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While not the most frequently-used database type by PHP programmers, there must be one or two out there who use Informix, else the built-in functions wouldn't exist. While there are numerous fuctions for PHP -> Informix connectivity,
documented in detail in the PHP Manual, you only need a few of these functions in order to make a simple connection and select some data: |
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ifx_connect - opens a connection to the Informix server; requires a database name, username and password.
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ifx_query - issues the SQL statement.
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ifx_htmltbl_result - places the results of your SQL statement into a nicely-formatted HTML table.
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ifx_free_result - frees the resources in use by the current connection.
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ifx_close - closes the current connection. |
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Just for argument's sake, let's pretend that Informix is already installed on your system, and you have a valid username and password for an existing database. Let's also assume that you've created a table on that database, called COFFEE_INVENTORY. The COFFEE_INVENTORY table has three columns: COFFEE_NAME, ROAST_TYPE and QUANTITY. |
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The rows in the COFFEE_INVENTORY table could be populated with data such as: |
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French Roast,dark,18
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Kenya,medium,6
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Ethiopian Harrar,medium,35
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Sumatra,dark,8
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Columbian,light,12 |
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Now, let's do some PHP. Before you begin, you must know the name of the server on which the database resides, and have a valid username and password for that server. Then, start your PHP code by creating a connection variable:
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<?
$connection = ifx_connect("dbname@SERVERNAME", "username", "password");
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Test that a connection was established and if it wasn't, print an error message and exit the program:
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if (!$connection) {
echo "Couldn't make a connection!";
exit;
}
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If you've made it this far, you can issue a SQL statement and hopefully see some results! Using the COFFEE_INVENTORY table, suppose you want to view your inventory, including the name of the coffee and the roast type, with the highest number of bags listed first. Create a variable that holds your SQL statement:
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$sql = "SELECT COFFEE_NAME, ROAST_TYPE, QUANTITY
FROM COFFEE_INVENTORY
ORDER BY QUANTITY DESC";
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Next, create a variable to hold the result ID of the query, carried out by the ifx_query function. The ifx_query function takes two arguments: the connection and SQL statement variables you've just created. |
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$sql_result = ifx_query($sql,$connection);
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To format the results currently held in $sql_result, use the very handy ifx_htmltbl_result function. This function uses the result ID variable and HTML table options, such as "border=1".
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ifx_htmltbl_result($sql_result,"border=1");
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Finally, you'll want to free up the resources used to perform the query, and close the database connection. Failing to do so could cause memory leaks and other nasty resource-hogging things to occur.
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ifx_free_result($sql_result);
ifx_close($connection);
?>
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The full script to perform a simple connection and data selection from an Informix database could look something like this:
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<?php
// create connection
$connection = ifx_connect("dbname@SERVERNAME", "username", "password");
// test connection
if (!$connection) {
echo "Couldn't make a connection!";
exit;
}
// create SQL statement
$sql = "SELECT COFFEE_NAME, ROAST_TYPE, QUANTITY
FROM COFFEE_INVENTORY
ORDER BY QUANTITY DESC";
// execute SQL query and get result
$sql_result = ifx_query($sql,$connection);
// format result in HTML table
ifx_htmltbl_result($sql_result,"border=1");
// free resources and close connection
ifx_free_result($sql_result);
ifx_close($connection);
?>
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Please see the PHP Manual for additional Informix database functions, and try using your own tables and SQL statements instead of the examples above. |
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