Web 2.0 Applications with PHP and Oracle Database 11g

Oracle Database 11g, with a user "phphol" and password (case sensitive) also of "welcome".

PHP 5.3 with the OCI8 1.3 extension.

The Apache web server.

The files you use throughout the tutorial are located in the /home/phphol/public_html directory.

Review the code as follows, which is contained in the connect.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php
// Create connection to Oracle
$conn = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");
if (!$conn) {
   $m = oci_error();
   echo $m['message'], "\n";
   exit;
}
else {
   print "Connected to Oracle!";
}
// Close the Oracle connection
oci_close($conn);
?>

The oci_connect() function contains the username, the password and the connection string. In this case, Oracle's Easy Connect connection string syntax is used. It consists of the hostname and the DB service name.

The oci_close() function closes the connection. Any standard connections not explicitly closed will be automatically released when the script ends.

Open a Web browser and enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/connect.php

"Connected to Oracle!" is displayed if the connection succeeds.

Review the code as follows that is contained in the usersess.sql file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

column username format a30
column logon_time format a18
set pagesize 1000 feedback off echo on

select username, to_char(logon_time, 'DD-MON-YY HH:MI:SS') logon_time
from v$session
where username is not null;

exit

This is a SQL script file that you run in SQL*Plus (Oracle's command-line SQL scripting tool). This SQL*Plus script shows the current database sessions, and what time they logged into the database.

Open a terminal window and enter the following commands to run the SQL script. Note that you could also exeucte the script in SQL Developer.

cd $HOME/public_html
sqlplus -l -s phphol/welcome @usersess.sql 

The SQL*Plus script lists the current database sessions. The only session shown is for SQL*Plus. The PHP connections from the oci_connect() function has been closed.

Check that php has oci8.connection_class set. Open a terminal window and execute the following command:

php -r 'echo ini_get("oci8.connection_class"), "\n";'

The connection class tells the database server pool that connections are related. Session information (such as the default date format) might be retained between connection calls, giving performance benefits. Session information will be discarded if a pooled server is later reused by a different application with its own connection class name.

Review the code as follows, which is contained in the query_pooled.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

$c = oci_pconnect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl:pooled");

$s = oci_parse($c, 'select * from employees');
oci_execute($s);
oci_fetch_all($s, $res);
var_dump($res);

?>

Compare this code to the code in the query_nonpooled.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

$c = oci_pconnect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

$s = oci_parse($c, 'select * from employees');
oci_execute($s);
oci_fetch_all($s, $res);
var_dump($res);

?>
         

The only difference is the ":pooled" in the Easy Connect connection string in query_pooled.php.

Please note that the oci_pconnect() call used in both scripts creates a persistent connection to the database.  That is, a connection created with oci_pconnect() persists after the script ends and avoids the overhead of database connection setup and teardown for each each script.

To run the scripts, the Apache Benchmark tool is used. This command repeatedly loads a web page, measuring its performance. From a terminal window, execute the following:

ab -c 150 -t 30 http://localhost/~phphol/query_pooled.php       

The above command sends Apache 150 concurrent requests for the script, repeatedly for 30 seconds.

Now look at the number of database connections open. Open another terminal window, execute the following:

sqlplus phphol/welcome
select username, program from v$session where username = 'PHPHOL';

The default DRCP pool MAXSIZE is 40. You see up to 40 connections with PHPHOL username, depending on how many Apache processes handled the 'ab' requests. You may also need to execute the query while 'ab' is running to see the pooled servers working.

Oracle manages the DRCP pool, shrinking it after a specified timeout.

Now, you will run the same command except run the non-pooled script to compare the difference. From a terminal window, execute the following:

ab -c 150 -t 30 http://localhost/~phphol/query_nonpooled.php       

Now look at the number of database connections open. Open another terminal window, execute the following:

sqlplus phphol/welcome
select username, program from v$session where username = 'PHPHOL';

Many more rows than previously are returned. The rows with

httpd@localhost (TNS V1-V3)

correspond to a running Apache process holding a database connection open. For PHP, Apache runs in a multi-process mode, spawning child processes each of which can handle one PHP script. Depending how Apache allocated these processes to handle the "ab" requests, you may see a varying number of rows in V$SESSION.

Compare the number of requests completed in each run. You might want to run each script a few times to warm up the caches.

Performance of the scripts is roughly similar. For the small works loads used in these two files, the tiny overhead of the handoff of pooled servers might make query_pooled.php a little slower than query_nonpooled.php. But the non-pooled script causes every single Apache process to open a separate connection to the database. For larger sites, or where memory is limited, the overall benefits of DRCP are significant.

Review the code as follows that is contained in the query.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

// Create connection to Oracle
$conn = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

$query = 'select * from departments';
$stid = oci_parse($conn, $query);
$r = oci_execute($stid);

// Fetch the results in an associative array
print '<table border="1">';
while ($row = oci_fetch_array($stid, OCI_RETURN_NULLS+OCI_ASSOC)) {
   print '<tr>';
   foreach ($row as $item) {
      print '<td>'.($item?htmlentities($item):' ').'</td>';
   }
   print '</tr>';
}
print '</table>';

// Close the Oracle connection
oci_close($conn);

?>

The oci_parse() function parses the statement.

The oci_execute() function executes the parsed statement.

The oci_fetch_array() function retrieves a row of results of the query as an associative array, and includes nulls.

The htmlentities() function escapes any text resembling HTML tags so it displays correctly in the browser.

From your Web browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/query.php

The results of the query are displayed in the Web browser.

The OCI_ASSOC parameter fetches the row as an associative arrary of column names and column data.

Alternatively, the OCI_NUM parameter can be passed to oci_fetch_array() to fetch the row as a numeric array.

Review the code as follows that is contained in the bind.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

function do_fetch($myeid, $s)
{
  // Fetch the results in an associative array
  print '<p>$myeid is ' . $myeid . '</p>';
  print '<table border="1">';
  while ($row = oci_fetch_array($s, OCI_RETURN_NULLS+OCI_ASSOC)) {
    print '<tr>';
    foreach ($row as $item) {
      print '<td>'.($item?htmlentities($item):'&nbsp;').'</td>';
    }
    print '</tr>';
  }
  print '</table>';
}

// Create connection to Oracle
$c = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

// Use bind variable to improve resuability, 
// and to remove SQL Injection attacks.
$query = 'select * from employees where employee_id = :eidbv';
$s = oci_parse($c, $query);

$myeid = 101;
oci_bind_by_name($s, ":EIDBV", $myeid);
oci_execute($s);
do_fetch($myeid, $s);

// Redo query without reparsing SQL statement
$myeid = 104;
oci_execute($s);
do_fetch($myeid, $s);

// Close the Oracle connection
oci_close($c);

?>

From your Web browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/bind.php

The $myeid variable is bound to the :eidbv bind variable so when the query is re-executed the new value of $myeid is passed to the query. This allows you to execute the statement again, without reparsing it with the new value, and can improve performance of your code.

Start SQL*Plus and create a new table:

sqlplus phphol/welcome
create table mytable (col1 date);

Review the code as follows that is contained in the trans_rollback.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

$conn = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

// PHP function to get a formatted date
$d = date('j:M:y H:i:s');

// Insert the date into mytable
$s = oci_parse($conn,
		"insert into mytable values (to_date('" . $d . "', 
         'DD:MON:YY HH24:MI:SS'))");

// Use OCI_DEFAULT to insert without committing
$r = oci_execute($s, OCI_DEFAULT);

echo "Previous INSERT rolled back as no commit is done before script ends";

?>

The OCI_DEFAULT parameter overrides the basic behavior of oci_execute().

From your Web browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/trans_rollback.php

This script inserts a row into the table.

Because there is no automatic or explicit commit, the data is rolled back by PHP when the script finishes. To see that the data has not been committed, query the table to see if there are any inserted rows. From your SQL*Plus session, enter the following commands to select any rows from the mytable table:

select to_char(col1, 'DD-MON-YY HH:MI:SS') time from mytable;

Review the code as follows that is contained in the trans_commit.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

$conn = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

// PHP function to get a formatted date
$d = date('j:M:y H:i:s');

// Insert the date into mytable
$s = oci_parse($conn,
		"insert into mytable values (to_date('" . $d . "',
          'DD:MON:YY HH24:MI:SS'))");

// Insert & commits
$r = oci_execute($s);

// The rollback does nothing: the data has already been committed
oci_rollback($conn);

echo "Data was committed\n";

?>

This script differs from trans1.php in that there is no OCI_DEFAULT when the data is inserted.  This means the new data is commited by the oci_execute() call.

From your Web browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/trans_commit.php

The data is now committed.

From your SQL*Plus session, enter the following commands to select any rows from the mytable table:

select to_char(col1, 'DD-MON-YY HH:MI:SS') time from mytable;

If you reloaded the PHP script more than once, a row from each execution is inserted.

You can compare the performance difference between committing each row individually versus at the end of the transaction.

To test the difference, review the code as follows that is contained in the trans_time_commit.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory. This commits on each insert.

<?php

function do_insert($conn)
{
  $stmt = "insert into mytable values (to_date('01-JAN-08 10:20:35', 
       'DD:MON:YY HH24:MI:SS'))";
  $s = oci_parse($conn, $stmt);
  $r = oci_execute($s);  // automatically commit
}
function do_row_check($conn)
{
  $stid = oci_parse($conn, "select count(*) c from mytable");
  oci_execute($stid);
  oci_fetch_all($stid, $res);
  echo "Number of rows: ", $res['C'][0], "<br>";
}
function do_delete($conn)
{
  $stmt = "delete from mytable";
  $s = oci_parse($conn, $stmt);
  $r = oci_execute($s);
}

// Program starts here
$c = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

$starttime = microtime(TRUE);
for ($i = 0; $i < 10000; $i++) {
  do_insert($c);
}
$endtime = microtime(TRUE) - $starttime;
echo "Time was ".round($endtime,3)." seconds<br>";

do_row_check($c);  // Check insert done
do_delete($c);     // cleanup committed rows

?>

Run this several times and see how long it takes to insert the 10,000 rows.

Now run the trans_time_explicit.php script. The only difference in this script is that in the do_insert() function OCI_DEFAULT has been added so it doesn't automatically commit, and an explicit commit has been added after the insertion loop:

...

function do_insert($conn) {
  $stmt = "insert into mytable values (to_date('01-JAN-08 10:20:35', 
      'DD:MON:YY HH24:MI:SS'))";
  $s = oci_parse($conn, $stmt);
  $r = oci_execute($s, OCI_DEFAULT);  // Don't commit
}

...

$starttime = microtime(TRUE);
for ($i = 0; $i < 10000; $i++) {
  do_insert($c);
}
oci_commit($c);
$endtime = microtime(TRUE) - $starttime;

...

Rerun the test. The insertion time is less.

In general you want all or none of your data committed. Doing your own transaction control has performance and data-integrity benefits.

Start SQL*Plus and create a new table, ptab with the following command:

sqlplus phphol/welcome
create table ptab (mydata varchar(20), myid number);

In SQL*Plus, create a stored procedure, myproc, to insert data into the ptab table, with the following commands:

create or replace procedure
myproc(d_p in varchar2, i_p in number) as
begin
  insert into ptab (mydata, myid) values (d_p, i_p);
end;
/

Review the code as follows that is contained in the proc.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory. Review the code as follows:

<?php

$c = oci_connect('phphol', 'welcome', '//localhost/orcl');
$s = oci_parse($c, "call myproc('mydata', 123)");
oci_execute($s);
echo "Completed";

?>      

From a Web browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/proc.php

The PHP script has created a new row in the ptab table by calling the stored procedure myproc. The table ptab has a new row with the values "mydata" and 123.

Switch to your SQL*Plus session and query the table to show the new row:

      

select * from ptab; 

Extend proc.php to use a bind variable. Change proc.php to the following (changes are in bold):

<?php

$c = oci_connect('phphol', 'welcome', '//localhost/orcl');
$s = oci_parse($c, "call myproc('mydata', :bv)");
$v = 456;
oci_bind_by_name($s, ":bv", $v);
oci_execute($s);
echo "Completed";

?>

The oci_bind_by_name() function binds the PHP variable $v to ":bv" and experiment changing the value inserted by changing the value in $v.

Rerun the following URL:

http://localhost/~phphol/proc.php

Query the table again to show the new row:

select * from ptab;

PL/SQL stored functions are also commonly used in Oracle. In SQL*Plus, create a PL/SQL stored function myfunc() to insert a row into the ptab table, and return double the inserted value:

create or replace function
myfunc(d_p in varchar2, i_p in number) return number as
begin
  insert into ptab (mydata, myid) values (d_p, i_p);
  return (i_p * 2);
end;
/

Review the code as follows that is contained in the func.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory. Review the code as follows:

<?php

$c = oci_connect('phphol', 'welcome', '//localhost/orcl');
$s = oci_parse($c, "begin :bv := myfunc('mydata', 123); end;");
oci_bind_by_name($s, ":bv", $v, 10);
oci_execute($s);
echo $v, "<br>\n";
echo "Completed";

?>

Because a value is being returned, the optional length parameter to oci_bind_by_name() is set to 10 so PHP can allocate the correct amount of memory to hold up to 10 digits

Rerun the following URL:

http://localhost/~phphol/func.php

First, create a table with a large number of rows. Review the following fetch_prefetch.sql script.

set echo on
drop table bigtab;
create table bigtab (mycol varchar2(20));
begin
  for i in 1..20000
  loop
   insert into bigtab (mycol) values (dbms_random.string('A',20));
  end loop;
end;
/
show errors
exit

    

From your sqlplus session, run the following:

connect phphol/welcome
@fetch_prefetch

Review the code as follows that is contained in the fetch_prefetch.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

require('helper.php');

function do_prefetch($c, $pf)
{
  $stid = oci_parse($c, "select mycol from bigtab");
  oci_execute($stid);
  oci_set_prefetch($stid, $pf);
  oci_fetch_all($stid, $res);
  return $res;
}

$c = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");
$pf_a = array(1, 10, 500, 2000); // Prefetch values to test 
foreach ($pf_a as $pf_num)
{
  $start = currTime();
  $r = do_prefetch($c, $pf_num);
  $t = elapsedTime($start);
  print "Prefetch $pf_num - Elapsed time is: " . round($t, 3) .
        " seconds<br>\n";
}

?>

Load the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/fetch_prefetch.php

Reload a few times to see the average times.

The default prefetch size can be set in PHP's initialization file, php.ini. Prior to PHP 5.3, the default prefetch size was 10 rows. In 5.3, it is 100 rows. You should choose a suitable default value for your application, and use oci_set_prefetch() for specific queries that need a different value.

This section shows the oci_bind_array_by_name() function that allows a PHP array to be retrieved from, or passed to, a PL/SQL procedure. Review the following fetch_bulk.sql script.

set echo on
create or replace package fetchperfpkg as
  type arrtype is table of varchar2(20) index by pls_integer;
  procedure selbulk(p1 out arrtype);
end fetchperfpkg;
/
create or replace package body fetchperfpkg as
  procedure selbulk(p1 out arrtype) is
  begin
   select  mycol bulk collect
     into  p1
     from  bigtab;
  end selbulk;
end fetchperfpkg;
/
show errors
exit

      

This script creates a PL/SQL package that fetches from BIGTAB using a PL/SQL BULK COLLECT statement, and returns the results in a PL/SQL array. From your sqlplus session, run the following:

sqlplus phphol/welcome
@fetch_bulk

Review the code as follows that is contained in the fetch_bulk.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

require('helper.php');

function do_sel_bulk($c)
{
  $s = oci_parse($c, "begin fetchperfpkg.selbulk(:a1); end;");
  oci_bind_array_by_name($s, ":a1", $res, 20000, 20, SQLT_CHR);
  oci_execute($s);
  return($res);
}

$c = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

$start = currTime();
$r = do_sel_bulk($c);
$t = elapsedTime($start);
print "Bulk collect - Elapsed time is: " . round($t, 3) . " seconds\n<br>";

?>    

This code calls the PL/SQL package and binds a PHP variable to hold the returned data array. No OCI8 fetch call is needed.

This example doesn't print the returned results. If you want to see them, add "var_dump($res);" before the function return statement. The output shows the random 20-character data strings created by fetch_prefetch.sql, which you ran earlier.

Load the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/fetch_bulk.php

Reload a few times to see the average times.

Change the fetch_bulk.sql package code by adding a WHERE clause to reduce the number of rows fetched.

set echo on
create or replace package fetchperfpkg as
  type arrtype is table of varchar2(20) index by pls_integer;
  procedure selbulk(p1 out arrtype);
end fetchperfpkg;
/
create or replace package body fetchperfpkg as
  procedure selbulk(p1 out arrtype) is
  begin
   select  mycol bulk collect
     into  p1
     from  bigtab
     where rownum < 100;
  end selbulk;
end fetchperfpkg;
/
show errors
exit

From your sqlplus session, run the following:

sqlplus phphol/welcome
@fetch_bulk

Reload the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/fetch_bulk.php

Experiment with different row sizes to see the effect and compare the results with the previous fetch_prefetch.php script.

Depending on your data, types, size and business requirements, testing will show which fetch method is faster for your application.

Before doing this section create a table to store a BLOB. In SQL*Plus logged in as phphol, execute the following commands:

sqlplus phphol/welcome
create table btab (blobid number, blobdata blob);

Review the code as follows contained in the blobins.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php
if (!isset($_FILES['lob_upload'])) {
// If nothing uploaded, display the upload form
?>

<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>"
      method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">
Image filename: <input type="file" name="lob_upload">
<input type="submit" value="Upload">
</form>


<?php
} // closing brace from 'if' in earlier PHP code
else {
  // else script was called with data to upload


  $myblobid = 1; // should really be a unique id e.g. a sequence number


  $conn = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

  // Delete any existing BLOB
  $query = 'delete from btab where blobid = :myblobid';
  $stmt = oci_parse ($conn, $query);
  oci_bind_by_name($stmt, ':myblobid', $myblobid);
  $e = oci_execute($stmt);

  // Insert the BLOB from PHP's temporary upload area
  $lob = oci_new_descriptor($conn, OCI_D_LOB);
  $stmt = oci_parse($conn, 'insert into btab (blobid, blobdata) '
        .'values(:myblobid, empty_blob()) returning blobdata into :blobdata');
  oci_bind_by_name($stmt, ':myblobid', $myblobid);
  oci_bind_by_name($stmt, ':blobdata', $lob, -1, OCI_B_BLOB);
  oci_execute($stmt, OCI_DEFAULT);  // Note OCI_DEFAULT
  if ($lob->savefile($_FILES['lob_upload']['tmp_name'])) {
    oci_commit($conn);
    echo "BLOB uploaded";
  }
  else {
    echo "Couldn't upload BLOB\n";
  }
  $lob->free();
}

?>

This shows HTML code embedded in multiple PHP blocks. In particular, a PHP 'if' statement encloses the HTML code.The first time the script is loaded, the HTML upload form is shown. PHP has populated the form action name to call the same script again.

There is a direct relationship between the HTML form name name="lob_upload" and the special PHP variable $_FILES['lob_upload']. When the form is called with data, the script deletes any existing image from the table, and inserts the new picture.

The script shows the use of oci_new_descriptor() which is bound to the empty_blob() location. The LOB->savefile() method inserts the picture to the newly created row. Note the OCI_DEFAULT option to oci_execute() is necessary for the subsequent LOB method to work.

From your Web browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/blobins.php

It shows a Web form with Browse and Upload buttons. Click Browse.

Select the oracle.jpg from the /home/phphol/public_html directory and click Open.

Click Upload.

The form action calls the script a second time, but now the special variable $_FILES['lob_upload'] is set and picture is uploaded. The successful echo message is displayed.

The image has been uploaded to the Web server.

To show the image, review the code as follows contained in the blobview.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory.

<?php

$conn = oci_connect("phphol", "welcome", "//localhost/orcl");

$query = 'SELECT BLOBDATA FROM BTAB WHERE BLOBID = :MYBLOBID';
$stmt = oci_parse ($conn, $query);
$myblobid = 1;
oci_bind_by_name($stmt, ':MYBLOBID', $myblobid);
oci_execute($stmt);
$arr = oci_fetch_array($stmt, OCI_ASSOC);
$result = $arr['BLOBDATA']->load();

header("Content-type: image/JPEG");
echo $result;

oci_close($conn);

?>

From your Web browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/blobview.php

Make sure there is no whitespace before "<?php" and no echo statements in the script, because otherwise the wrong HTTP header will be sent and the browser won't display the image properly. If you have problems, comment out the header() function call and see what is displayed.

Review the code as follows that is contained in the ajax_id.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory. This file simply echos the parameter passed in.

<?php

if (!isset($_GET['id'])) {
  $id = 'No id passed';
} 
else {
  $id = $_GET['id']; 
}

echo "Id was: ", htmlentities($id); 

?>

From your browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/ajax_id.php?id=185

Review the code as follows that is contained in the ajax_id.html file in the $HOME/public_html directory. This file contains a JavaScript function, makeRequest().

<html>
<head>
  <script type="text/javascript">
  function makeRequest(id)
  {
     httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
     httpRequest.open('GET', 'http://localhost/~phphol/ajax_id.php?id=' + id);
     httpRequest.onreadystatechange = function()
     {
        if (httpRequest.readyState == 4) {    // The request is complete 
          alert(httpRequest.responseText);    // Display the result
        }
     }
     httpRequest.send(null);
  }
  </script>
</head>

<body onload="makeRequest(185)">
<h1>Employee Lookup</h2>
<div id="descriptionNode">This page finds an employee</div>
</body>
</html>

From your browser, enter the following URL to display the output:

http://localhost/~phphol/ajax_id.html

Click OK to dismiss the alert window.

Note: if you use a Internet Explorer, you will need to edit ajax_id.html and change the XMLHttpRequest() call to ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP") or ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP").

When the HTML page is loaded, the makeRequest() javascript function is called. It prepares an XMLHttpRequest request to call ajax_id.php. A callback function onreadystatechange is set. Finally the request is sent to the webserver asynchronously.

When the callback function is notified that the web server request has returned, the output from ajax_query.php is displayed by the alert() function.

Edit ajax_id.html and change 185 to 186.

Reload it in the browser. The new value is displayed. Click OK to dimiss the alert window.

Review the code as follows that is contained in the zfwdb.php file in the $HOME/public_html directory. This file simply displays information about one employee.

<?php

require_once 'Zend/Db.php';

$db = Zend_Db::factory('Oracle', array(
                           'username' => 'phphol',
                           'password' => 'welcome',
                           'dbname'   => 'localhost/orcl'
                      ));

$result = $db->fetchAll("select * from employees where employee_id = 185");

echo "<pre>";  // make var_dump output formatted.
var_dump($result);

?>

It includes Zend/Db.php from the webserver's document root directory. This declares the Zend_DB class. It then creates an instance of the Zend_Db Adapter class. This defers actual connection until the first use, allowing you to write applications that can initialize the connection in a common initialization block, but not having the database connection physically opened unless a DB request is actually made. This is just one of the ways to open connections in Zend_Db. The fetchAll() method returns all results from a query. Use an appropriate WHERE clause if only a partial subset of rows is required.

From your browser, enter the following URL to display the output. When the query executes, the employee details are returned.

http://localhost/~phphol/zfwdb.php

There are a variety of query modes that can be used. Edit the zfwdb.php file and add the following line before the fetchAll() method. Add the statement in bold below.

<?php

require_once 'Zend/Db.php';

$db = Zend_Db::factory('Oracle', array(
                           'username' => 'phphol',
                           'password' => 'welcome',
                           'dbname'   => 'localhost/orcl'
                      ));

$db->setFetchMode(Zend_Db::FETCH_NUM);

$result = $db->fetchAll("select * from employees where employee_id = 185");

echo "<pre>";  // make var_dump output formatted.
var_dump($result);

?>

Reload the zfwdb.php file to see the different format.

To pass an array of bind names and values to fetchAll(), edit the zfwdb.php file as followed in bold:

<?php


require_once 'Zend/Db.php';

$db = Zend_Db::factory('Oracle', array(
                           'username' => 'phphol',
                           'password' => 'welcome',
                           'dbname'   => 'localhost/orcl'
                      ));

$bind = array(':id' => 186 );
$result = $db->fetchAll("select * from employees where employee_id = :id", $bind);

echo "<pre>";  // make var_dump output formatted.
var_dump($result);

?>

Reload the zfwdb.php file to verify that the correct user value has been returned.

Review the zfwdb_3.php file. The row of data that will be inserted is encapsulated in a PHP array.

<?php

require_once 'Zend/Db.php';

$db = Zend_Db::factory('Oracle', array(
                           'username' => 'phphol',
                           'password' => 'welcome',
                           'dbname'   => 'localhost/orcl'
                      ));

$select = new Zend_Db_Select($db);

$select->from("EMPLOYEES");
$select->where('employee_id = 185');

$stmt = $db->query($select);
$result = $stmt->fetchAll();

echo "<pre>";
var_dump($result);

?>      

Each component of the query can be added separately

 $select->from("EMPLOYEES");
 $select->where('employee_id = 185');

You could even chain the method together:

 $select->from("EMPLOYEES")->where('employee_id = 185');

To select just one column, the FROM condition would be

 $select->from("EMPLOYEES", "LAST_NAME")

To select two columns, the FROM condition would be:

 $select->from("EMPLOYEES", array("LAST_NAME", "FIRST_NAME"))

Load the zfwdb_3.php file in your browser.

Edit zfwdb_3.php and experiment with different clauses.

This section has introduced just part of the functionality provided by Zend_Db, which itself is just part of ZFW. When Zend_Db is combined with the other components and with the model-view-controller (MVC) framework, applications can be rapidly built.

Before implementing a project with a framework or DB abstraction layer you should consider its maturity, support and performance characteristics, and make your own determination of the best solution for your business needs.