relative, Pos} | {absolute, Pos}
                   Selection  strategy,  determines  at  which row in the result set to start the
                   selection.
                 Pos = integer()
                   Should indicate a row number in the result set. When used  together  with  the
                   option  relativeit will be used as an offset from the current cursor position,
                   when used together with the option absoluteit will be  interpreted  as  a  row
                   number.
                 N = integer()
                 TimeOut = time_out()
                 Reason   =   result_set_does_not_exist   |   driver_does_not_support_function  |
                 scrollable_cursors_disabled     |     process_not_owner_of_odbc_connection     |
                 common_reason()

              Selects  N  consecutive  rows  of  the  result  set.  If  Position  is  next  it is
              semantically equivalent of calling next/[1,2] N times. If  Position  is  {relative,
              Pos},  Pos  will be used as an offset from the current cursor position to determine
              the first selected row. If Position is {absolute, Pos}, Pos will be the  number  of
              the  first  row selected. After this function has returned the cursor is positioned
              at the last selected row. If there is less then N rows left of the result  set  the
              length of Rows will be less than N. If the first row to select happens to be beyond
              the last row of the result set, the returned value will be {selected,  ColNames,[]}
              e.i.  the  list  of  row  values  is empty indicating that there is no more data to
              fetch.

REFERENCES

       [1]: Microsoft ODBC 3.0, Programmer's Reference and SDK Guide
       See also http://msdn.microsoft.com/