NAME

DBD::InterBase - DBI driver for Firebird and InterBase RDBMS server

SYNOPSIS

use DBI;

$dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:InterBase:db=$dbname", "sysdba", "masterkey");

# See the DBI module documentation for full details

DESCRIPTION

DBD::InterBase is a Perl module which works with the DBI module to provide access to Firebird and InterBase databases.

MODULE DOCUMENTATION

This documentation describes driver specific behavior and restrictions. It is not supposed to be used as the only reference for the user. In any case consult the DBI documentation first !

THE DBI CLASS

DBI Class Methods

connect

To connect to a database with a minimum of parameters, use the following syntax:

$dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:InterBase:dbname=$dbname", "sysdba", "masterkey");

This connects to the database $dbname at localhost as SYSDBA user with the default password.

Multiline DSN is acceptable. Here is an example of connect statement which uses all possible parameters:

  $dsn =<< "DSN";
dbi:InterBase:dbname=$dbname;
host=$host;
ib_dialect=$dialect;
ib_role=$role;
ib_charset=$charset;
ib_cache=$cache
DSN

$dbh =  DBI->connect($dsn, $username, $password);

The $dsn is prefixed by 'dbi:InterBase:', and consists of key-value parameters separated by semicolons. New line may be added after the semicolon. The following is the list of valid parameters and their respective meanings:

parameter   meaning                             optional?
---------------------------------------------------------
database    path to the database                required
dbname      path to the database
db          path to the database
host        hostname (not IP address)           optional
ib_dialect  the SQL dialect to be used          optional
ib_role     the role of the user                optional
ib_charset  character set to be used            optional
ib_cache    number of database cache buffers    optional

database could be used interchangebly with dbname and db. To connect to a remote host, use the host parameter. Here is an example of DSN to connect to a remote Windows host:

$dsn = "dbi:InterBase:db=C:/temp/test.gdb;host=rae.cumi.org;ib_dialect=3";

Firebird as of version 1.0 listens on port specified within the services file. To connect to port other than the default 3050, add the port number at the end of host name, separated by a slash. Example:

$dsn = 'dbi:InterBase:db=/data/test.gdb;host=localhost/3060';

InterBase 6.0 introduces SQL dialect to provide backward compatibility with databases created by older versions of InterBase. In short, SQL dialect controls how InterBase interprets:

- double quotes
- the DATE datatype
- decimal and numeric datatypes
- new 6.0 reserved keywords

Valid values for ib_dialect are 1, 2, and 3. The driver's default value is 1.

ib_role specifies the role of the connecting user. SQL role is implemented by InterBase to make database administration easier when dealing with lots of users. A detailed reading can be found at:

http://www.ibphoenix.com/ibp_sqlroles.html

If ib_cache is not specified, the default database's cache size value will be used. The InterBase Operation Guide discusses in full length the importance of this parameter to gain the best performance.

available_drivers

@driver_names = DBI->available_drivers;

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

data_sources

This method is not yet implemented.

trace

DBI->trace($trace_level, $trace_file)

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

DBI Dynamic Attributes

See Common Methods.

METHODS COMMON TO ALL DBI HANDLES

err

$rv = $h->err;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

errstr

$str = $h->errstr;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

state

This method is not yet implemented.

trace

$h->trace($trace_level, $trace_filename);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

trace_msg

$h->trace_msg($message_text);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

func

See Transactions section for information about invoking ib_set_tx_param() from func() method.

ATTRIBUTES COMMON TO ALL DBI HANDLES

Warn (boolean, inherited): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
Active (boolean, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. A database handle is active while it is connected and statement handle is active until it is finished.
Kids (integer, read-only): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
ActiveKids (integer, read-only): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
CachedKids (hash ref): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
CompatMode (boolean, inherited): Not used by this driver.
InactiveDestroy (boolean): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
PrintError (boolean, inherited): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
RaiseError (boolean, inherited): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
ChopBlanks (boolean, inherited): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
LongReadLen (integer, inherited): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.The default value is 80 bytes.
LongTruncOk (boolean, inherited): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
Taint (boolean, inherited): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

DATABASE HANDLE OBJECTS

Database Handle Methods

selectrow_array

@row_ary = $dbh->selectrow_array($statement, \%attr, @bind_values);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

selectall_arrayref

$ary_ref = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($statement, \%attr, @bind_values);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

selectcol_arrayref

$ary_ref = $dbh->selectcol_arrayref($statement, \%attr, @bind_values);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

prepare

$sth = $dbh->prepare($statement, \%attr);

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. When AutoCommit is On, this method implicitly starts a new transaction, which will be automatically committed after the following execute() or the last fetch(), depending on the statement type. For select statements, commit automatically takes place after the last fetch(), or by explicitly calling finish() method if there are any rows remaining. For non-select statements, execute() will implicitly commits the transaction.

prepare_cached

$sth = $dbh->prepare_cached($statement, \%attr);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

do

$rv  = $dbh->do($statement, \%attr, @bind_values);

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. This should be used for non-select statements, where the driver doesn't take the conservative prepare - execute steps, thereby speeding up the execution time. But if this method is used with bind values, the speed advantage diminishes as this method calls prepare() for binding the placeholders. Instead of calling this method repeatedly with bind values, it would be better to call prepare() once, and execute() many times.

See the notes for the execute method elsewhere in this document.

commit

$rc  = $dbh->commit;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. See also the notes about Transactions elsewhere in this document.

rollback

$rc  = $dbh->rollback;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. See also the notes about Transactions elsewhere in this document.

disconnect

$rc  = $dbh->disconnect;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

ping

$rc = $dbh->ping;

This driver supports the ping-method, which can be used to check the validity of a database-handle. This is especially required by Apache::DBI.

table_info

$sth = $dbh->table_info;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

tables

@names = $dbh->tables;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

type_info_all

$type_info_all = $dbh->type_info_all;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

For further details concerning the InterBase specific data-types please read the "InterBase Data Definition Guide".

type_info

@type_info = $dbh->type_info($data_type);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

quote

$sql = $dbh->quote($value, $data_type);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

Database Handle Attributes

AutoCommit (boolean)

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. According to the classification of DBI, InterBase is a database, in which a transaction must be explicitly started. Without starting a transaction, every change to the database becomes immediately permanent. The default of AutoCommit is on, which corresponds to the DBI's default. When setting AutoCommit to off, a transaction will be started and every commit or rollback will automatically start a new transaction. For details see the notes about Transactions elsewhere in this document.

Driver (handle)

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

Name (string, read-only)

Not yet implemented.

RowCacheSize (integer)

Implemented by DBI, not used by the driver.

ib_softcommit (driver-specific, boolean)

Set this attribute to TRUE to use InterBase's soft commit feature (default to FALSE). Soft commit retains the internal transaction handle when committing a transaction, while the default commit behavior always closes and invalidates the transaction handle.

Since the transaction handle is still open, there is no need to start a new transaction upon every commit, so applications can gain performance improvement. Using soft commit is also desirable when dealing with nested statement handles under AutoCommit on.

Switching the attribute's value from TRUE to FALSE will force hard commit thus closing the current transaction.

STATEMENT HANDLE OBJECTS

Statement Handle Methods

bind_param

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. The SQL data type passed as the third argument is ignored.

bind_param_inout

Not supported by this driver.

execute

$rv = $sth->execute(@bind_values);

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. On success, this method returns -1 instead of the number of affected rows.

fetchrow_arrayref

$ary_ref = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

fetchrow_array

@ary = $sth->fetchrow_array;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

fetchrow_hashref

$hash_ref = $sth->fetchrow_hashref;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

fetchall_arrayref

$tbl_ary_ref = $sth->fetchall_arrayref;

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

finish

$rc = $sth->finish;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

rows

$rv = $sth->rows;

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI. It returns the number of fetched rows for select statements, otherwise it returns -1 (unknown number of affected rows).

bind_col

$rc = $sth->bind_col($column_number, \$var_to_bind, \%attr);

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

bind_columns

$rc = $sth->bind_columns(\%attr, @list_of_refs_to_vars_to_bind);

Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.

dump_results

$rows = $sth->dump_results($maxlen, $lsep, $fsep, $fh);

Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.

Statement Handle Attributes

NUM_OF_FIELDS (integer, read-only): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
NUM_OF_PARAMS (integer, read-only): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
NAME (array-ref, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
NAME_lc (array-ref, read-only): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
NAME_uc (array-ref, read-only): Implemented by DBI, no driver-specific impact.
TYPE (array-ref, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI, with the restriction, that the types are InterBase specific data-types which do not correspond to international standards.
PRECISION (array-ref, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
SCALE (array-ref, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
NULLABLE (array-ref, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
CursorName (string, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
Statement (string, read-only): Supported by the driver as proposed by DBI.
RowCache (integer, read-only): Not supported by the driver.

DRIVER SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Transactions

The transaction behavior is controlled with the attribute AutoCommit. For a complete definition of AutoCommit please refer to the DBI documentation.

According to the DBI specification the default for AutoCommit is TRUE. In this mode, any change to the database becomes valid immediately. Any commit() or rollback() will be rejected.

If AutoCommit is switched-off, immediately a transaction will be started. A rollback() will rollback and close the active transaction, then implicitly start a new transaction. A disconnect will issue a rollback.

InterBase provides fine control over transaction behavior, where users can specify the access mode, the isolation level, the lock resolution, and the table reservation (for a specified table). For this purpose, ib_set_tx_param() database handle method is available.

Upon a successful connect(), these default parameter values will be used for every SQL operation:

Access mode:        read/write
Isolation level:    concurrency
Lock resolution:    wait

Any of the above value can be changed using ib_set_tx_param().

ib_set_tx_param

$dbh->func( 
   -access_mode     => 'read_write',
   -isolation_level => 'read_committed',
   -lock_resolution => 'wait',
   'ib_set_tx_param'
);

Valid value for -access_mode is read_write, or read_only. Valid value for -lock_resolution is wait, or no_wait. -isolation_level may be: read_committed, snapshot, snapshot_table_stability. If read_committed is to be used with record_version or no_record_version, then they should be inside an anonymous array:

$dbh->func( 
   -isolation_level => ['read_committed', 'record_version'],
   'ib_set_tx_param'
);

Table reservation is supported since DBD::InterBase 0.30. Names of the tables to reserve as well as their reservation params/values are specified inside a hashref, which is then passed as the value of -reserving.

The following example reserves foo_table with read lock and bar_table with read lock and protected access:

$dbh->func(
   -access_mode     => 'read_write',
   -isolation_level => 'read_committed',
   -lock_resolution => 'wait',
   -reserving       =>
       {
           foo_table => {
               lock    => 'read',
           },
           bar_table => {
               lock    => 'read',
               access  => 'protected',
           },
       },
   'ib_set_tx_param'
);

Possible table reservation parameters are:

access (optional): Valid values are shared or protected.
lock (required): Valid values are read or write.

Under AutoCommit mode, invoking this method doesn't only change the transaction parameters (as with AutoCommit off), but also commits the current transaction. The new transaction parameters will be used in any newly started transaction.

ib_set_tx_param() can also be invoked with no parameter in which it resets transaction parameters to the default value.

DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP Formats

DBD::InterBase supports various formats for query results of DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP types.

By default, it uses "%c" for TIMESTAMP, "%x" for DATE, and "%X" for TIME, and pass them to ANSI C's strftime() function to format your query results. These values are respectively stored in ib_timestampformat, ib_dateformat, and ib_timeformat attributes, and may be changed in two ways:

At $dbh level

This replaces the default values. Example:

$dbh->{ib_timestampformat} = '%m-%d-%Y %H:%M';
$dbh->{ib_dateformat} = '%m-%d-%Y';
$dbh->{ib_timeformat} = '%H:%M';

At $sth level

This overrides the default values only for the currently prepared statement. Example:

$attr = {
   ib_timestampformat => '%m-%d-%Y %H:%M',
   ib_dateformat => '%m-%d-%Y',
   ib_timeformat => '%H:%M',
};
# then, pass it to prepare() method. 
$sth = $dbh->prepare($sql, $attr);

Since locale settings affect the result of strftime(), if your application is designed to be portable across different locales, you may consider using these two special formats: 'TM' and 'ISO'. TM returns a 9-element list, much like Perl's localtime(). The ISO format applies sprintf()'s pattern "%04d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d.%04d" for TIMESTAMP, "%04d-%02d-%02d" for DATE, and "%02d:%02d:%02d.%04d" for TIME.

$dbh->{ib_time_all} can be used to specify all of the three formats at once. Example:

$dbh->{ib_time_all} = 'TM';

Using Event Alerter

This new feature is experimental and subjects to change.

ib_init_event

$evh = $dbh->func(@event_names, 'ib_init_event');

Initialize an event handle from several event names.

ib_wait_event

$dbh->func($evh, 'ib_wait_event');

Wait synchronously for particular events registered via event handle $evh.

ib_register_callback

$dbh->func($evh, sub { print "callback..\n" }, 'ib_register_callback');

ib_reinit_event

$dbh->func($evh, 'ib_reinit_event');

Reinitialize event handle.

Retrieving Firebird/InterBase specific database information

ib_database_info

$hash_ref = $dbh->func(@info, 'ib_database_info');
$hash_ref = $dbh->func([@info], 'ib_database_info');

Retrieve information from current database connection.

Obsolete Features

Private Method: set_tx_param() is obsoleted by ib_set_tx_param().

Unsupported SQL Statements

Here is a list of SQL statements which can't be used. But this shouldn't be a problem, because their functionality are already provided by the DBI methods.

SET TRANSACTION

Use $dbh-func(..., 'set_tx_param')> instead.
DESCRIBE

Provides information about columns that are retrieved by a DSQL statement, or about placeholders in a statement. This functionality is supported by the driver, and transparent for users. Column names are available via $sth->{NAME} attributes.
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE

Calling do() method without bind value(s) will do the same.
CLOSE, OPEN, DECLARE CURSOR

$sth->{CursorName} is automagically available upon executing a "SELECT .. FOR UPDATE" statement. A cursor is closed after the last fetch(), or by calling $sth->finish().
PREPARE, EXECUTE, FETCH

Similar functionalities are obtained by using prepare(), execute(), and fetch() methods.

Compatibility with DBI Extension modules

DBD::InterBase is known to work with DBIx::Recordset 0.21, and Apache::DBI 0.87. Yuri Vasiliev <yuri.vasiliev@targuscom.com> reported successful usage with Apache::AuthDBI (part of Apache::DBI 0.87 distribution).

The driver is untested with Apache::Session::DBI. Doesn't work with Tie::DBI. Tie::DBI calls $dbh->prepare("LISTFIELDS $table_name") on which InterBase fails to parse. I think that the call should be made within an eval block.

TESTED PLATFORMS

Client

Linux, glibc-2.1.2, x86 egcs-1.1.2, kernel 2.2.12-20.
Linux, glibc-2.2.3, x86 gcc-2.95.3, kernel 2.4.18.
FreeBSD
SPARC Solaris
Win32

Server

InterBase 6.0/6.01 SS and Classic for Linux
InterBase 6.0/6.01 for Windows, FreeBSD, SPARC Solaris
FireBird 1.0 Final SS for Windows, Linux

AUTHORS

DBI by Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@pobox.com>
DBD::InterBase by Edwin Pratomo <edpratomo@cpan.org> and Daniel Ritz <daniel.ritz@gmx.ch>.

This module is originally based on the work of Bill Karwin's IBPerl.

BUGS/LIMITATIONS

No bugs known at this time. But there are some limitations:

Arrays are not (yet) supported
Read/Write BLOB fields block by block not (yet) supported. The maximum size of a BLOB read/write is hardcoded to about 1MB.

COPYRIGHT

The DBD::InterBase module is free software. You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file, with the exception that it cannot be placed on a CD-ROM or similar media for commercial distribution without the prior approval of the author.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

An attempt to enumerate all who have contributed patches (may misses some): Igor Klingen, Sergey Skvortsov, Ilya Verlinsky, Pavel Zheltouhov, Peter Wilkinson, Mark D. Anderson, Michael Samanov, Michael Arnett, Flemming Frandsen, Mike Shoyher, Christiaan Lademann.

To install DBD::InterBase, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm DBD::InterBase

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install DBD::InterBase

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

MODULE DOCUMENTATION

THE DBI CLASS

DBI Class Methods

DBI Dynamic Attributes

METHODS COMMON TO ALL DBI HANDLES

ATTRIBUTES COMMON TO ALL DBI HANDLES

DATABASE HANDLE OBJECTS

Database Handle Methods

Database Handle Attributes

STATEMENT HANDLE OBJECTS

Statement Handle Methods

Statement Handle Attributes

DRIVER SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Transactions

DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP Formats

Using Event Alerter

Retrieving Firebird/InterBase specific database information

Obsolete Features

Unsupported SQL Statements

Compatibility with DBI Extension modules

TESTED PLATFORMS

Client

Server

AUTHORS

BUGS/LIMITATIONS

SEE ALSO

COPYRIGHT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Module Install Instructions