In addition to normal ODBC support, the Unified ODBC functions in PHP allow you to access several databases that have borrowed the semantics of the ODBC API to implement their own API. Instead of maintaining multiple database drivers that were all nearly identical, these drivers have been unified into a single set of ODBC functions.
The following databases are supported by the Unified ODBC functions: Adabas D, IBM DB2, iODBC, Solid, and Sybase SQL Anywhere.
Note: There is no ODBC involved when connecting to the above databases. The functions that you use to speak natively to them just happen to share the same names and syntax as the ODBC functions. The exception to this is iODBC. Building PHP with iODBC support enables you to use any ODBC-compliant drivers with your PHP applications. iODBC is maintained by OpenLink Software. More information on iODBC, as well as a HOWTO, is available at www.iodbc.org.
To access any of the supported databases you need to have the required libraries installed.
Include Adabas D support. DIR is the Adabas base install directory, defaults to /usr/local.
Include SAP DB support. DIR is SAP DB base install directory, defaults to /usr/local.
Include Solid support. DIR is the Solid base install directory, defaults to /usr/local/solid.
Include IBM DB2 support. DIR is the DB2 base install directory, defaults to /home/db2inst1/sqllib.
Include Empress support. DIR is the Empress base install directory, defaults to $EMPRESSPATH. From PHP 4, this option only supports Empress Version 8.60 and above.
Include Empress Local Access support. DIR is the Empress base install directory, defaults to $EMPRESSPATH. From PHP 4, this option only supports Empress Version 8.60 and above.
Include Birdstep support. DIR is the Birdstep base install directory, defaults to /usr/local/birdstep.
Include a user defined ODBC support. The DIR is ODBC install base directory, which defaults to /usr/local. Make sure to define CUSTOM_ODBC_LIBS and have some odbc.h in your include dirs. E.g., you should define following for Sybase SQL Anywhere 5.5.00 on QNX, prior to run configure script: CPPFLAGS="-DODBC_QNX -DSQLANY_BUG" LDFLAGS=-lunix CUSTOM_ODBC_LIBS="-ldblib -lodbc".
Include iODBC support. DIR is the iODBC base install directory, defaults to /usr/local.
Include Easysoft OOB support. DIR is the OOB base install directory, defaults to /usr/local/easysoft/oob/client.
Include unixODBC support. DIR is the unixODBC base install directory, defaults to /usr/local.
Include OpenLink ODBC support. DIR is the OpenLink base install directory, defaults to /usr/local. This is the same as iODBC.
Include DBMaker support. DIR is the DBMaker base install directory, defaults to where the latest version of DBMaker is installed (such as /home/dbmaker/3.6).
To disable unified ODBC support in PHP 3 add --disable-unified-odbc to your configure line. Only applicable if iODBC, Adabas, Solid, Velocis or a custom ODBC interface is enabled.
The windows version of PHP has built in support for this extension. You do not need to load any additional extension in order to use these functions.
The behaviour of these functions is affected by settings in php.ini.
Table 1. Unified ODBC Configuration Options
| Name | Default | Changeable |
|---|---|---|
| odbc.default_db * | NULL | PHP_INI_ALL |
| odbc.default_user * | NULL | PHP_INI_ALL |
| odbc.default_pw * | NULL | PHP_INI_ALL |
| odbc.allow_persistent | "1" | PHP_INI_SYSTEM |
| odbc.check_persistent | "1" | PHP_INI_SYSTEM |
| odbc.max_persistent | "-1" | PHP_INI_SYSTEM |
| odbc.max_links | "-1" | PHP_INI_SYSTEM |
| odbc.defaultlrl | "4096" | PHP_INI_ALL |
| odbc.defaultbinmode | "1" | PHP_INI_ALL |
Note: Entries marked with * are not implemented yet.
Here's a short explanation of the configuration directives.
ODBC data source to use if none is specified in odbc_connect() or odbc_pconnect().
User name to use if none is specified in odbc_connect() or odbc_pconnect().
Password to use if none is specified in odbc_connect() or odbc_pconnect().
Whether to allow persistent ODBC connections.
Check that a connection is still valid before reuse.
The maximum number of persistent ODBC connections per process.
The maximum number of ODBC connections per process, including persistent connections.
Handling of LONG fields. Specifies the number of bytes returned to variables.
When an integer is used, the value is measured in bytes. You may also use shorthand notation as described in this FAQ.
Handling of binary data.
This extension has no resource types defined.
The constants below are defined by this extension, and will only be available when the extension has either been compiled into PHP or dynamically loaded at runtime.