Provided by: libdbi-perl_1.643-4_amd64 
NAME
DBI::DBD - Perl DBI Database Driver Writer's Guide
SYNOPSIS
perldoc DBI::DBD
Version and volatility
This document is still a minimal draft which is in need of further work.
Please read the DBI documentation first and fully. Then look at the implementation of
some high-profile and regularly maintained drivers like DBD::Oracle, DBD::ODBC, DBD::Pg
etc. (Those are no no particular order.)
Then reread the DBI specification and the code of those drivers again as you're reading
this. It'll help. Where this document and the driver code differ it's likely that the
driver code is more correct, especially if multiple drivers do the same thing.
This document is a patchwork of contributions from various authors. More contributions
(preferably as patches) are very welcome.
DESCRIPTION
This document is primarily intended to help people writing new database drivers for the
Perl Database Interface (Perl DBI). It may also help others interested in discovering why
the internals of a DBD driver are written the way they are.
This is a guide. Few (if any) of the statements in it are completely authoritative under
all possible circumstances. This means you will need to use judgement in applying the
guidelines in this document. If in any doubt at all, please do contact the dbi-dev
mailing list (details given below) where Tim Bunce and other driver authors can help.
CREATING A NEW DRIVER
The first rule for creating a new database driver for the Perl DBI is very simple: DON'T!
There is usually a driver already available for the database you want to use, almost
regardless of which database you choose. Very often, the database will provide an ODBC
driver interface, so you can often use DBD::ODBC to access the database. This is typically
less convenient on a Unix box than on a Microsoft Windows box, but there are numerous
options for ODBC driver managers on Unix too, and very often the ODBC driver is provided
by the database supplier.
Before deciding that you need to write a driver, do your homework to ensure that you are
not wasting your energies.
[As of December 2002, the consensus is that if you need an ODBC driver manager on Unix,
then the unixODBC driver (available from <http://www.unixodbc.org/>) is the way to go.]
The second rule for creating a new database driver for the Perl DBI is also very simple:
Don't -- get someone else to do it for you!
Nevertheless, there are occasions when it is necessary to write a new driver, often to use
a proprietary language or API to access the database more swiftly, or more
comprehensively, than an ODBC driver can. Then you should read this document very
carefully, but with a suitably sceptical eye.
If there is something in here that does not make any sense, question it. You might be
right that the information is bogus, but don't come to that conclusion too quickly.
URLs and mailing lists
The primary web-site for locating DBI software and information is
http://dbi.perl.org/
There are two main and one auxiliary mailing lists for people working with DBI. The
primary lists are dbi-users@perl.org for general users of DBI and DBD drivers, and
dbi-dev@perl.org mainly for DBD driver writers (don't join the dbi-dev list unless you
have a good reason). The auxiliary list is dbi-announce@perl.org for announcing new
releases of DBI or DBD drivers.
You can join these lists by accessing the web-site <http://dbi.perl.org/>. The lists are
closed so you cannot send email to any of the lists unless you join the list first.
You should also consider monitoring the comp.lang.perl.* newsgroups, especially
comp.lang.perl.modules.
The Cheetah book
The definitive book on Perl DBI is the Cheetah book, so called because of the picture on
the cover. Its proper title is 'Programming the Perl DBI: Database programming with Perl'
by Alligator Descartes and Tim Bunce, published by O'Reilly Associates, February 2000,
ISBN 1-56592-699-4. Buy it now if you have not already done so, and read it.
Locating drivers
Before writing a new driver, it is in your interests to find out whether there already is
a driver for your database. If there is such a driver, it would be much easier to make
use of it than to write your own!
The primary web-site for locating Perl software is <http://search.cpan.org/>. You should
look under the various modules listings for the software you are after. For example:
http://search.cpan.org/modlist/Database_Interfaces
Follow the DBD:: and DBIx:: links at the top to see those subsets.
See the DBI docs for information on DBI web sites and mailing lists.
Registering a new driver
Before going through any official registration process, you will need to establish that
there is no driver already in the works. You'll do that by asking the DBI mailing lists
whether there is such a driver available, or whether anybody is working on one.
When you get the go ahead, you will need to establish the name of the driver and a prefix
for the driver. Typically, the name is based on the name of the database software it uses,
and the prefix is a contraction of that. Hence, DBD::Oracle has the name Oracle and the
prefix 'ora_'. The prefix must be lowercase and contain no underscores other than the one
at the end.
This information will be recorded in the DBI module. Apart from documentation purposes,
registration is a prerequisite for installing private methods.
If you are writing a driver which will not be distributed on CPAN, then you should choose
a prefix beginning with 'x_', to avoid potential prefix collisions with drivers registered
in the future. Thus, if you wrote a non-CPAN distributed driver called DBD::CustomDB, the
prefix might be 'x_cdb_'.
This document assumes you are writing a driver called DBD::Driver, and that the prefix
'drv_' is assigned to the driver.
Two styles of database driver
There are two distinct styles of database driver that can be written to work with the Perl
DBI.
Your driver can be written in pure Perl, requiring no C compiler. When feasible, this is
the best solution, but most databases are not written in such a way that this can be done.
Some examples of pure Perl drivers are DBD::File and DBD::CSV.
Alternatively, and most commonly, your driver will need to use some C code to gain access
to the database. This will be classified as a C/XS driver.
What code will you write?
There are a number of files that need to be written for either a pure Perl driver or a
C/XS driver. There are no extra files needed only by a pure Perl driver, but there are
several extra files needed only by a C/XS driver.
Files common to pure Perl and C/XS drivers
Assuming that your driver is called DBD::Driver, these files are:
• Makefile.PL
• META.yml
• README
• MANIFEST
• Driver.pm
• lib/Bundle/DBD/Driver.pm
• lib/DBD/Driver/Summary.pm
• t/*.t
The first four files are mandatory. Makefile.PL is used to control how the driver is built
and installed. The README file tells people who download the file about how to build the
module and any prerequisite software that must be installed. The MANIFEST file is used by
the standard Perl module distribution mechanism. It lists all the source files that need
to be distributed with your module. Driver.pm is what is loaded by the DBI code; it
contains the methods peculiar to your driver.
Although the META.yml file is not required you are advised to create one. Of particular
importance are the build_requires and configure_requires attributes which newer CPAN
modules understand. You use these to tell the CPAN module (and CPANPLUS) that your build
and configure mechanisms require DBI. The best reference for META.yml (at the time of
writing) is <http://module-build.sourceforge.net/META-spec-v1.4.html>. You can find a
reasonable example of a META.yml in DBD::ODBC.
The lib/Bundle/DBD/Driver.pm file allows you to specify other Perl modules on which yours
depends in a format that allows someone to type a simple command and ensure that all the
pre-requisites are in place as well as building your driver.
The lib/DBD/Driver/Summary.pm file contains (an updated version of) the information that
was included - or that would have been included - in the appendices of the Cheetah book as
a summary of the abilities of your driver and the associated database.
The files in the t subdirectory are unit tests for your driver. You should write your
tests as stringently as possible, while taking into account the diversity of installations
that you can encounter:
• Your tests should not casually modify operational databases.
• You should never damage existing tables in a database.
• You should code your tests to use a constrained name space within the database. For
example, the tables (and all other named objects) that are created could all begin
with 'dbd_drv_'.
• At the end of a test run, there should be no testing objects left behind in the
database.
• If you create any databases, you should remove them.
• If your database supports temporary tables that are automatically removed at the end
of a session, then exploit them as often as possible.
• Try to make your tests independent of each other. If you have a test t/t11dowhat.t
that depends upon the successful running of t/t10thingamy.t, people cannot run the
single test case t/t11dowhat.t. Further, running t/t11dowhat.t twice in a row is
likely to fail (at least, if t/t11dowhat.t modifies the database at all) because the
database at the start of the second run is not what you saw at the start of the first
run.
• Document in your README file what you do, and what privileges people need to do it.
• You can, and probably should, sequence your tests by including a test number before an
abbreviated version of the test name; the tests are run in the order in which the
names are expanded by shell-style globbing.
• It is in your interests to ensure that your tests work as widely as possible.
Many drivers also install sub-modules DBD::Driver::SubModule for any of a variety of
different reasons, such as to support the metadata methods (see the discussion of
"METADATA METHODS" below). Such sub-modules are conventionally stored in the directory
lib/DBD/Driver. The module itself would usually be in a file SubModule.pm. All such sub-
modules should themselves be version stamped (see the discussions far below).
Extra files needed by C/XS drivers
The software for a C/XS driver will typically contain at least four extra files that are
not relevant to a pure Perl driver.
• Driver.xs
• Driver.h
• dbdimp.h
• dbdimp.c
The Driver.xs file is used to generate C code that Perl can call to gain access to the C
functions you write that will, in turn, call down onto your database software.
The Driver.h header is a stylized header that ensures you can access the necessary Perl
and DBI macros, types, and function declarations.
The dbdimp.h is used to specify which functions have been implemented by your driver.
The dbdimp.c file is where you write the C code that does the real work of translating
between Perl-ish data types and what the database expects to use and return.
There are some (mainly small, but very important) differences between the contents of
Makefile.PL and Driver.pm for pure Perl and C/XS drivers, so those files are described
both in the section on creating a pure Perl driver and in the section on creating a C/XS
driver.
Obviously, you can add extra source code files to the list.
Requirements on a driver and driver writer
To be remotely useful, your driver must be implemented in a format that allows it to be
distributed via CPAN, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (<http://www.cpan.org/> and
<http://search.cpan.org>). Of course, it is easier if you do not have to meet this
criterion, but you will not be able to ask for much help if you do not do so, and no-one
is likely to want to install your module if they have to learn a new installation
mechanism.
CREATING A PURE PERL DRIVER
Writing a pure Perl driver is surprisingly simple. However, there are some problems you
should be aware of. The best option is of course picking up an existing driver and
carefully modifying one method after the other.
Also look carefully at DBD::AnyData and DBD::Template.
As an example we take a look at the DBD::File driver, a driver for accessing plain files
as tables, which is part of the DBD::CSV package.
The minimal set of files we have to implement are Makefile.PL, README, MANIFEST and
Driver.pm.
Pure Perl version of Makefile.PL
You typically start with writing Makefile.PL, a Makefile generator. The contents of this
file are described in detail in the ExtUtils::MakeMaker man pages. It is definitely a good
idea if you start reading them. At least you should know about the variables CONFIGURE,
DEFINED, PM, DIR, EXE_FILES, INC, LIBS, LINKTYPE, NAME, OPTIMIZE, PL_FILES, VERSION,
VERSION_FROM, clean, depend, realclean from the ExtUtils::MakeMaker man page: these are
used in almost any Makefile.PL.
Additionally read the section on Overriding MakeMaker Methods and the descriptions of the
distcheck, disttest and dist targets: They will definitely be useful for you.
Of special importance for DBI drivers is the postamble method from the ExtUtils::MM_Unix
man page.
For Emacs users, I recommend the libscan method, which removes Emacs backup files (file
names which end with a tilde '~') from lists of files.
Now an example, I use the word "Driver" wherever you should insert your driver's name:
# -*- perl -*-
use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
WriteMakefile(
dbd_edit_mm_attribs( {
'NAME' => 'DBD::Driver',
'VERSION_FROM' => 'Driver.pm',
'INC' => '',
'dist' => { 'SUFFIX' => '.gz',
'COMPRESS' => 'gzip -9f' },
'realclean' => { FILES => '*.xsi' },
'PREREQ_PM' => '1.03',
'CONFIGURE' => sub {
eval {require DBI::DBD;};
if ($@) {
warn $@;
exit 0;
}
my $dbi_arch_dir = dbd_dbi_arch_dir();
if (exists($opts{INC})) {
return {INC => "$opts{INC} -I$dbi_arch_dir"};
} else {
return {INC => "-I$dbi_arch_dir"};
}
}
},
{ create_pp_tests => 1})
);
package MY;
sub postamble { return main::dbd_postamble(@_); }
sub libscan {
my ($self, $path) = @_;
($path =~ m/\~$/) ? undef : $path;
}
Note the calls to "dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" and "dbd_postamble()".
The second hash reference in the call to "dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" (containing
"create_pp_tests()") is optional; you should not use it unless your driver is a pure Perl
driver (that is, it does not use C and XS code). Therefore, the call to
"dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" is not relevant for C/XS drivers and may be omitted; simply use
the (single) hash reference containing NAME etc as the only argument to "WriteMakefile()".
Note that the "dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" code will fail if you do not have a t sub-directory
containing at least one test case.
PREREQ_PM tells MakeMaker that DBI (version 1.03 in this case) is required for this
module. This will issue a warning that DBI 1.03 is missing if someone attempts to install
your DBD without DBI 1.03. See CONFIGURE below for why this does not work reliably in
stopping cpan testers failing your module if DBI is not installed.
CONFIGURE is a subroutine called by MakeMaker during "WriteMakefile". By putting the
"require DBI::DBD" in this section we can attempt to load DBI::DBD but if it is missing we
exit with success. As we exit successfully without creating a Makefile when DBI::DBD is
missing cpan testers will not report a failure. This may seem at odds with PREREQ_PM but
PREREQ_PM does not cause "WriteMakefile" to fail (unless you also specify PREREQ_FATAL
which is strongly discouraged by MakeMaker) so "WriteMakefile" would continue to call
"dbd_dbi_arch_dir" and fail.
All drivers must use "dbd_postamble()" or risk running into problems.
Note the specification of VERSION_FROM; the named file (Driver.pm) will be scanned for the
first line that looks like an assignment to $VERSION, and the subsequent text will be used
to determine the version number. Note the commentary in ExtUtils::MakeMaker on the
subject of correctly formatted version numbers.
If your driver depends upon external software (it usually will), you will need to add code
to ensure that your environment is workable before the call to "WriteMakefile()". If you
need to check for the existence of an external library and perhaps modify INC to include
the paths to where the external library header files are located and you cannot find the
library or header files make sure you output a message saying they cannot be found but
"exit 0" (success) before calling "WriteMakefile" or CPAN testers will fail your module if
the external library is not found.
A full-fledged Makefile.PL can be quite large (for example, the files for DBD::Oracle and
DBD::Informix are both over 1000 lines long, and the Informix one uses - and creates -
auxiliary modules too).
See also ExtUtils::MakeMaker and ExtUtils::MM_Unix. Consider using CPAN::MakeMaker in
place of ExtUtils::MakeMaker.
README
The README file should describe what the driver is for, the pre-requisites for the build
process, the actual build process, how to report errors, and who to report them to.
Users will find ways of breaking the driver build and test process which you would never
even have dreamed to be possible in your worst nightmares. Therefore, you need to write
this document defensively, precisely and concisely.
As always, use the README from one of the established drivers as a basis for your own; the
version in DBD::Informix is worth a look as it has been quite successful in heading off
problems.
• Note that users will have versions of Perl and DBI that are both older and newer than
you expected, but this will seldom cause much trouble. When it does, it will be
because you are using features of DBI that are not supported in the version they are
using.
• Note that users will have versions of the database software that are both older and
newer than you expected. You will save yourself time in the long run if you can
identify the range of versions which have been tested and warn about versions which
are not known to be OK.
• Note that many people trying to install your driver will not be experts in the
database software.
• Note that many people trying to install your driver will not be experts in C or Perl.
MANIFEST
The MANIFEST will be used by the Makefile's dist target to build the distribution tar file
that is uploaded to CPAN. It should list every file that you want to include in your
distribution, one per line.
lib/Bundle/DBD/Driver.pm
The CPAN module provides an extremely powerful bundle mechanism that allows you to specify
pre-requisites for your driver.
The primary pre-requisite is Bundle::DBI; you may want or need to add some more. With the
bundle set up correctly, the user can type:
perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::DBD::Driver'
and Perl will download, compile, test and install all the Perl modules needed to build
your driver.
The prerequisite modules are listed in the "CONTENTS" section, with the official name of
the module followed by a dash and an informal name or description.
• Listing Bundle::DBI as the main pre-requisite simplifies life.
• Don't forget to list your driver.
• Note that unless the DBMS is itself a Perl module, you cannot list it as a pre-
requisite in this file.
• You should keep the version of the bundle the same as the version of your driver.
• You should add configuration management, copyright, and licencing information at the
top.
A suitable skeleton for this file is shown below.
package Bundle::DBD::Driver;
$VERSION = '0.01';
1;
__END__
=head1 NAME
Bundle::DBD::Driver - A bundle to install all DBD::Driver related modules
=head1 SYNOPSIS
C<perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::DBD::Driver'>
=head1 CONTENTS
Bundle::DBI - Bundle for DBI by TIMB (Tim Bunce)
DBD::Driver - DBD::Driver by YOU (Your Name)
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This bundle includes all the modules used by the Perl Database
Interface (DBI) driver for Driver (DBD::Driver), assuming the
use of DBI version 1.13 or later, created by Tim Bunce.
If you've not previously used the CPAN module to install any
bundles, you will be interrogated during its setup phase.
But when you've done it once, it remembers what you told it.
You could start by running:
C<perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::CPAN'>
=head1 SEE ALSO
Bundle::DBI
=head1 AUTHOR
Your Name E<lt>F<you@yourdomain.com>E<gt>
=head1 THANKS
This bundle was created by ripping off Bundle::libnet created by
Graham Barr E<lt>F<gbarr@ti.com>E<gt>, and radically simplified
with some information from Jochen Wiedmann E<lt>F<joe@ispsoft.de>E<gt>.
The template was then included in the DBI::DBD documentation by
Jonathan Leffler E<lt>F<jleffler@informix.com>E<gt>.
=cut
lib/DBD/Driver/Summary.pm
There is no substitute for taking the summary file from a driver that was documented in
the Perl book (such as DBD::Oracle or DBD::Informix or DBD::ODBC, to name but three), and
adapting it to describe the facilities available via DBD::Driver when accessing the Driver
database.
Pure Perl version of Driver.pm
The Driver.pm file defines the Perl module DBD::Driver for your driver. It will define a
package DBD::Driver along with some version information, some variable definitions, and a
function "driver()" which will have a more or less standard structure.
It will also define three sub-packages of DBD::Driver:
DBD::Driver::dr
with methods "connect()", "data_sources()" and "disconnect_all()";
DBD::Driver::db
with methods such as "prepare()";
DBD::Driver::st
with methods such as "execute()" and "fetch()".
The Driver.pm file will also contain the documentation specific to DBD::Driver in the
format used by perldoc.
In a pure Perl driver, the Driver.pm file is the core of the implementation. You will need
to provide all the key methods needed by DBI.
Now let's take a closer look at an excerpt of File.pm as an example. We ignore things
that are common to any module (even non-DBI modules) or really specific to the DBD::File
package.
The DBD::Driver package
The header
package DBD::File;
use strict;
use vars qw($VERSION $drh);
$VERSION = "1.23.00" # Version number of DBD::File
This is where the version number of your driver is specified, and is where Makefile.PL
looks for this information. Please ensure that any other modules added with your driver
are also version stamped so that CPAN does not get confused.
It is recommended that you use a two-part (1.23) or three-part (1.23.45) version number.
Also consider the CPAN system, which gets confused and considers version 1.10 to precede
version 1.9, so that using a raw CVS, RCS or SCCS version number is probably not
appropriate (despite being very common).
For Subversion you could use:
$VERSION = "12.012346";
(use lots of leading zeros on the second portion so if you move the code to a shared
repository like svn.perl.org the much larger revision numbers won't cause a problem, at
least not for a few years). For RCS or CVS you can use:
$VERSION = "11.22";
which pads out the fractional part with leading zeros so all is well (so long as you don't
go past x.99)
$drh = undef; # holds driver handle once initialized
This is where the driver handle will be stored, once created. Note that you may assume
there is only one handle for your driver.
The driver constructor
The "driver()" method is the driver handle constructor. Note that the "driver()" method is
in the DBD::Driver package, not in one of the sub-packages DBD::Driver::dr,
DBD::Driver::db, or DBD::Driver::db.
sub driver
{
return $drh if $drh; # already created - return same one
my ($class, $attr) = @_;
$class .= "::dr";
DBD::Driver::db->install_method('drv_example_dbh_method');
DBD::Driver::st->install_method('drv_example_sth_method');
# not a 'my' since we use it above to prevent multiple drivers
$drh = DBI::_new_drh($class, {
'Name' => 'File',
'Version' => $VERSION,
'Attribution' => 'DBD::File by Jochen Wiedmann',
})
or return undef;
return $drh;
}
This is a reasonable example of how DBI implements its handles. There are three kinds:
driver handles (typically stored in $drh; from now on called drh or $drh), database
handles (from now on called dbh or $dbh) and statement handles (from now on called sth or
$sth).
The prototype of "DBI::_new_drh()" is
$drh = DBI::_new_drh($class, $public_attrs, $private_attrs);
with the following arguments:
$class
is typically the class for your driver, (for example, "DBD::File::dr"), passed as the
first argument to the "driver()" method.
$public_attrs
is a hash ref to attributes like Name, Version, and Attribution. These are processed
and used by DBI. You had better not make any assumptions about them nor should you add
private attributes here.
$private_attrs
This is another (optional) hash ref with your private attributes. DBI will store them
and otherwise leave them alone.
The "DBI::_new_drh()" method and the "driver()" method both return "undef" for failure (in
which case you must look at $DBI::err and $DBI::errstr for the failure information,
because you have no driver handle to use).
Using install_method() to expose driver-private methods
DBD::Foo::db->install_method($method_name, \%attr);
Installs the driver-private method named by $method_name into the DBI method dispatcher so
it can be called directly, avoiding the need to use the func() method.
It is called as a static method on the driver class to which the method belongs. The
method name must begin with the corresponding registered driver-private prefix. For
example, for DBD::Oracle $method_name must being with '"ora_"', and for DBD::AnyData it
must begin with '"ad_"'.
The "\%attr" attributes can be used to provide fine control over how the DBI dispatcher
handles the dispatching of the method. However it's undocumented at the moment. See the
IMA_* #define's in DBI.xs and the O=>0x000x values in the initialization of
%DBI::DBI_methods in DBI.pm. (Volunteers to polish up and document the interface are very
welcome to get in touch via dbi-dev@perl.org).
Methods installed using install_method default to the standard error handling behaviour
for DBI methods: clearing err and errstr before calling the method, and checking for
errors to trigger RaiseError etc. on return. This differs from the default behaviour of
func().
Note for driver authors: The DBD::Foo::xx->install_method call won't work until the class-
hierarchy has been setup. Normally the DBI looks after that just after the driver is
loaded. This means install_method() can't be called at the time the driver is loaded
unless the class-hierarchy is set up first. The way to do that is to call the
setup_driver() method:
DBI->setup_driver('DBD::Foo');
before using install_method().
The CLONE special subroutine
Also needed here, in the DBD::Driver package, is a "CLONE()" method that will be called by
perl when an interpreter is cloned. All your "CLONE()" method needs to do, currently, is
clear the cached $drh so the new interpreter won't start using the cached $drh from the
old interpreter:
sub CLONE {
undef $drh;
}
See <http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl/pod/perlmod.pod#Making_your_module_threadsafe> for
details.
The DBD::Driver::dr package
The next lines of code look as follows:
package DBD::Driver::dr; # ====== DRIVER ======
$DBD::Driver::dr::imp_data_size = 0;
Note that no @ISA is needed here, or for the other DBD::Driver::* classes, because the DBI
takes care of that for you when the driver is loaded.
*FIX ME* Explain what the imp_data_size is, so that implementors aren't
practicing cargo-cult programming.
The database handle constructor
The database handle constructor is the driver's (hence the changed namespace) "connect()"
method:
sub connect
{
my ($drh, $dr_dsn, $user, $auth, $attr) = @_;
# Some database specific verifications, default settings
# and the like can go here. This should only include
# syntax checks or similar stuff where it's legal to
# 'die' in case of errors.
# For example, many database packages requires specific
# environment variables to be set; this could be where you
# validate that they are set, or default them if they are not set.
my $driver_prefix = "drv_"; # the assigned prefix for this driver
# Process attributes from the DSN; we assume ODBC syntax
# here, that is, the DSN looks like var1=val1;...;varN=valN
foreach my $var ( split /;/, $dr_dsn ) {
my ($attr_name, $attr_value) = split '=', $var, 2;
return $drh->set_err($DBI::stderr, "Can't parse DSN part '$var'")
unless defined $attr_value;
# add driver prefix to attribute name if it doesn't have it already
$attr_name = $driver_prefix.$attr_name
unless $attr_name =~ /^$driver_prefix/o;
# Store attribute into %$attr, replacing any existing value.
# The DBI will STORE() these into $dbh after we've connected
$attr->{$attr_name} = $attr_value;
}
# Get the attributes we'll use to connect.
# We use delete here because these no need to STORE them
my $db = delete $attr->{drv_database} || delete $attr->{drv_db}
or return $drh->set_err($DBI::stderr, "No database name given in DSN '$dr_dsn'");
my $host = delete $attr->{drv_host} || 'localhost';
my $port = delete $attr->{drv_port} || 123456;
# Assume you can attach to your database via drv_connect:
my $connection = drv_connect($db, $host, $port, $user, $auth)
or return $drh->set_err($DBI::stderr, "Can't connect to $dr_dsn: ...");
# create a 'blank' dbh (call superclass constructor)
my ($outer, $dbh) = DBI::_new_dbh($drh, { Name => $dr_dsn });
$dbh->STORE('Active', 1 );
$dbh->{drv_connection} = $connection;
return $outer;
}
This is mostly the same as in the driver handle constructor above. The arguments are
described in DBI.
The constructor "DBI::_new_dbh()" is called, returning a database handle. The
constructor's prototype is:
($outer, $inner) = DBI::_new_dbh($drh, $public_attr, $private_attr);
with similar arguments to those in the driver handle constructor, except that the $class
is replaced by $drh. The Name attribute is a standard DBI attribute (see "Database Handle
Attributes" in DBI).
In scalar context, only the outer handle is returned.
Note the use of the "STORE()" method for setting the dbh attributes. That's because
within the driver code, the handle object you have is the 'inner' handle of a tied hash,
not the outer handle that the users of your driver have.
Because you have the inner handle, tie magic doesn't get invoked when you get or set
values in the hash. This is often very handy for speed when you want to get or set simple
non-special driver-specific attributes.
However, some attribute values, such as those handled by the DBI like PrintError, don't
actually exist in the hash and must be read via "$h->FETCH($attrib)" and set via
"$h->STORE($attrib, $value)". If in any doubt, use these methods.
The data_sources() method
The "data_sources()" method must populate and return a list of valid data sources,
prefixed with the "dbi:Driver" incantation that allows them to be used in the first
argument of the "DBI->connect()" method. An example of this might be scanning the
$HOME/.odbcini file on Unix for ODBC data sources (DSNs).
As a trivial example, consider a fixed list of data sources:
sub data_sources
{
my($drh, $attr) = @_;
my(@list) = ();
# You need more sophisticated code than this to set @list...
push @list, "dbi:Driver:abc";
push @list, "dbi:Driver:def";
push @list, "dbi:Driver:ghi";
# End of code to set @list
return @list;
}
The disconnect_all() method
If you need to release any resources when the driver is unloaded, you can provide a
disconnect_all method.
Other driver handle methods
If you need any other driver handle methods, they can follow here.
Error handling
It is quite likely that something fails in the connect method. With DBD::File for
example, you might catch an error when setting the current directory to something not
existent by using the (driver-specific) f_dir attribute.
To report an error, you use the "set_err()" method:
$h->set_err($err, $errmsg, $state);
This will ensure that the error is recorded correctly and that RaiseError and PrintError
etc are handled correctly.
Typically you'll always use the method instance, aka your method's first argument.
As "set_err()" always returns "undef" your error handling code can usually be simplified
to something like this:
return $h->set_err($err, $errmsg, $state) if ...;
The DBD::Driver::db package
package DBD::Driver::db; # ====== DATABASE ======
$DBD::Driver::db::imp_data_size = 0;
The statement handle constructor
There's nothing much new in the statement handle constructor, which is the "prepare()"
method:
sub prepare
{
my ($dbh, $statement, @attribs) = @_;
# create a 'blank' sth
my ($outer, $sth) = DBI::_new_sth($dbh, { Statement => $statement });
$sth->STORE('NUM_OF_PARAMS', ($statement =~ tr/?//));
$sth->{drv_params} = [];
return $outer;
}
This is still the same -- check the arguments and call the super class constructor
"DBI::_new_sth()". Again, in scalar context, only the outer handle is returned. The
Statement attribute should be cached as shown.
Note the prefix drv_ in the attribute names: it is required that all your private
attributes use a lowercase prefix unique to your driver. As mentioned earlier in this
document, the DBI contains a registry of known driver prefixes and may one day warn about
unknown attributes that don't have a registered prefix.
Note that we parse the statement here in order to set the attribute NUM_OF_PARAMS. The
technique illustrated is not very reliable; it can be confused by question marks appearing
in quoted strings, delimited identifiers or in SQL comments that are part of the SQL
statement. We could set NUM_OF_PARAMS in the "execute()" method instead because the DBI
specification explicitly allows a driver to defer this, but then the user could not call
"bind_param()".
Transaction handling
Pure Perl drivers will rarely support transactions. Thus your "commit()" and "rollback()"
methods will typically be quite simple:
sub commit
{
my ($dbh) = @_;
if ($dbh->FETCH('Warn')) {
warn("Commit ineffective while AutoCommit is on");
}
0;
}
sub rollback {
my ($dbh) = @_;
if ($dbh->FETCH('Warn')) {
warn("Rollback ineffective while AutoCommit is on");
}
0;
}
Or even simpler, just use the default methods provided by the DBI that do nothing except
return "undef".
The DBI's default "begin_work()" method can be used by inheritance.
The STORE() and FETCH() methods
These methods (that we have already used, see above) are called for you, whenever the user
does a:
$dbh->{$attr} = $val;
or, respectively,
$val = $dbh->{$attr};
See perltie for details on tied hash refs to understand why these methods are required.
The DBI will handle most attributes for you, in particular attributes like RaiseError or
PrintError. All you have to do is handle your driver's private attributes and any
attributes, like AutoCommit and ChopBlanks, that the DBI can't handle for you.
A good example might look like this:
sub STORE
{
my ($dbh, $attr, $val) = @_;
if ($attr eq 'AutoCommit') {
# AutoCommit is currently the only standard attribute we have
# to consider.
if (!$val) { die "Can't disable AutoCommit"; }
return 1;
}
if ($attr =~ m/^drv_/) {
# Handle only our private attributes here
# Note that we could trigger arbitrary actions.
# Ideally we should warn about unknown attributes.
$dbh->{$attr} = $val; # Yes, we are allowed to do this,
return 1; # but only for our private attributes
}
# Else pass up to DBI to handle for us
$dbh->SUPER::STORE($attr, $val);
}
sub FETCH
{
my ($dbh, $attr) = @_;
if ($attr eq 'AutoCommit') { return 1; }
if ($attr =~ m/^drv_/) {
# Handle only our private attributes here
# Note that we could trigger arbitrary actions.
return $dbh->{$attr}; # Yes, we are allowed to do this,
# but only for our private attributes
}
# Else pass up to DBI to handle
$dbh->SUPER::FETCH($attr);
}
The DBI will actually store and fetch driver-specific attributes (with all lowercase
names) without warning or error, so there's actually no need to implement driver-specific
any code in your "FETCH()" and "STORE()" methods unless you need extra logic/checks,
beyond getting or setting the value.
Unless your driver documentation indicates otherwise, the return value of the "STORE()"
method is unspecified and the caller shouldn't use that value.
Other database handle methods
As with the driver package, other database handle methods may follow here. In particular
you should consider a (possibly empty) "disconnect()" method and possibly a "quote()"
method if DBI's default isn't correct for you. You may also need the "type_info_all()" and
"get_info()" methods, as described elsewhere in this document.
Where reasonable use "$h->SUPER::foo()" to call the DBI's method in some or all cases and
just wrap your custom behavior around that.
If you want to use private trace flags you'll probably want to be able to set them by
name. To do that you'll need to define a "parse_trace_flag()" method (note that's
"parse_trace_flag", singular, not "parse_trace_flags", plural).
sub parse_trace_flag {
my ($h, $name) = @_;
return 0x01000000 if $name eq 'foo';
return 0x02000000 if $name eq 'bar';
return 0x04000000 if $name eq 'baz';
return 0x08000000 if $name eq 'boo';
return 0x10000000 if $name eq 'bop';
return $h->SUPER::parse_trace_flag($name);
}
All private flag names must be lowercase, and all private flags must be in the top 8 of
the 32 bits.
The DBD::Driver::st package
This package follows the same pattern the others do:
package DBD::Driver::st;
$DBD::Driver::st::imp_data_size = 0;
The execute() and bind_param() methods
This is perhaps the most difficult method because we have to consider parameter bindings
here. In addition to that, there are a number of statement attributes which must be set
for inherited DBI methods to function correctly (see "Statement attributes" below).
We present a simplified implementation by using the drv_params attribute from above:
sub bind_param
{
my ($sth, $pNum, $val, $attr) = @_;
my $type = (ref $attr) ? $attr->{TYPE} : $attr;
if ($type) {
my $dbh = $sth->{Database};
$val = $dbh->quote($sth, $type);
}
my $params = $sth->{drv_params};
$params->[$pNum-1] = $val;
1;
}
sub execute
{
my ($sth, @bind_values) = @_;
# start of by finishing any previous execution if still active
$sth->finish if $sth->FETCH('Active');
my $params = (@bind_values) ?
\@bind_values : $sth->{drv_params};
my $numParam = $sth->FETCH('NUM_OF_PARAMS');
return $sth->set_err($DBI::stderr, "Wrong number of parameters")
if @$params != $numParam;
my $statement = $sth->{'Statement'};
for (my $i = 0; $i < $numParam; $i++) {
$statement =~ s/?/$params->[$i]/; # XXX doesn't deal with quoting etc!
}
# Do anything ... we assume that an array ref of rows is
# created and store it:
$sth->{'drv_data'} = $data;
$sth->{'drv_rows'} = @$data; # number of rows
$sth->STORE('NUM_OF_FIELDS') = $numFields;
$sth->{Active} = 1;
@$data || '0E0';
}
There are a number of things you should note here.
We initialize the NUM_OF_FIELDS and Active attributes here, because they are essential for
"bind_columns()" to work.
We use attribute "$sth->{Statement}" which we created within "prepare()". The attribute
"$sth->{Database}", which is nothing else than the dbh, was automatically created by DBI.
Finally, note that (as specified in the DBI specification) we return the string '0E0'
instead of the number 0, so that the result tests true but equal to zero.
$sth->execute() or die $sth->errstr;
The execute_array(), execute_for_fetch() and bind_param_array() methods
In general, DBD's only need to implement "execute_for_fetch()" and "bind_param_array".
DBI's default "execute_array()" will invoke the DBD's "execute_for_fetch()" as needed.
The following sequence describes the interaction between DBI "execute_array" and a DBD's
"execute_for_fetch":
1. App calls "$sth->execute_array(\%attrs, @array_of_arrays)"
2. If @array_of_arrays was specified, DBI processes @array_of_arrays by calling DBD's
"bind_param_array()". Alternately, App may have directly called "bind_param_array()"
3. DBD validates and binds each array
4. DBI retrieves the validated param arrays from DBD's ParamArray attribute
5. DBI calls DBD's "execute_for_fetch($fetch_tuple_sub, \@tuple_status)", where
&$fetch_tuple_sub is a closure to iterate over the returned ParamArray values, and
"\@tuple_status" is an array to receive the disposition status of each tuple.
6. DBD iteratively calls &$fetch_tuple_sub to retrieve parameter tuples to be added to
its bulk database operation/request.
7. when DBD reaches the limit of tuples it can handle in a single database
operation/request, or the &$fetch_tuple_sub indicates no more tuples by returning
undef, the DBD executes the bulk operation, and reports the disposition of each tuple
in \@tuple_status.
8. DBD repeats steps 6 and 7 until all tuples are processed.
E.g., here's the essence of DBD::Oracle's execute_for_fetch:
while (1) {
my @tuple_batch;
for (my $i = 0; $i < $batch_size; $i++) {
push @tuple_batch, [ @{$fetch_tuple_sub->() || last} ];
}
last unless @tuple_batch;
my $res = ora_execute_array($sth, \@tuple_batch,
scalar(@tuple_batch), $tuple_batch_status);
push @$tuple_status, @$tuple_batch_status;
}
Note that DBI's default execute_array()/execute_for_fetch() implementation requires the
use of positional (i.e., '?') placeholders. Drivers which require named placeholders must
either emulate positional placeholders (e.g., see DBD::Oracle), or must implement their
own execute_array()/execute_for_fetch() methods to properly sequence bound parameter
arrays.
Fetching data
Only one method needs to be written for fetching data, "fetchrow_arrayref()". The other
methods, "fetchrow_array()", "fetchall_arrayref()", etc, as well as the database handle's
"select*" methods are part of DBI, and call "fetchrow_arrayref()" as necessary.
sub fetchrow_arrayref
{
my ($sth) = @_;
my $data = $sth->{drv_data};
my $row = shift @$data;
if (!$row) {
$sth->STORE(Active => 0); # mark as no longer active
return undef;
}
if ($sth->FETCH('ChopBlanks')) {
map { $_ =~ s/\s+$//; } @$row;
}
return $sth->_set_fbav($row);
}
*fetch = \&fetchrow_arrayref; # required alias for fetchrow_arrayref
Note the use of the method "_set_fbav()" -- this is required so that "bind_col()" and
"bind_columns()" work.
If an error occurs which leaves the $sth in a state where remaining rows can't be fetched
then Active should be turned off before the method returns.
The "rows()" method for this driver can be implemented like this:
sub rows { shift->{drv_rows} }
because it knows in advance how many rows it has fetched. Alternatively you could delete
that method and so fallback to the DBI's own method which does the right thing based on
the number of calls to "_set_fbav()".
The more_results method
If your driver doesn't support multiple result sets, then don't even implement this
method.
Otherwise, this method needs to get the statement handle ready to fetch results from the
next result set, if there is one. Typically you'd start with:
$sth->finish;
then you should delete all the attributes from the attribute cache that may no longer be
relevant for the new result set:
delete $sth->{$_}
for qw(NAME TYPE PRECISION SCALE ...);
for drivers written in C use:
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "NAME", 4, G_DISCARD);
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "NULLABLE", 8, G_DISCARD);
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "NUM_OF_FIELDS", 13, G_DISCARD);
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "PRECISION", 9, G_DISCARD);
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "SCALE", 5, G_DISCARD);
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "TYPE", 4, G_DISCARD);
Don't forget to also delete, or update, any driver-private attributes that may not be
correct for the next resultset.
The NUM_OF_FIELDS attribute is a special case. It should be set using STORE:
$sth->STORE(NUM_OF_FIELDS => 0); /* for DBI <= 1.53 */
$sth->STORE(NUM_OF_FIELDS => $new_value);
for drivers written in C use this incantation:
/* Adjust NUM_OF_FIELDS - which also adjusts the row buffer size */
DBIc_NUM_FIELDS(imp_sth) = 0; /* for DBI <= 1.53 */
DBIc_STATE(imp_xxh)->set_attr_k(sth, sv_2mortal(newSVpvn("NUM_OF_FIELDS",13)), 0,
sv_2mortal(newSViv(mysql_num_fields(imp_sth->result)))
);
For DBI versions prior to 1.54 you'll also need to explicitly adjust the number of
elements in the row buffer array ("DBIc_FIELDS_AV(imp_sth)") to match the new result set.
Fill any new values with newSV(0) not &sv_undef. Alternatively you could free
DBIc_FIELDS_AV(imp_sth) and set it to null, but that would mean bind_columns() wouldn't
work across result sets.
Statement attributes
The main difference between dbh and sth attributes is, that you should implement a lot of
attributes here that are required by the DBI, such as NAME, NULLABLE, TYPE, etc. See
"Statement Handle Attributes" in DBI for a complete list.
Pay attention to attributes which are marked as read only, such as NUM_OF_PARAMS. These
attributes can only be set the first time a statement is executed. If a statement is
prepared, then executed multiple times, warnings may be generated.
You can protect against these warnings, and prevent the recalculation of attributes which
might be expensive to calculate (such as the NAME and NAME_* attributes):
my $storedNumParams = $sth->FETCH('NUM_OF_PARAMS');
if (!defined $storedNumParams or $storedNumFields < 0) {
$sth->STORE('NUM_OF_PARAMS') = $numParams;
# Set other useful attributes that only need to be set once
# for a statement, like $sth->{NAME} and $sth->{TYPE}
}
One particularly important attribute to set correctly (mentioned in "ATTRIBUTES COMMON TO
ALL HANDLES" in DBI is Active. Many DBI methods, including "bind_columns()", depend on
this attribute.
Besides that the "STORE()" and "FETCH()" methods are mainly the same as above for dbh's.
Other statement methods
A trivial "finish()" method to discard stored data, reset any attributes (such as Active)
and do "$sth->SUPER::finish()".
If you've defined a "parse_trace_flag()" method in ::db you'll also want it in ::st, so
just alias it in:
*parse_trace_flag = \&DBD::foo:db::parse_trace_flag;
And perhaps some other methods that are not part of the DBI specification, in particular
to make metadata available. Remember that they must have names that begin with your
drivers registered prefix so they can be installed using "install_method()".
If "DESTROY()" is called on a statement handle that's still active ("$sth->{Active}" is
true) then it should effectively call "finish()".
sub DESTROY {
my $sth = shift;
$sth->finish if $sth->FETCH('Active');
}
Tests
The test process should conform as closely as possibly to the Perl standard test harness.
In particular, most (all) of the tests should be run in the t sub-directory, and should
simply produce an "ok" when run under "make test". For details on how this is done, see
the Camel book and the section in Chapter 7, "The Standard Perl Library" on Test::Harness.
The tests may need to adapt to the type of database which is being used for testing, and
to the privileges of the user testing the driver. For example, the DBD::Informix test code
has to adapt in a number of places to the type of database to which it is connected as
different Informix databases have different capabilities: some of the tests are for
databases without transaction logs; others are for databases with a transaction log; some
versions of the server have support for blobs, or stored procedures, or user-defined data
types, and others do not.
When a complete file of tests must be skipped, you can provide a reason in a pseudo-
comment:
if ($no_transactions_available)
{
print "1..0 # Skip: No transactions available\n";
exit 0;
}
Consider downloading the DBD::Informix code and look at the code in
DBD/Informix/TestHarness.pm which is used throughout the DBD::Informix tests in the t sub-
directory.
CREATING A C/XS DRIVER
Please also see the section under "CREATING A PURE PERL DRIVER" regarding the creation of
the Makefile.PL.
Creating a new C/XS driver from scratch will always be a daunting task. You can and
should greatly simplify your task by taking a good reference driver implementation and
modifying that to match the database product for which you are writing a driver.
The de facto reference driver has been the one for DBD::Oracle written by Tim Bunce, who
is also the author of the DBI package. The DBD::Oracle module is a good example of a
driver implemented around a C-level API.
Nowadays it it seems better to base on DBD::ODBC, another driver maintained by Tim and
Jeff Urlwin, because it offers a lot of metadata and seems to become the guideline for the
future development. (Also as DBD::Oracle digs deeper into the Oracle 8 OCI interface it'll
get even more hairy than it is now.)
The DBD::Informix driver is one driver implemented using embedded SQL instead of a
function-based API. DBD::Ingres may also be worth a look.
C/XS version of Driver.pm
A lot of the code in the Driver.pm file is very similar to the code for pure Perl modules
- see above. However, there are also some subtle (and not so subtle) differences,
including:
• The variables $DBD::Driver::{dr|db|st}::imp_data_size are not defined here, but in
the XS code, because they declare the size of certain C structures.
• Some methods are typically moved to the XS code, in particular "prepare()",
"execute()", "disconnect()", "disconnect_all()" and the "STORE()" and "FETCH()"
methods.
• Other methods are still part of Driver.pm, but have callbacks to the XS code.
• If the driver-specific parts of the imp_drh_t structure need to be formally
initialized (which does not seem to be a common requirement), then you need to add
a call to an appropriate XS function in the driver method of
"DBD::Driver::driver()", and you define the corresponding function in Driver.xs,
and you define the C code in dbdimp.c and the prototype in dbdimp.h.
For example, DBD::Informix has such a requirement, and adds the following call
after the call to "_new_drh()" in Informix.pm:
DBD::Informix::dr::driver_init($drh);
and the following code in Informix.xs:
# Initialize the DBD::Informix driver data structure
void
driver_init(drh)
SV *drh
CODE:
ST(0) = dbd_ix_dr_driver_init(drh) ? &sv_yes : &sv_no;
and the code in dbdimp.h declares:
extern int dbd_ix_dr_driver_init(SV *drh);
and the code in dbdimp.ec (equivalent to dbdimp.c) defines:
/* Formally initialize the DBD::Informix driver structure */
int
dbd_ix_dr_driver(SV *drh)
{
D_imp_drh(drh);
imp_drh->n_connections = 0; /* No active connections */
imp_drh->current_connection = 0; /* No current connection */
imp_drh->multipleconnections = (ESQLC_VERSION >= 600) ? True : False;
dbd_ix_link_newhead(&imp_drh->head); /* Empty linked list of connections */
return 1;
}
DBD::Oracle has a similar requirement but gets around it by checking whether the
private data part of the driver handle is all zeroed out, rather than add extra
functions.
Now let's take a closer look at an excerpt from Oracle.pm (revised heavily to remove
idiosyncrasies) as an example, ignoring things that were already discussed for pure Perl
drivers.
The connect method
The connect method is the database handle constructor. You could write either of two
versions of this method: either one which takes connection attributes (new code) and one
which ignores them (old code only).
If you ignore the connection attributes, then you omit all mention of the $auth variable
(which is a reference to a hash of attributes), and the XS system manages the differences
for you.
sub connect
{
my ($drh, $dbname, $user, $auth, $attr) = @_;
# Some database specific verifications, default settings
# and the like following here. This should only include
# syntax checks or similar stuff where it's legal to
# 'die' in case of errors.
my $dbh = DBI::_new_dbh($drh, {
'Name' => $dbname,
})
or return undef;
# Call the driver-specific function _login in Driver.xs file which
# calls the DBMS-specific function(s) to connect to the database,
# and populate internal handle data.
DBD::Driver::db::_login($dbh, $dbname, $user, $auth, $attr)
or return undef;
$dbh;
}
This is mostly the same as in the pure Perl case, the exception being the use of the
private "_login()" callback, which is the function that will really connect to the
database. It is implemented in Driver.xst (you should not implement it) and calls
"dbd_db_login6()" or "dbd_db_login6_sv" from dbdimp.c. See below for details.
If your driver has driver-specific attributes which may be passed in the connect method
and hence end up in $attr in "dbd_db_login6" then it is best to delete any you process so
DBI does not send them again via STORE after connect. You can do this in C like this:
DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE(attr, "my_attribute_name",
strlen("my_attribute_name"));
However, prior to DBI subversion version 11605 (and fixed post 1.607) DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE
segfaulted so if you cannot guarantee the DBI version will be post 1.607 you need to use:
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(attr), "my_attribute_name",
strlen("my_attribute_name"), G_DISCARD);
*FIX ME* Discuss removing attributes in Perl code.
The disconnect_all method
*FIX ME* T.B.S
The data_sources method
If your "data_sources()" method can be implemented in pure Perl, then do so because it is
easier than doing it in XS code (see the section above for pure Perl drivers).
If your "data_sources()" method must call onto compiled functions, then you will need to
define dbd_dr_data_sources in your dbdimp.h file, which will trigger Driver.xst (in DBI
v1.33 or greater) to generate the XS code that calls your actual C function (see the
discussion below for details) and you do not code anything in Driver.pm to handle it.
The prepare method
The prepare method is the statement handle constructor, and most of it is not new. Like
the "connect()" method, it now has a C callback:
package DBD::Driver::db; # ====== DATABASE ======
use strict;
sub prepare
{
my ($dbh, $statement, $attribs) = @_;
# create a 'blank' sth
my $sth = DBI::_new_sth($dbh, {
'Statement' => $statement,
})
or return undef;
# Call the driver-specific function _prepare in Driver.xs file
# which calls the DBMS-specific function(s) to prepare a statement
# and populate internal handle data.
DBD::Driver::st::_prepare($sth, $statement, $attribs)
or return undef;
$sth;
}
The execute method
*FIX ME* T.B.S
The fetchrow_arrayref method
*FIX ME* T.B.S
Other methods?
*FIX ME* T.B.S
Driver.xs
Driver.xs should look something like this:
#include "Driver.h"
DBISTATE_DECLARE;
INCLUDE: Driver.xsi
MODULE = DBD::Driver PACKAGE = DBD::Driver::dr
/* Non-standard drh XS methods following here, if any. */
/* If none (the usual case), omit the MODULE line above too. */
MODULE = DBD::Driver PACKAGE = DBD::Driver::db
/* Non-standard dbh XS methods following here, if any. */
/* Currently this includes things like _list_tables from */
/* DBD::mSQL and DBD::mysql. */
MODULE = DBD::Driver PACKAGE = DBD::Driver::st
/* Non-standard sth XS methods following here, if any. */
/* In particular this includes things like _list_fields from */
/* DBD::mSQL and DBD::mysql for accessing metadata. */
Note especially the include of Driver.xsi here: DBI inserts stub functions for almost all
private methods here which will typically do much work for you.
Wherever you really have to implement something, it will call a private function in
dbdimp.c, and this is what you have to implement.
You need to set up an extra routine if your driver needs to export constants of its own,
analogous to the SQL types available when you say:
use DBI qw(:sql_types);
*FIX ME* T.B.S
Driver.h
Driver.h is very simple and the operational contents should look like this:
#ifndef DRIVER_H_INCLUDED
#define DRIVER_H_INCLUDED
#define NEED_DBIXS_VERSION 93 /* 93 for DBI versions 1.00 to 1.51+ */
#define PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT /* if used require DBI 1.51+ */
#include <DBIXS.h> /* installed by the DBI module */
#include "dbdimp.h"
#include "dbivport.h" /* see below */
#include <dbd_xsh.h> /* installed by the DBI module */
#endif /* DRIVER_H_INCLUDED */
The DBIXS.h header defines most of the interesting information that the writer of a driver
needs.
The file dbd_xsh.h header provides prototype declarations for the C functions that you
might decide to implement. Note that you should normally only define one of
"dbd_db_login()", "dbd_db_login6()" or "dbd_db_login6_sv" unless you are intent on
supporting really old versions of DBI (prior to DBI 1.06) as well as modern versions. The
only standard, DBI-mandated functions that you need write are those specified in the
dbd_xsh.h header. You might also add extra driver-specific functions in Driver.xs.
The dbivport.h file should be copied from the latest DBI release into your distribution
each time you modify your driver. Its job is to allow you to enhance your code to work
with the latest DBI API while still allowing your driver to be compiled and used with
older versions of the DBI (for example, when the "DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR()" macro was added to
DBI 1.41, an emulation of it was added to dbivport.h). This makes users happy and your
life easier. Always read the notes in dbivport.h to check for any limitations in the
emulation that you should be aware of.
With DBI v1.51 or better I recommend that the driver defines PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT before
DBIXS.h is included. This can significantly improve efficiency when running under a thread
enabled perl. (Remember that the standard perl in most Linux distributions is built with
threads enabled. So is ActiveState perl for Windows, and perl built for Apache
mod_perl2.) If you do this there are some things to keep in mind:
• If PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT is defined, then every function that calls the Perl API will
need to start out with a "dTHX;" declaration.
• You'll know which functions need this, because the C compiler will complain that the
undeclared identifier "my_perl" is used if and only if the perl you are using to
develop and test your driver has threads enabled.
• If you don't remember to test with a thread-enabled perl before making a release it's
likely that you'll get failure reports from users who are.
• For driver private functions it is possible to gain even more efficiency by replacing
"dTHX;" with "pTHX_" prepended to the parameter list and then "aTHX_" prepended to the
argument list where the function is called.
See "How multiple interpreters and concurrency are supported" in perlguts for additional
information about PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT.
Implementation header dbdimp.h
This header file has two jobs:
First it defines data structures for your private part of the handles. Note that the DBI
provides many common fields for you. For example the statement handle (imp_sth) already
has a row_count field with an IV type that accessed via the DBIc_ROW_COUNT(imp_sth) macro.
Using this is strongly recommended as it's built in to some DBI internals so the DBI can
'just work' in more cases and you'll have less driver-specific code to write. Study
DBIXS.h to see what's included with each type of handle.
Second it defines macros that rename the generic names like "dbd_db_login()" to database
specific names like "ora_db_login()". This avoids name clashes and enables use of
different drivers when you work with a statically linked perl.
It also will have the important task of disabling XS methods that you don't want to
implement.
Finally, the macros will also be used to select alternate implementations of some
functions. For example, the "dbd_db_login()" function is not passed the attribute hash.
Since DBI v1.06, if a "dbd_db_login6()" macro is defined (for a function with 6
arguments), it will be used instead with the attribute hash passed as the sixth argument.
Since DBI post v1.607, if a "dbd_db_login6_sv()" macro is defined (for a function like
dbd_db_login6 but with scalar pointers for the dbname, username and password), it will be
used instead. This will allow your login6 function to see if there are any Unicode
characters in the dbname.
Similarly defining dbd_db_do4_iv is preferred over dbd_db_do4, dbd_st_rows_iv over
dbd_st_rows, and dbd_st_execute_iv over dbd_st_execute. The *_iv forms are declared to
return the IV type instead of an int.
People used to just pick Oracle's dbdimp.c and use the same names, structures and types. I
strongly recommend against that. At first glance this saves time, but your implementation
will be less readable. It was just hell when I had to separate DBI specific parts, Oracle
specific parts, mSQL specific parts and mysql specific parts in DBD::mysql's dbdimp.h and
dbdimp.c. (DBD::mysql was a port of DBD::mSQL which was based on DBD::Oracle.) [Seconded,
based on the experience taking DBD::Informix apart, even though the version inherited in
1996 was only based on DBD::Oracle.]
This part of the driver is your exclusive part. Rewrite it from scratch, so it will be
clean and short: in other words, a better piece of code. (Of course keep an eye on other
people's work.)
struct imp_drh_st {
dbih_drc_t com; /* MUST be first element in structure */
/* Insert your driver handle attributes here */
};
struct imp_dbh_st {
dbih_dbc_t com; /* MUST be first element in structure */
/* Insert your database handle attributes here */
};
struct imp_sth_st {
dbih_stc_t com; /* MUST be first element in structure */
/* Insert your statement handle attributes here */
};
/* Rename functions for avoiding name clashes; prototypes are */
/* in dbd_xsh.h */
#define dbd_init drv_dr_init
#define dbd_db_login6_sv drv_db_login_sv
#define dbd_db_do drv_db_do
... many more here ...
These structures implement your private part of the handles.
You have to use the name "imp_dbh_{dr|db|st}" and the first field must be of type
dbih_drc_t|_dbc_t|_stc_t and must be called "com".
You should never access these fields directly, except by using the DBIc_xxx() macros
below.
Implementation source dbdimp.c
Conventionally, dbdimp.c is the main implementation file (but DBD::Informix calls the file
dbdimp.ec). This section includes a short note on each function that is used in the
Driver.xsi template and thus has to be implemented.
Of course, you will probably also need to implement other support functions, which should
usually be file static if they are placed in dbdimp.c. If they are placed in other files,
you need to list those files in Makefile.PL (and MANIFEST) to handle them correctly.
It is wise to adhere to a namespace convention for your functions to avoid conflicts. For
example, for a driver with prefix drv_, you might call externally visible functions
dbd_drv_xxxx. You should also avoid non-constant global variables as much as possible to
improve the support for threading.
Since Perl requires support for function prototypes (ANSI or ISO or Standard C), you
should write your code using function prototypes too.
It is possible to use either the unmapped names such as "dbd_init()" or the mapped names
such as "dbd_ix_dr_init()" in the dbdimp.c file. DBD::Informix uses the mapped names
which makes it easier to identify where to look for linkage problems at runtime (which
will report errors using the mapped names).
Most other drivers, and in particular DBD::Oracle, use the unmapped names in the source
code which makes it a little easier to compare code between drivers and eases discussions
on the dbi-dev mailing list. The majority of the code fragments here will use the
unmapped names.
Ultimately, you should provide implementations for most of the functions listed in the
dbd_xsh.h header. The exceptions are optional functions (such as "dbd_st_rows()") and
those functions with alternative signatures, such as "dbd_db_login6_sv", "dbd_db_login6()"
and dbd_db_login(). Then you should only implement one of the alternatives, and generally
the newer one of the alternatives.
The dbd_init method
#include "Driver.h"
DBISTATE_DECLARE;
void dbd_init(dbistate_t* dbistate)
{
DBISTATE_INIT; /* Initialize the DBI macros */
}
The "dbd_init()" function will be called when your driver is first loaded; the bootstrap
command in "DBD::Driver::dr::driver()" triggers this, and the call is generated in the
BOOT section of Driver.xst. These statements are needed to allow your driver to use the
DBI macros. They will include your private header file dbdimp.h in turn. Note that
DBISTATE_INIT requires the name of the argument to "dbd_init()" to be called "dbistate()".
The dbd_drv_error method
You need a function to record errors so DBI can access them properly. You can call it
whatever you like, but we'll call it "dbd_drv_error()" here.
The argument list depends on your database software; different systems provide different
ways to get at error information.
static void dbd_drv_error(SV *h, int rc, const char *what)
{
Note that h is a generic handle, may it be a driver handle, a database or a statement
handle.
D_imp_xxh(h);
This macro will declare and initialize a variable imp_xxh with a pointer to your private
handle pointer. You may cast this to to imp_drh_t, imp_dbh_t or imp_sth_t.
To record the error correctly, equivalent to the "set_err()" method, use one of the
"DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR(...)" or "DBIh_SET_ERR_SV(...)" macros, which were added in DBI 1.41:
DBIh_SET_ERR_SV(h, imp_xxh, err, errstr, state, method);
DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR(h, imp_xxh, err_c, err_i, errstr, state, method);
For "DBIh_SET_ERR_SV" the err, errstr, state, and method parameters are "SV*" (use
&sv_undef instead of NULL).
For "DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR" the err_c, errstr, state, method parameters are "char*".
The err_i parameter is an "IV" that's used instead of err_c if err_c is "Null".
The method parameter can be ignored.
The "DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR" macro is usually the simplest to use when you just have an integer
error code and an error message string:
DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR(h, imp_xxh, Nullch, rc, what, Nullch, Nullch);
As you can see, any parameters that aren't relevant to you can be "Null".
To make drivers compatible with DBI < 1.41 you should be using dbivport.h as described in
"Driver.h" above.
The (obsolete) macros such as "DBIh_EVENT2" should be removed from drivers.
The names "dbis" and "DBIS", which were used in previous versions of this document, should
be replaced with the "DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_xxh)" macro.
The name "DBILOGFP", which was also used in previous versions of this document, should be
replaced by "DBIc_LOGPIO(imp_xxh)".
Your code should not call the C "<stdio.h>" I/O functions; you should use
"PerlIO_printf()" as shown:
if (DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL(imp_xxh) >= 2)
PerlIO_printf(DBIc_LOGPIO(imp_xxh), "foobar %s: %s\n",
foo, neatsvpv(errstr,0));
That's the first time we see how tracing works within a DBI driver. Make use of this as
often as you can, but don't output anything at a trace level less than 3. Levels 1 and 2
are reserved for the DBI.
You can define up to 8 private trace flags using the top 8 bits of
"DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS(imp)", that is: 0xFF000000. See the "parse_trace_flag()" method
elsewhere in this document.
The dbd_dr_data_sources method
This method is optional; the support for it was added in DBI v1.33.
As noted in the discussion of Driver.pm, if the data sources can be determined by pure
Perl code, do it that way. If, as in DBD::Informix, the information is obtained by a C
function call, then you need to define a function that matches the prototype:
extern AV *dbd_dr_data_sources(SV *drh, imp_drh_t *imp_drh, SV *attrs);
An outline implementation for DBD::Informix follows, assuming that the "sqgetdbs()"
function call shown will return up to 100 databases names, with the pointers to each name
in the array dbsname and the name strings themselves being stores in dbsarea.
AV *dbd_dr_data_sources(SV *drh, imp_drh_t *imp_drh, SV *attr)
{
int ndbs;
int i;
char *dbsname[100];
char dbsarea[10000];
AV *av = Nullav;
if (sqgetdbs(&ndbs, dbsname, 100, dbsarea, sizeof(dbsarea)) == 0)
{
av = NewAV();
av_extend(av, (I32)ndbs);
sv_2mortal((SV *)av);
for (i = 0; i < ndbs; i++)
av_store(av, i, newSVpvf("dbi:Informix:%s", dbsname[i]));
}
return(av);
}
The actual DBD::Informix implementation has a number of extra lines of code, logs function
entry and exit, reports the error from "sqgetdbs()", and uses "#define"'d constants for
the array sizes.
The dbd_db_login6 method
int dbd_db_login6_sv(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, SV* dbname,
SV* user, SV* auth, SV *attr);
or
int dbd_db_login6(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, char* dbname,
char* user, char* auth, SV *attr);
This function will really connect to the database. The argument dbh is the database
handle. imp_dbh is the pointer to the handles private data, as is imp_xxx in
"dbd_drv_error()" above. The arguments dbname, user, auth and attr correspond to the
arguments of the driver handle's "connect()" method.
You will quite often use database specific attributes here, that are specified in the DSN.
I recommend you parse the DSN (using Perl) within the "connect()" method and pass the
segments of the DSN via the attributes parameter through "_login()" to "dbd_db_login6()".
Here's how you fetch them; as an example we use hostname attribute, which can be up to 12
characters long excluding null terminator:
SV** svp;
STRLEN len;
char* hostname;
if ( (svp = DBD_ATTRIB_GET_SVP(attr, "drv_hostname", 12)) && SvTRUE(*svp)) {
hostname = SvPV(*svp, len);
DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE(attr, "drv_hostname", 12); /* avoid later STORE */
} else {
hostname = "localhost";
}
If you handle any driver specific attributes in the dbd_db_login6 method you probably want
to delete them from "attr" (as above with DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE). If you don't delete your
handled attributes DBI will call "STORE" for each attribute after the connect/login and
this is at best redundant for attributes you have already processed.
Note: Until revision 11605 (post DBI 1.607), there was a problem with DBD_ATTRIBUTE_DELETE
so unless you require a DBI version after 1.607 you need to replace each
DBD_ATTRIBUTE_DELETE call with:
hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(attr), key, key_len, G_DISCARD)
Note that you can also obtain standard attributes such as AutoCommit and ChopBlanks from
the attributes parameter, using "DBD_ATTRIB_GET_IV" for integer attributes.
If, for example, your database does not support transactions but AutoCommit is set off
(requesting transaction support), then you can emulate a 'failure to connect'.
Now you should really connect to the database. In general, if the connection fails, it is
best to ensure that all allocated resources are released so that the handle does not need
to be destroyed separately. If you are successful (and possibly even if you fail but you
have allocated some resources), you should use the following macros:
DBIc_IMPSET_on(imp_dbh);
This indicates that the driver (implementor) has allocated resources in the imp_dbh
structure and that the implementors private "dbd_db_destroy()" function should be called
when the handle is destroyed.
DBIc_ACTIVE_on(imp_dbh);
This indicates that the handle has an active connection to the server and that the
"dbd_db_disconnect()" function should be called before the handle is destroyed.
Note that if you do need to fail, you should report errors via the drh or imp_drh rather
than via dbh or imp_dbh because imp_dbh will be destroyed by the failure, so errors
recorded in that handle will not be visible to DBI, and hence not the user either.
Note too, that the function is passed dbh and imp_dbh, and there is a macro
"D_imp_drh_from_dbh" which can recover the imp_drh from the imp_dbh. However, there is no
DBI macro to provide you with the drh given either the imp_dbh or the dbh or the imp_drh
(and there's no way to recover the dbh given just the imp_dbh).
This suggests that, despite the above notes about "dbd_drv_error()" taking an "SV *", it
may be better to have two error routines, one taking imp_dbh and one taking imp_drh
instead. With care, you can factor most of the formatting code out so that these are small
routines calling a common error formatter. See the code in DBD::Informix 1.05.00 for more
information.
The "dbd_db_login6()" function should return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise.
Drivers implemented long ago may define the five-argument function "dbd_db_login()"
instead of "dbd_db_login6()". The missing argument is the attributes. There are ways to
work around the missing attributes, but they are ungainly; it is much better to use the
6-argument form. Even later drivers will use "dbd_db_login6_sv()" which provides the
dbname, username and password as SVs.
The dbd_db_commit and dbd_db_rollback methods
int dbd_db_commit(SV *dbh, imp_dbh_t *imp_dbh);
int dbd_db_rollback(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh);
These are used for commit and rollback. They should return TRUE for success, FALSE for
error.
The arguments dbh and imp_dbh are the same as for "dbd_db_login6()" above; I will omit
describing them in what follows, as they appear always.
These functions should return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise.
The dbd_db_disconnect method
This is your private part of the "disconnect()" method. Any dbh with the ACTIVE flag on
must be disconnected. (Note that you have to set it in "dbd_db_connect()" above.)
int dbd_db_disconnect(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh);
The database handle will return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise. In any case it should
do a:
DBIc_ACTIVE_off(imp_dbh);
before returning so DBI knows that "dbd_db_disconnect()" was executed.
Note that there's nothing to stop a dbh being disconnected while it still have active
children. If your database API reacts badly to trying to use an sth in this situation then
you'll need to add code like this to all sth methods:
if (!DBIc_ACTIVE(DBIc_PARENT_COM(imp_sth)))
return 0;
Alternatively, you can add code to your driver to keep explicit track of the statement
handles that exist for each database handle and arrange to destroy those handles before
disconnecting from the database. There is code to do this in DBD::Informix. Similar
comments apply to the driver handle keeping track of all the database handles.
Note that the code which destroys the subordinate handles should only release the
associated database resources and mark the handles inactive; it does not attempt to free
the actual handle structures.
This function should return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise, but it is not clear what
anything can do about a failure.
The dbd_db_discon_all method
int dbd_discon_all (SV *drh, imp_drh_t *imp_drh);
This function may be called at shutdown time. It should make best-efforts to disconnect
all database handles - if possible. Some databases don't support that, in which case you
can do nothing but return 'success'.
This function should return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise, but it is not clear what
anything can do about a failure.
The dbd_db_destroy method
This is your private part of the database handle destructor. Any dbh with the IMPSET flag
on must be destroyed, so that you can safely free resources. (Note that you have to set it
in "dbd_db_connect()" above.)
void dbd_db_destroy(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh)
{
DBIc_IMPSET_off(imp_dbh);
}
The DBI Driver.xst code will have called "dbd_db_disconnect()" for you, if the handle is
still 'active', before calling "dbd_db_destroy()".
Before returning the function must switch IMPSET to off, so DBI knows that the destructor
was called.
A DBI handle doesn't keep references to its children. But children do keep references to
their parents. So a database handle won't be "DESTROY"'d until all its children have been
"DESTROY"'d.
The dbd_db_STORE_attrib method
This function handles
$dbh->{$key} = $value;
Its prototype is:
int dbd_db_STORE_attrib(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, SV* keysv,
SV* valuesv);
You do not handle all attributes; on the contrary, you should not handle DBI attributes
here: leave this to DBI. (There are two exceptions, AutoCommit and ChopBlanks, which you
should care about.)
The return value is TRUE if you have handled the attribute or FALSE otherwise. If you are
handling an attribute and something fails, you should call "dbd_drv_error()", so DBI can
raise exceptions, if desired. If "dbd_drv_error()" returns, however, you have a problem:
the user will never know about the error, because he typically will not check
"$dbh->errstr()".
I cannot recommend a general way of going on, if "dbd_drv_error()" returns, but there are
examples where even the DBI specification expects that you "croak()". (See the AutoCommit
method in DBI.)
If you have to store attributes, you should either use your private data structure
imp_xxx, the handle hash (via "(HV*)SvRV(dbh)"), or use the private imp_data.
The first is best for internal C values like integers or pointers and where speed is
important within the driver. The handle hash is best for values the user may want to
get/set via driver-specific attributes. The private imp_data is an additional "SV"
attached to the handle. You could think of it as an unnamed handle attribute. It's not
normally used.
The dbd_db_FETCH_attrib method
This is the counterpart of "dbd_db_STORE_attrib()", needed for:
$value = $dbh->{$key};
Its prototype is:
SV* dbd_db_FETCH_attrib(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, SV* keysv);
Unlike all previous methods this returns an "SV" with the value. Note that you should
normally execute "sv_2mortal()", if you return a nonconstant value. (Constant values are
&sv_undef, &sv_no and &sv_yes.)
Note, that DBI implements a caching algorithm for attribute values. If you think, that an
attribute may be fetched, you store it in the dbh itself:
if (cacheit) /* cache value for later DBI 'quick' fetch? */
hv_store((HV*)SvRV(dbh), key, kl, cachesv, 0);
The dbd_st_prepare method
This is the private part of the "prepare()" method. Note that you must not really execute
the statement here. You may, however, preparse and validate the statement, or do similar
things.
int dbd_st_prepare(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, char* statement,
SV* attribs);
A typical, simple, possibility is to do nothing and rely on the perl "prepare()" code that
set the Statement attribute on the handle. This attribute can then be used by
"dbd_st_execute()".
If the driver supports placeholders then the NUM_OF_PARAMS attribute must be set correctly
by "dbd_st_prepare()":
DBIc_NUM_PARAMS(imp_sth) = ...
If you can, you should also setup attributes like NUM_OF_FIELDS, NAME, etc. here, but DBI
doesn't require that - they can be deferred until execute() is called. However, if you do,
document it.
In any case you should set the IMPSET flag, as you did in "dbd_db_connect()" above:
DBIc_IMPSET_on(imp_sth);
The dbd_st_execute method
This is where a statement will really be executed.
int dbd_st_execute(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth);
"dbd_st_execute" should return -2 for any error, -1 if the number of rows affected is
unknown else it should be the number of affected (updated, inserted) rows.
Note that you must be aware a statement may be executed repeatedly. Also, you should not
expect that "finish()" will be called between two executions, so you might need code, like
the following, near the start of the function:
if (DBIc_ACTIVE(imp_sth))
dbd_st_finish(h, imp_sth);
If your driver supports the binding of parameters (it should!), but the database doesn't,
you must do it here. This can be done as follows:
SV *svp;
char* statement = DBD_ATTRIB_GET_PV(h, "Statement", 9, svp, "");
int numParam = DBIc_NUM_PARAMS(imp_sth);
int i;
for (i = 0; i < numParam; i++)
{
char* value = dbd_db_get_param(sth, imp_sth, i);
/* It is your drivers task to implement dbd_db_get_param, */
/* it must be setup as a counterpart of dbd_bind_ph. */
/* Look for '?' and replace it with 'value'. Difficult */
/* task, note that you may have question marks inside */
/* quotes and comments the like ... :-( */
/* See DBD::mysql for an example. (Don't look too deep into */
/* the example, you will notice where I was lazy ...) */
}
The next thing is to really execute the statement.
Note that you must set the attributes NUM_OF_FIELDS, NAME, etc when the statement is
successfully executed if the driver has not already done so: they may be used even before
a potential "fetchrow()". In particular you have to tell DBI the number of fields that
the statement has, because it will be used by DBI internally. Thus the function will
typically ends with:
if (isSelectStatement) {
DBIc_NUM_FIELDS(imp_sth) = numFields;
DBIc_ACTIVE_on(imp_sth);
}
It is important that the ACTIVE flag only be set for "SELECT" statements (or any other
statements that can return many values from the database using a cursor-like mechanism).
See "dbd_db_connect()" above for more explanations.
There plans for a preparse function to be provided by DBI, but this has not reached
fruition yet. Meantime, if you want to know how ugly it can get, try looking at the
"dbd_ix_preparse()" in DBD::Informix dbdimp.ec and the related functions in iustoken.c and
sqltoken.c.
The dbd_st_fetch method
This function fetches a row of data. The row is stored in in an array, of "SV"'s that DBI
prepares for you. This has two advantages: it is fast (you even reuse the "SV"'s, so they
don't have to be created after the first "fetchrow()"), and it guarantees that DBI handles
"bind_cols()" for you.
What you do is the following:
AV* av;
int numFields = DBIc_NUM_FIELDS(imp_sth); /* Correct, if NUM_FIELDS
is constant for this statement. There are drivers where this is
not the case! */
int chopBlanks = DBIc_is(imp_sth, DBIcf_ChopBlanks);
int i;
if (!fetch_new_row_of_data(...)) {
... /* check for error or end-of-data */
DBIc_ACTIVE_off(imp_sth); /* turn off Active flag automatically */
return Nullav;
}
/* get the fbav (field buffer array value) for this row */
/* it is very important to only call this after you know */
/* that you have a row of data to return. */
av = DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_sth)->get_fbav(imp_sth);
for (i = 0; i < numFields; i++) {
SV* sv = fetch_a_field(..., i);
if (chopBlanks && SvOK(sv) && type_is_blank_padded(field_type[i])) {
/* Remove white space from end (only) of sv */
}
sv_setsv(AvARRAY(av)[i], sv); /* Note: (re)use! */
}
return av;
There's no need to use a "fetch_a_field()" function returning an "SV*". It's more common
to use your database API functions to fetch the data as character strings and use code
like this:
sv_setpvn(AvARRAY(av)[i], char_ptr, char_count);
"NULL" values must be returned as "undef". You can use code like this:
SvOK_off(AvARRAY(av)[i]);
The function returns the "AV" prepared by DBI for success or "Nullav" otherwise.
*FIX ME* Discuss what happens when there's no more data to fetch.
Are errors permitted if another fetch occurs after the first fetch
that reports no more data. (Permitted, not required.)
If an error occurs which leaves the $sth in a state where remaining rows can't be fetched
then Active should be turned off before the method returns.
The dbd_st_finish3 method
The "$sth->finish()" method can be called if the user wishes to indicate that no more rows
will be fetched even if the database has more rows to offer, and the DBI code can call the
function when handles are being destroyed. See the DBI specification for more background
details.
In both circumstances, the DBI code ends up calling the "dbd_st_finish3()" method (if you
provide a mapping for "dbd_st_finish3()" in dbdimp.h), or "dbd_st_finish()" otherwise.
The difference is that "dbd_st_finish3()" takes a third argument which is an "int" with
the value 1 if it is being called from a "destroy()" method and 0 otherwise.
Note that DBI v1.32 and earlier test on "dbd_db_finish3()" to call "dbd_st_finish3()"; if
you provide "dbd_st_finish3()", either define "dbd_db_finish3()" too, or insist on DBI
v1.33 or later.
All it needs to do is turn off the Active flag for the sth. It will only be called by
Driver.xst code, if the driver has set ACTIVE to on for the sth.
Outline example:
int dbd_st_finish3(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, int from_destroy) {
if (DBIc_ACTIVE(imp_sth))
{
/* close cursor or equivalent action */
DBIc_ACTIVE_off(imp_sth);
}
return 1;
}
The from_destroy parameter is true if "dbd_st_finish3()" is being called from "DESTROY()"
- and so the statement is about to be destroyed. For many drivers there is no point in
doing anything more than turning off the Active flag in this case.
The function returns TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise, but there isn't a lot anyone can
do to recover if there is an error.
The dbd_st_destroy method
This function is the private part of the statement handle destructor.
void dbd_st_destroy(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth) {
... /* any clean-up that's needed */
DBIc_IMPSET_off(imp_sth); /* let DBI know we've done it */
}
The DBI Driver.xst code will call "dbd_st_finish()" for you, if the sth has the ACTIVE
flag set, before calling "dbd_st_destroy()".
The dbd_st_STORE_attrib and dbd_st_FETCH_attrib methods
These functions correspond to "dbd_db_STORE()" and "dbd_db_FETCH()" attrib above, except
that they are for statement handles. See above.
int dbd_st_STORE_attrib(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, SV* keysv,
SV* valuesv);
SV* dbd_st_FETCH_attrib(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, SV* keysv);
The dbd_bind_ph method
This function is internally used by the "bind_param()" method, the "bind_param_inout()"
method and by the DBI Driver.xst code if "execute()" is called with any bind parameters.
int dbd_bind_ph (SV *sth, imp_sth_t *imp_sth, SV *param,
SV *value, IV sql_type, SV *attribs,
int is_inout, IV maxlen);
The param argument holds an "IV" with the parameter number (1, 2, ...). The value
argument is the parameter value and sql_type is its type.
If your driver does not support "bind_param_inout()" then you should ignore maxlen and
croak if is_inout is TRUE.
If your driver does support "bind_param_inout()" then you should note that value is the
"SV" after dereferencing the reference passed to "bind_param_inout()".
In drivers of simple databases the function will, for example, store the value in a
parameter array and use it later in "dbd_st_execute()". See the DBD::mysql driver for an
example.
Implementing bind_param_inout support
To provide support for parameters bound by reference rather than by value, the driver must
do a number of things. First, and most importantly, it must note the references and stash
them in its own driver structure. Secondly, when a value is bound to a column, the driver
must discard any previous reference bound to the column. On each execute, the driver must
evaluate the references and internally bind the values resulting from the references.
This is only applicable if the user writes:
$sth->execute;
If the user writes:
$sth->execute(@values);
then DBI automatically calls the binding code for each element of @values. These calls
are indistinguishable from explicit user calls to "bind_param()".
C/XS version of Makefile.PL
The Makefile.PL file for a C/XS driver is similar to the code needed for a pure Perl
driver, but there are a number of extra bits of information needed by the build system.
For example, the attributes list passed to "WriteMakefile()" needs to specify the object
files that need to be compiled and built into the shared object (DLL). This is often, but
not necessarily, just dbdimp.o (unless that should be dbdimp.obj because you're building
on MS Windows).
Note that you can reliably determine the extension of the object files from the
$Config{obj_ext} values, and there are many other useful pieces of configuration
information lurking in that hash. You get access to it with:
use Config;
Methods which do not need to be written
The DBI code implements the majority of the methods which are accessed using the notation
"DBI->function()", the only exceptions being "DBI->connect()" and "DBI->data_sources()"
which require support from the driver.
The DBI code implements the following documented driver, database and statement functions
which do not need to be written by the DBD driver writer.
$dbh->do()
The default implementation of this function prepares, executes and destroys the
statement. This can be replaced if there is a better way to implement this, such as
"EXECUTE IMMEDIATE" which can sometimes be used if there are no parameters.
$h->errstr()
$h->err()
$h->state()
$h->trace()
The DBD driver does not need to worry about these routines at all.
$h->{ChopBlanks}
This attribute needs to be honored during "fetch()" operations, but does not need to
be handled by the attribute handling code.
$h->{RaiseError}
The DBD driver does not need to worry about this attribute at all.
$h->{PrintError}
The DBD driver does not need to worry about this attribute at all.
$sth->bind_col()
Assuming the driver uses the "DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_xxh)->get_fbav()" function (C drivers,
see below), or the "$sth->_set_fbav($data)" method (Perl drivers) the driver does not
need to do anything about this routine.
$sth->bind_columns()
Regardless of whether the driver uses "DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_xxh)->get_fbav()", the driver
does not need to do anything about this routine as it simply iteratively calls
"$sth->bind_col()".
The DBI code implements a default implementation of the following functions which do not
need to be written by the DBD driver writer unless the default implementation is incorrect
for the Driver.
$dbh->quote()
This should only be written if the database does not accept the ANSI SQL standard for
quoting strings, with the string enclosed in single quotes and any embedded single
quotes replaced by two consecutive single quotes.
For the two argument form of quote, you need to implement the "type_info()" method to
provide the information that quote needs.
$dbh->ping()
This should be implemented as a simple efficient way to determine whether the
connection to the database is still alive. Typically code like this:
sub ping {
my $dbh = shift;
$sth = $dbh->prepare_cached(q{
select * from A_TABLE_NAME where 1=0
}) or return 0;
$sth->execute or return 0;
$sth->finish;
return 1;
}
where A_TABLE_NAME is the name of a table that always exists (such as a database
system catalogue).
$drh->default_user
The default implementation of default_user will get the database username and password
fields from $ENV{DBI_USER} and $ENV{DBI_PASS}. You can override this method. It is
called as follows:
($user, $pass) = $drh->default_user($user, $pass, $attr)
METADATA METHODS
The exposition above ignores the DBI MetaData methods. The metadata methods are all
associated with a database handle.
Using DBI::DBD::Metadata
The DBI::DBD::Metadata module is a good semi-automatic way for the developer of a DBD
module to write the "get_info()" and "type_info()" functions quickly and accurately.
Generating the get_info method
Prior to DBI v1.33, this existed as the method "write_getinfo_pm()" in the DBI::DBD
module. From DBI v1.33, it exists as the method "write_getinfo_pm()" in the
DBI::DBD::Metadata module. This discussion assumes you have DBI v1.33 or later.
You examine the documentation for "write_getinfo_pm()" using:
perldoc DBI::DBD::Metadata
To use it, you need a Perl DBI driver for your database which implements the "get_info()"
method. In practice, this means you need to install DBD::ODBC, an ODBC driver manager, and
an ODBC driver for your database.
With the pre-requisites in place, you might type:
perl -MDBI::DBD::Metadata -we \
"write_getinfo_pm (qw{ dbi:ODBC:foo_db username password Driver })"
The procedure writes to standard output the code that should be added to your Driver.pm
file and the code that should be written to lib/DBD/Driver/GetInfo.pm.
You should review the output to ensure that it is sensible.
Generating the type_info method
Given the idea of the "write_getinfo_pm()" method, it was not hard to devise a parallel
method, "write_typeinfo_pm()", which does the analogous job for the DBI "type_info_all()"
metadata method. The "write_typeinfo_pm()" method was added to DBI v1.33.
You examine the documentation for "write_typeinfo_pm()" using:
perldoc DBI::DBD::Metadata
The setup is exactly analogous to the mechanism described in "Generating the get_info
method".
With the pre-requisites in place, you might type:
perl -MDBI::DBD::Metadata -we \
"write_typeinfo_pm (qw{ dbi:ODBC:foo_db username password Driver })"
The procedure writes to standard output the code that should be added to your Driver.pm
file and the code that should be written to lib/DBD/Driver/TypeInfo.pm.
You should review the output to ensure that it is sensible.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::get_info
If you use the DBI::DBD::Metadata module, then the code you need is generated for you.
If you decide not to use the DBI::DBD::Metadata module, you should probably borrow the
code from a driver that has done so (eg DBD::Informix from version 1.05 onwards) and crib
the code from there, or look at the code that generates that module and follow that. The
method in Driver.pm will be very simple; the method in lib/DBD/Driver/GetInfo.pm is not
very much more complex unless your DBMS itself is much more complex.
Note that some of the DBI utility methods rely on information from the "get_info()" method
to perform their operations correctly. See, for example, the "quote_identifier()" and
quote methods, discussed below.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::type_info_all
If you use the "DBI::DBD::Metadata" module, then the code you need is generated for you.
If you decide not to use the "DBI::DBD::Metadata" module, you should probably borrow the
code from a driver that has done so (eg "DBD::Informix" from version 1.05 onwards) and
crib the code from there, or look at the code that generates that module and follow that.
The method in Driver.pm will be very simple; the method in lib/DBD/Driver/TypeInfo.pm is
not very much more complex unless your DBMS itself is much more complex.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::type_info
The guidelines on writing this method are still not really clear. No sample
implementation is available.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::table_info
*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
No sample implementation is available.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::column_info
*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
No sample implementation is available.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::primary_key_info
*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
No sample implementation is available.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::primary_key
*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
No sample implementation is available.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::foreign_key_info
*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
No sample implementation is available.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::tables
This method generates an array of names in a format suitable for being embedded in SQL
statements in places where a table name is expected.
If your database hews close enough to the SQL standard or if you have implemented an
appropriate "table_info()" function and and the appropriate "quote_identifier()" function,
then the DBI default version of this method will work for your driver too.
Otherwise, you have to write a function yourself, such as:
sub tables
{
my($dbh, $cat, $sch, $tab, $typ) = @_;
my(@res);
my($sth) = $dbh->table_info($cat, $sch, $tab, $typ);
my(@arr);
while (@arr = $sth->fetchrow_array)
{
push @res, $dbh->quote_identifier($arr[0], $arr[1], $arr[2]);
}
return @res;
}
See also the default implementation in DBI.pm.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::quote
This method takes a value and converts it into a string suitable for embedding in an SQL
statement as a string literal.
If your DBMS accepts the SQL standard notation for strings (single quotes around the
string as a whole with any embedded single quotes doubled up), then you do not need to
write this method as DBI provides a default method that does it for you.
If your DBMS uses an alternative notation or escape mechanism, then you need to provide an
equivalent function. For example, suppose your DBMS used C notation with double quotes
around the string and backslashes escaping both double quotes and backslashes themselves.
Then you might write the function as:
sub quote
{
my($dbh, $str) = @_;
$str =~ s/["\\]/\\$&/gmo;
return qq{"$str"};
}
Handling newlines and other control characters is left as an exercise for the reader.
This sample method ignores the $data_type indicator which is the optional second argument
to the method.
Writing DBD::Driver::db::quote_identifier
This method is called to ensure that the name of the given table (or other database
object) can be embedded into an SQL statement without danger of misinterpretation. The
result string should be usable in the text of an SQL statement as the identifier for a
table.
If your DBMS accepts the SQL standard notation for quoted identifiers (which uses double
quotes around the identifier as a whole, with any embedded double quotes doubled up) and
accepts "schema"."identifier" (and "catalog"."schema"."identifier" when a catalog is
specified), then you do not need to write this method as DBI provides a default method
that does it for you.
In fact, even if your DBMS does not handle exactly that notation but you have implemented
the "get_info()" method and it gives the correct responses, then it will work for you. If
your database is fussier, then you need to implement your own version of the function.
For example, DBD::Informix has to deal with an environment variable DELIMIDENT. If it is
not set, then the DBMS treats names enclosed in double quotes as strings rather than
names, which is usually a syntax error. Additionally, the catalog portion of the name is
separated from the schema and table by a different delimiter (colon instead of dot), and
the catalog portion is never enclosed in quotes. (Fortunately, valid strings for the
catalog will never contain weird characters that might need to be escaped, unless you
count dots, dashes, slashes and at-signs as weird.) Finally, an Informix database can
contain objects that cannot be accessed because they were created by a user with the
DELIMIDENT environment variable set, but the current user does not have it set. By design
choice, the "quote_identifier()" method encloses those identifiers in double quotes
anyway, which generally triggers a syntax error, and the metadata methods which generate
lists of tables etc omit those identifiers from the result sets.
sub quote_identifier
{
my($dbh, $cat, $sch, $obj) = @_;
my($rv) = "";
my($qq) = (defined $ENV{DELIMIDENT}) ? '"' : '';
$rv .= qq{$cat:} if (defined $cat);
if (defined $sch)
{
if ($sch !~ m/^\w+$/o)
{
$qq = '"';
$sch =~ s/$qq/$qq$qq/gm;
}
$rv .= qq{$qq$sch$qq.};
}
if (defined $obj)
{
if ($obj !~ m/^\w+$/o)
{
$qq = '"';
$obj =~ s/$qq/$qq$qq/gm;
}
$rv .= qq{$qq$obj$qq};
}
return $rv;
}
Handling newlines and other control characters is left as an exercise for the reader.
Note that there is an optional fourth parameter to this function which is a reference to a
hash of attributes; this sample implementation ignores that.
This sample implementation also ignores the single-argument variant of the method.
TRACING
Tracing in DBI is controlled with a combination of a trace level and a set of flags which
together are known as the trace settings. The trace settings are stored in a single
integer and divided into levels and flags by a set of masks ("DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL_MASK" and
"DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS_MASK").
Each handle has it's own trace settings and so does the DBI. When you call a method the
DBI merges the handles settings into its own for the duration of the call: the trace flags
of the handle are OR'd into the trace flags of the DBI, and if the handle has a higher
trace level then the DBI trace level is raised to match it. The previous DBI trace
settings are restored when the called method returns.
Trace Level
The trace level is the first 4 bits of the trace settings (masked by
"DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS_MASK") and represents trace levels of 1 to 15. Do not output anything at
trace levels less than 3 as they are reserved for DBI.
For advice on what to output at each level see "Trace Levels" in DBI.
To test for a trace level you can use the "DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL" macro like this:
if (DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL(imp_xxh) >= 2) {
PerlIO_printf(DBIc_LOGPIO(imp_xxh), "foobar");
}
Also note the use of PerlIO_printf which you should always use for tracing and never the C
"stdio.h" I/O functions.
Trace Flags
Trace flags are used to enable tracing of specific activities within the DBI and drivers.
The DBI defines some trace flags and drivers can define others. DBI trace flag names begin
with a capital letter and driver specific names begin with a lowercase letter. For a list
of DBI defined trace flags see "Trace Flags" in DBI.
If you want to use private trace flags you'll probably want to be able to set them by
name. Drivers are expected to override the parse_trace_flag (note the singular) and check
if $trace_flag_name is a driver specific trace flags and, if not, then call the DBIs
default parse_trace_flag(). To do that you'll need to define a parse_trace_flag() method
like this:
sub parse_trace_flag {
my ($h, $name) = @_;
return 0x01000000 if $name eq 'foo';
return 0x02000000 if $name eq 'bar';
return 0x04000000 if $name eq 'baz';
return 0x08000000 if $name eq 'boo';
return 0x10000000 if $name eq 'bop';
return $h->SUPER::parse_trace_flag($name);
}
All private flag names must be lowercase, and all private flags must be in the top 8 of
the 32 bits of "DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS(imp)" i.e., 0xFF000000.
If you've defined a parse_trace_flag() method in ::db you'll also want it in ::st, so just
alias it in:
*parse_trace_flag = \&DBD::foo:db::parse_trace_flag;
You may want to act on the current 'SQL' trace flag that DBI defines to output SQL
prepared/executed as DBI currently does not do SQL tracing.
Trace Macros
Access to the trace level and trace flags is via a set of macros.
DBIc_TRACE_SETTINGS(imp) returns the trace settings
DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL(imp) returns the trace level
DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS(imp) returns the trace flags
DBIc_TRACE(imp, flags, flaglevel, level)
e.g.,
DBIc_TRACE(imp, 0, 0, 4)
if level >= 4
DBIc_TRACE(imp, DBDtf_FOO, 2, 4)
if tracing DBDtf_FOO & level>=2 or level>=4
DBIc_TRACE(imp, DBDtf_FOO, 2, 0)
as above but never trace just due to level
WRITING AN EMULATION LAYER FOR AN OLD PERL INTERFACE
Study Oraperl.pm (supplied with DBD::Oracle) and Ingperl.pm (supplied with DBD::Ingres)
and the corresponding dbdimp.c files for ideas.
Note that the emulation code sets "$dbh->{CompatMode} = 1;" for each connection so that
the internals of the driver can implement behaviour compatible with the old interface when
dealing with those handles.
Setting emulation perl variables
For example, ingperl has a $sql_rowcount variable. Rather than try to manually update this
in Ingperl.pm it can be done faster in C code. In "dbd_init()":
sql_rowcount = perl_get_sv("Ingperl::sql_rowcount", GV_ADDMULTI);
In the relevant places do:
if (DBIc_COMPAT(imp_sth)) /* only do this for compatibility mode handles */
sv_setiv(sql_rowcount, the_row_count);
OTHER MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
The imp_xyz_t types
Any handle has a corresponding C structure filled with private data. Some of this data is
reserved for use by DBI (except for using the DBIc macros below), some is for you. See the
description of the dbdimp.h file above for examples. Most functions in dbdimp.c are passed
both the handle "xyz" and a pointer to "imp_xyz". In rare cases, however, you may use the
following macros:
D_imp_dbh(dbh)
Given a function argument dbh, declare a variable imp_dbh and initialize it with a
pointer to the handles private data. Note: This must be a part of the function header,
because it declares a variable.
D_imp_sth(sth)
Likewise for statement handles.
D_imp_xxx(h)
Given any handle, declare a variable imp_xxx and initialize it with a pointer to the
handles private data. It is safe, for example, to cast imp_xxx to "imp_dbh_t*", if
"DBIc_TYPE(imp_xxx) == DBIt_DB". (You can also call "sv_derived_from(h, "DBI::db")",
but that's much slower.)
D_imp_dbh_from_sth
Given a imp_sth, declare a variable imp_dbh and initialize it with a pointer to the
parent database handle's implementors structure.
Using DBIc_IMPSET_on
The driver code which initializes a handle should use "DBIc_IMPSET_on()" as soon as its
state is such that the cleanup code must be called. When this happens is determined by
your driver code.
Failure to call this can lead to corruption of data structures.
For example, DBD::Informix maintains a linked list of database handles in the driver, and
within each handle, a linked list of statements. Once a statement is added to the linked
list, it is crucial that it is cleaned up (removed from the list). When DBIc_IMPSET_on()
was being called too late, it was able to cause all sorts of problems.
Using DBIc_is(), DBIc_has(), DBIc_on() and DBIc_off()
Once upon a long time ago, the only way of handling the internal DBI boolean
flags/attributes was through macros such as:
DBIc_WARN DBIc_WARN_on DBIc_WARN_off
DBIc_COMPAT DBIc_COMPAT_on DBIc_COMPAT_off
Each of these took an imp_xxh pointer as an argument.
Since then, new attributes have been added such as ChopBlanks, RaiseError and PrintError,
and these do not have the full set of macros. The approved method for handling these is
now the four macros:
DBIc_is(imp, flag)
DBIc_has(imp, flag) an alias for DBIc_is
DBIc_on(imp, flag)
DBIc_off(imp, flag)
DBIc_set(imp, flag, on) set if on is true, else clear
Consequently, the "DBIc_XXXXX" family of macros is now mostly deprecated and new drivers
should avoid using them, even though the older drivers will probably continue to do so for
quite a while yet. However...
There is an important exception to that. The ACTIVE and IMPSET flags should be set via the
"DBIc_ACTIVE_on()" and "DBIc_IMPSET_on()" macros, and unset via the "DBIc_ACTIVE_off()"
and "DBIc_IMPSET_off()" macros.
Using the get_fbav() method
THIS IS CRITICAL for C/XS drivers.
The "$sth->bind_col()" and "$sth->bind_columns()" documented in the DBI specification do
not have to be implemented by the driver writer because DBI takes care of the details for
you.
However, the key to ensuring that bound columns work is to call the function
"DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_xxh)->get_fbav()" in the code which fetches a row of data.
This returns an "AV", and each element of the "AV" contains the "SV" which should be set
to contain the returned data.
The pure Perl equivalent is the "$sth->_set_fbav($data)" method, as described in the part
on pure Perl drivers.
Casting strings to Perl types based on a SQL type
DBI from 1.611 (and DBIXS_REVISION 13606) defines the sql_type_cast_svpv method which may
be used to cast a string representation of a value to a more specific Perl type based on a
SQL type. You should consider using this method when processing bound column data as it
provides some support for the TYPE bind_col attribute which is rarely used in drivers.
int sql_type_cast_svpv(pTHX_ SV *sv, int sql_type, U32 flags, void *v)
"sv" is what you would like cast, "sql_type" is one of the DBI defined SQL types (e.g.,
"SQL_INTEGER") and "flags" is a bitmask as follows:
DBIstcf_STRICT
If set this indicates you want an error state returned if the cast cannot be
performed.
DBIstcf_DISCARD_STRING
If set and the pv portion of the "sv" is cast then this will cause sv's pv to be freed
up.
sql_type_cast_svpv returns the following states:
-2 sql_type is not handled - sv not changed
-1 sv is undef, sv not changed
0 sv could not be cast cleanly and DBIstcf_STRICT was specified
1 sv could not be case cleanly and DBIstcf_STRICT was not specified
2 sv was cast ok
The current implementation of sql_type_cast_svpv supports "SQL_INTEGER", "SQL_DOUBLE" and
"SQL_NUMERIC". "SQL_INTEGER" uses sv_2iv and hence may set IV, UV or NV depending on the
number. "SQL_DOUBLE" uses sv_2nv so may set NV and "SQL_NUMERIC" will set IV or UV or NV.
DBIstcf_STRICT should be implemented as the StrictlyTyped attribute and
DBIstcf_DISCARD_STRING implemented as the DiscardString attribute to the bind_col method
and both default to off.
See DBD::Oracle for an example of how this is used.
SUBCLASSING DBI DRIVERS
This is definitely an open subject. It can be done, as demonstrated by the DBD::File
driver, but it is not as simple as one might think.
(Note that this topic is different from subclassing the DBI. For an example of that, see
the t/subclass.t file supplied with the DBI.)
The main problem is that the dbh's and sth's that your "connect()" and "prepare()" methods
return are not instances of your DBD::Driver::db or DBD::Driver::st packages, they are not
even derived from it. Instead they are instances of the DBI::db or DBI::st classes or a
derived subclass. Thus, if you write a method "mymethod()" and do a
$dbh->mymethod()
then the autoloader will search for that method in the package DBI::db. Of course you can
instead to a
$dbh->func('mymethod')
and that will indeed work, even if "mymethod()" is inherited, but not without additional
work. Setting @ISA is not sufficient.
Overwriting methods
The first problem is, that the "connect()" method has no idea of subclasses. For example,
you cannot implement base class and subclass in the same file: The "install_driver()"
method wants to do a
require DBD::Driver;
In particular, your subclass has to be a separate driver, from the view of DBI, and you
cannot share driver handles.
Of course that's not much of a problem. You should even be able to inherit the base
classes "connect()" method. But you cannot simply overwrite the method, unless you do
something like this, quoted from DBD::CSV:
sub connect ($$;$$$) {
my ($drh, $dbname, $user, $auth, $attr) = @_;
my $this = $drh->DBD::File::dr::connect($dbname, $user, $auth, $attr);
if (!exists($this->{csv_tables})) {
$this->{csv_tables} = {};
}
$this;
}
Note that we cannot do a
$drh->SUPER::connect($dbname, $user, $auth, $attr);
as we would usually do in a an OO environment, because $drh is an instance of DBI::dr. And
note, that the "connect()" method of DBD::File is able to handle subclass attributes. See
the description of Pure Perl drivers above.
It is essential that you always call superclass method in the above manner. However, that
should do.
Attribute handling
Fortunately the DBI specifications allow a simple, but still performant way of handling
attributes. The idea is based on the convention that any driver uses a prefix driver_ for
its private methods. Thus it's always clear whether to pass attributes to the super class
or not. For example, consider this "STORE()" method from the DBD::CSV class:
sub STORE {
my ($dbh, $attr, $val) = @_;
if ($attr !~ /^driver_/) {
return $dbh->DBD::File::db::STORE($attr, $val);
}
if ($attr eq 'driver_foo') {
...
}
AUTHORS
Jonathan Leffler <jleffler@us.ibm.com> (previously <jleffler@informix.com>), Jochen
Wiedmann <joe@ispsoft.de>, Steffen Goeldner <sgoeldner@cpan.org>, and Tim Bunce
<dbi-users@perl.org>.