Manpages - DBD_File.3pm
Table of Contents
NAME
DBD::File - Base class for writing file based DBI drivers
SYNOPSIS
This module is a base class for writing other DBDs. It is not intended to function as a DBD itself (though it is possible). If you want to access flat files, use DBD::AnyData, or DBD::CSV (both of which are subclasses of DBD::File).
DESCRIPTION
The DBD::File module is not a true DBI driver, but an abstract base class for deriving concrete DBI drivers from it. The implication is, that these drivers work with plain files, for example CSV files or INI files. The module is based on the SQL::Statement module, a simple SQL engine.
See DBI for details on DBI, SQL::Statement for details on SQL::Statement and DBD::CSV, DBD::DBM or DBD::AnyData for example drivers.
Metadata
The following attributes are handled by DBI itself and not by DBD::File, thus they all work as expected:
Active ActiveKids CachedKids CompatMode (Not used) InactiveDestroy AutoInactiveDestroy Kids PrintError RaiseError Warn (Not used)
The following DBI attributes are handled by DBD::File:
AutoCommit
Always on.
ChopBlanks
Works.
NUM_OF_FIELDS
Valid after $sth->execute
.
NUM_OF_PARAMS
Valid after $sth->prepare
.
NAME
Valid after $sth->execute
; undef for Non-Select statements.
NULLABLE
Not really working, always returns an array ref of ones, except the
affected table has been created in this session. Valid after
$sth->execute
; undef for non-select statements.
Unsupported DBI attributes and methods
bind_param_inout
CursorName
LongReadLen
LongTruncOk
DBD::File specific attributes
In addition to the DBI attributes, you can use the following dbh attributes:
f_dir
This attribute is used for setting the directory where the files are opened and it defaults to the current directory (.). Usually you set it on the dbh but it may be overridden per table (see f_meta).
When the value for f_dir
is a relative path, it is converted into the
appropriate absolute path name (based on the current working directory)
when the dbh attribute is set.
f_dir => “/data/foo/csv”,
See KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS.
f_dir_search
This optional attribute can be set to pass a list of folders to also find existing tables. It will not be used to create new files.
f_dir_search => [ “/data/bar/csv”, “/dump/blargh/data” ],
f_ext
This attribute is used for setting the file extension. The format is:
extension{/flag}
where the /flag is optional and the extension is case-insensitive.
f_ext
allows you to specify an extension which:
f_ext => “.csv/r”,
- makes DBD::File prefer table.extension over table.
- makes the table name the filename minus the extension.
DBI:CSV:f_dir=data;f_ext=.csv
In the above example and when f_dir
contains both table.csv and
table, DBD::File will open table.csv and the table will be named
table. If table.csv does not exist but table does that file is
opened and the table is also called table.
If f_ext
is not specified and table.csv exists it will be opened and
the table will be called table.csv which is probably not what you want.
NOTE: even though extensions are case-insensitive, table names are not.
DBI:CSV:f_dir=data;f_ext=.csv/r
The r
flag means the file extension is required and any filename that
does not match the extension is ignored.
Usually you set it on the dbh but it may be overridden per table (see f_meta).
f_schema
This will set the schema name and defaults to the owner of the directory
in which the table file resides. You can set f_schema
to undef
.
my $dbh = DBI->connect (“dbi:CSV:”, “”, “”, { f_schema => undef, f_dir => “data”, f_ext => “.csv/r”, }) or die $DBI::errstr;
By setting the schema you affect the results from the tables call:
my @tables = $dbh->tables (); # no f_schema “merijn”.foo “merijn”.bar # f_schema => “dbi” “dbi”.foo “dbi”.bar # f_schema => undef foo bar
Defining f_schema
to the empty string is equal to setting it to
undef
so the DSN can be "dbi:CSV:f_schema
;f_dir=.“=.
f_lock
The f_lock
attribute is used to set the locking mode on the opened
table files. Note that not all platforms support locking. By default,
tables are opened with a shared lock for reading, and with an exclusive
lock for writing. The supported modes are:
0: No locking at all. 1: Shared locks will be used. 2: Exclusive locks will be used.
But see KNOWN BUGS below.
f_lockfile
If you wish to use a lockfile extension other than .lck
, simply
specify the f_lockfile
attribute:
$dbh = DBI->connect (“dbi:DBM:f_lockfile=.foo”); $dbh->{f_lockfile} = “.foo”; $dbh->{dbm_tables}{qux}{f_lockfile} = “.foo”;
If you wish to disable locking, set the f_lockfile
to 0
.
$dbh = DBI->connect (“dbi:DBM:f_lockfile=0”); $dbh->{f_lockfile} = 0; $dbh->{dbm_tables}{qux}{f_lockfile} = 0;
f_encoding
With this attribute, you can set the encoding in which the file is
opened. This is implemented using
binmode $fh, ":encoding(<f_encoding>)"
.
f_meta
Private data area aliasing sql_meta in DBI::DBD::SqlEngine which contains information about the tables this module handles. Table meta data might not be available until the table has been accessed for the first time e.g., by issuing a select on it however it is possible to pre-initialize attributes for each table you use.
DBD::File recognizes the (public) attributes f_ext
, f_dir
, f_file
,
f_encoding
, f_lock
, f_lockfile
, f_schema
, in addition to the
attributes sql_meta in DBI::DBD::SqlEngine already supports. Be very
careful when modifying attributes you do not know, the consequence might
be a destroyed or corrupted table.
f_file
is an attribute applicable to table meta data only and you will
not find a corresponding attribute in the dbh. Whilst it may be
reasonable to have several tables with the same column names, it is not
for the same file name. If you need access to the same file using
different table names, use SQL::Statement
as the SQL engine and the
AS
keyword:
SELECT * FROM tbl AS t1, tbl AS t2 WHERE t1.id = t2.id
f_file
can be an absolute path name or a relative path name but if it
is relative, it is interpreted as being relative to the f_dir
attribute of the table meta data. When f_file
is set DBD::File will
use f_file
as specified and will not attempt to work out an
alternative for f_file
using the table name
and f_ext
attribute.
While f_meta
is a private and readonly attribute (which means, you
cannot modify it’s values), derived drivers might provide restricted
write access through another attribute. Well known accessors are
csv_tables
for DBD::CSV, ad_tables
for DBD::AnyData and dbm_tables
for DBD::DBM.
New opportunities for attributes from DBI::DBD::SqlEngine
sql_table_source
$dbh->{sql_table_source}
can be set to
DBD:: (and is the default setting of
DBD::File). This provides usual behaviour of previous DBD::File releases
on
@ary = DBI->data_sources ($driver); @ary = DBI->data_sources ($driver, \%attr); @ary = $dbh->data_sources (); @ary = $dbh->data_sources (\%attr); @names = $dbh->tables ($catalog, $schema, $table, $type); $sth = $dbh->table_info ($catalog, $schema, $table, $type); $sth = $dbh->table_info ($catalog, $schema, $table, $type, \%attr); $dbh->func (“list_tables”);
sql_data_source
$dbh->{sql_data_source}
can be set to either
DBD::, which is default and provides the well
known behavior of DBD::File releases prior to 0.41, or
DBD::, which reuses already opened file-handle
for operations.
Internally private attributes to deal with SQL backends
Do not modify any of these private attributes unless you understand the implications of doing so. The behavior of DBD::File and derived DBDs might be unpredictable when one or more of those attributes are modified.
sql_nano_version
Contains the version of loaded DBI::SQL::Nano.
sql_statement_version
Contains the version of loaded SQL::Statement.
sql_handler
Contains either the text ’SQL::Statement’ or ’DBI::SQL::Nano’.
sql_ram_tables
Contains optionally temporary tables.
sql_flags
Contains optional flags to instantiate the SQL::Parser parsing engine when SQL::Statement is used as SQL engine. See SQL::Parser for valid flags.
Driver private methods
Default DBI methods
data_sources
The data_sources
method returns a list of subdirectories of the
current directory in the form dbi:CSV:f_dir=$dirname.
If you want to read the subdirectories of another directory, use
my ($drh) = DBI->install_driver (“CSV”); my (@list) = $drh->data_sources (f_dir => “/usr/local/csv_data”);
Additional methods
The following methods are only available via their documented name when
DBD::File is used directly. Because this is only reasonable for testing
purposes, the real names must be used instead. Those names can be
computed by replacing the f_
in the method name with the driver
prefix.
f_versions
Signature:
sub f_versions (;$) { my ($table_name) = @_; $table_name ||= “.”; … }
Returns the versions of the driver, including the DBI version, the Perl version, DBI::PurePerl version (if DBI::PurePerl is active) and the version of the SQL engine in use.
my $dbh = DBI->connect (“dbi:File:”); my $f_versions = $dbh->func (“f_versions”); print “$f_versions\n”; _ END _ # DBD::File 0.41 using IO::File (1.16) # DBI::DBD::SqlEngine 0.05 using SQL::Statement 1.406 # DBI 1.623 # OS darwin (12.2.1) # Perl 5.017006 (darwin-thread-multi-ld-2level)
Called in list context, f_versions will return an array containing each line as single entry.
Some drivers might use the optional (table name) argument and modify version information related to the table (e.g. DBD::DBM provides storage backend information for the requested table, when it has a table name).
KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
- This module uses flock () internally but flock is not available on all platforms. On MacOS and Windows 95 there is no locking at all (perhaps not so important on MacOS and Windows 95, as there is only a single user).
The module stores details about the handled tables in a private area of the driver handle (
$drh
). This data area is not shared between different driver instances, so severalDBI->connect ()
calls will cause different table instances and private data areas. This data area is filled for the first time when a table is accessed, either via an SQL statement or viatable_info
and is not destroyed until the table is dropped or the driver handle is released. Manual destruction is possible via f_clear_meta. The following attributes are preserved in the data area and will evaluated instead of driver globals:- f_ext
- f_dir
- f_dir_search
- f_lock
- f_lockfile
- f_encoding
- f_schema
- col_names
- sql_identifier_case
The following attributes are preserved in the data area only and cannot be set globally.
- f_file
The following attributes are preserved in the data area only and are computed when initializing the data area:
- f_fqfn
- f_fqbn
- f_fqln
- table_name
For DBD::CSV tables this means, once opened foo.csv as table named foo, another table named foo accessing the file foo.txt cannot be opened. Accessing foo will always access the file foo.csv in memorized
f_dir
, lockingf_lockfile
via memorizedf_lock
. You can use f_clear_meta or thef_file
attribute for a specific table to work around this.- When used with SQL::Statement and temporary tables e.g., CREATE TEMP
TABLE … the table data processing bypasses DBD:::Table. No file
system calls will be made and there are no clashes with existing (file
based) tables with the same name. Temporary tables are chosen over
file tables, but they will not covered by
table_info
.
AUTHOR
This module is currently maintained by
H.Merijn Brand < h.m.brand at xs4all.nl > and Jens Rehsack < rehsack at googlemail.com >
The original author is Jochen Wiedmann.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2009-2013 by H.Merijn Brand & Jens Rehsack Copyright (C) 2004-2009 by Jeff Zucker Copyright (C) 1998-2004 by Jochen Wiedmann
All rights reserved.
You may freely distribute and/or modify this module under the terms of either the GNU General Public License (GPL) or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file.
SEE ALSO
DBI, DBD::DBM, DBD::CSV, Text::CSV, Text::CSV_XS, SQL::Statement, and DBI::SQL::Nano