LXVIII. Oracle 8 functions

These functions allow you to access Oracle8 and Oracle7 databases. It uses the Oracle8 Call-Interface (OCI8). You will need the Oracle8 client libraries to use this extension.

This extension is more flexible than the standard Oracle extension. It supports binding of global and local PHP variables to Oracle placeholders, has full LOB, FILE and ROWID support and allows you to use user-supplied define variables.

Before using this extension, make sure that you have set up your oracle environment variables properly for the Oracle user, as well as your web daemon user. The variables you might need to set are as follows:

  • ORACLE_HOME

  • ORACLE_SID

  • LD_PRELOAD

  • LD_LIBRARY_PATH

  • NLS_LANG

  • ORA_NLS33

After setting up the environment variables for your webserver user, be sure to also add the webserver user (nobody, www) to the oracle group.

If your webserver doesn't start or crashes at startup: Check that Apache is linked with the pthread library:

# ldd /www/apache/bin/httpd 
    libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x4001c000)
    libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x4002f000)
    libcrypt.so.1 => /lib/libcrypt.so.1 (0x4004c000)
    libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x4007a000)
    libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x4007e000)
    /lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)

If the libpthread is not listed you have to reinstall Apache:

# cd /usr/src/apache_1.3.xx
# make clean
# LIBS=-lpthread ./config.status
# make
# make install

Example 1. OCI Hints

<?php
// by sergo@bacup.ru

// Use option: OCI_DEFAULT for execute command to delay execution
OCIExecute($stmt, OCI_DEFAULT);

// for retrieve data use (after fetch):

$result = OCIResult($stmt, $n);
if (is_object ($result)) $result = $result->load();

// For INSERT or UPDATE statement use:

$sql = "insert into table (field1, field2) values (field1 = 'value',
 field2 = empty_clob()) returning field2 into :field2";
OCIParse($conn, $sql);
$clob = OCINewDescriptor($conn, OCI_D_LOB);
OCIBindByName ($stmt, ":field2", &$clob, -1, OCI_B_CLOB);
OCIExecute($stmt, OCI_DEFAULT);
$clob->save ("some text");
OCICommit($conn);

?>

You can easily access stored procedures in the same way as you would from the commands line.

Example 2. Using Stored Procedures

<?php
// by webmaster@remoterealty.com
$sth = OCIParse ( $dbh, "begin sp_newaddress( :address_id, '$firstname',
 '$lastname', '$company', '$address1', '$address2', '$city', '$state',
 '$postalcode', '$country', :error_code );end;" );

// This calls stored procedure sp_newaddress, with :address_id being an
// in/out variable and :error_code being an out variable. 
// Then you do the binding:

   OCIBindByName ( $sth, ":address_id", $addr_id, 10 );
   OCIBindByName ( $sth, ":error_code", $errorcode, 10 );
   OCIExecute ( $sth );

?>

Table of Contents
OCIDefineByName --  Use a PHP variable for the define-step during a SELECT
OCIBindByName --  Bind a PHP variable to an Oracle Placeholder
OCILogon -- Establishes a connection to Oracle
OCIPLogon -- Connect to an Oracle database and log on using a persistent connection. Returns a new session.
OCINLogon -- Connect to an Oracle database and log on using a new connection. Returns a new session.
OCILogOff -- Disconnects from Oracle
OCIExecute -- Execute a statement
OCICommit -- Commits outstanding transactions
OCIRollback -- Rolls back outstanding transactions
OCINewDescriptor --  Initialize a new empty descriptor LOB/FILE (LOB is default)
OCIRowCount -- Gets the number of affected rows
OCINumCols --  Return the number of result columns in a statement
OCIResult -- Returns column value for fetched row
OCIFetch -- Fetches the next row into result-buffer
OCIFetchInto -- Fetches the next row into result-array
OCIFetchStatement -- Fetch all rows of result data into an array.
OCIColumnIsNULL -- test whether a result column is NULL
OCIColumnName -- Returns the name of a column.
OCIColumnSize -- return result column size
OCIColumnType -- Returns the data type of a column.
OCIServerVersion -- Return a string containing server version information.
OCIStatementType -- Return the type of an OCI statement.
OCINewCursor --  Return a new cursor (Statement-Handle) - use to bind ref-cursors.
OCIFreeStatement --  Free all resources associated with a statement.
OCIFreeCursor --  Free all resources associated with a cursor.
OCIFreeDesc -- Deletes a large object descriptor.
OCIParse -- Parse a query and return a statement
OCIError -- Return the last error of stmt|conn|global. If no error happened returns FALSE.
OCIInternalDebug --  Enables or disables internal debug output. By default it is disabled
OCICancel -- Cancel reading from cursor
OCISetPrefetch -- sets number of rows to be prefetched
OCIWriteLobToFile -- Coming soon.
OCISaveLobFile -- Coming soon.
OCISaveLob -- Coming soon.
OCILoadLob -- Coming soon.
OCIColumnScale -- Coming soon.
OCIColumnPrecision -- Coming soon.
OCIColumnTypeRaw -- Coming soon.
OCINewCollection -- Coming soon.
OCIFreeCollection -- Coming soon.
OCICollAssign -- Coming soon.
OCICollAppend -- Coming soon.
OCICollAssignElem -- Coming soon.
OCICollGetElem -- Coming soon.
OCICollMax -- Coming soon.
OCICollSize -- Coming soon.
OCICollTrim -- Coming soon.