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DBI::DBD(3)	      User Contributed Perl Documentation	   DBI::DBD(3)

NAME
       DBI::DBD - Perl DBI Database Driver Writer's Guide

SYNOPSIS
	 perldoc DBI::DBD

       Version and volatility

       This document is still a minimal draft which is in need of further
       work.

       The changes will occur both because the DBI specification is changing
       and hence the requirements on DBD drivers change, and because feedback
       from people reading this document will suggest improvements to it.

       Please read the DBI documentation first and fully, including the DBI
       FAQ.  Then reread the DBI specification again as you're reading this.
       It'll help.

       This document is a patchwork of contributions from various authors.
       More contributions (preferably as patches) are very welcome.

DESCRIPTION
       This document is primarily intended to help people writing new database
       drivers for the Perl Database Interface (Perl DBI).  It may also help
       others interested in discovering why the internals of a DBD driver are
       written the way they are.

       This is a guide.	 Few (if any) of the statements in it are completely
       authoritative under all possible circumstances.	This means you will
       need to use judgement in applying the guidelines in this document.  If
       in any doubt at all, please do contact the dbi-dev mailing list
       (details given below) where Tim Bunce and other driver authors can
       help.

CREATING A NEW DRIVER
       The first rule for creating a new database driver for the Perl DBI is
       very simple: DON'T!

       There is usually a driver already available for the database you want
       to use, almost regardless of which database you choose. Very often, the
       database will provide an ODBC driver interface, so you can often use
       DBD::ODBC to access the database. This is typically less convenient on
       a Unix box than on a Microsoft Windows box, but there are numerous
       options for ODBC driver managers on Unix too, and very often the ODBC
       driver is provided by the database supplier.

       Before deciding that you need to write a driver, do your homework to
       ensure that you are not wasting your energies.

       [As of December 2002, the consensus is that if you need an ODBC driver
       manager on Unix, then the unixODBC driver (available from
       <http://www.unixodbc.org/>) is the way to go.]

       The second rule for creating a new database driver for the Perl DBI is
       also very simple: Don't -- get someone else to do it for you!

       Nevertheless, there are occasions when it is necessary to write a new
       driver, often to use a proprietary language or API to access the data‐
       base more swiftly, or more comprehensively, than an ODBC driver can.
       Then you should read this document very carefully, but with a suitably
       sceptical eye.

       If there is something in here that does not make any sense, question
       it.  You might be right that the information is bogus, but don't come
       to that conclusion too quickly.

       URLs and mailing lists

       The primary web-site for locating DBI software and information is

	 http://dbi.perl.org/

       There are two main and one auxiliary mailing lists for people working
       with DBI.  The primary lists are dbi-users@perl.org for general users
       of DBI and DBD drivers, and dbi-dev@perl.org mainly for DBD driver
       writers (don't join the dbi-dev list unless you have a good reason).
       The auxiliary list is dbi-announce@perl.org for announcing new releases
       of DBI or DBD drivers.

       You can join these lists by accessing the web-site
       <http://dbi.perl.org/>.	The lists are closed so you cannot send email
       to any of the lists unless you join the list first.

       You should also consider monitoring the comp.lang.perl.* newsgroups,
       especially comp.lang.perl.modules.

       The Cheetah book

       The definitive book on Perl DBI is the Cheetah book, so called because
       of the picture on the cover. Its proper title is 'Programming the Perl
       DBI: Database programming with Perl' by Alligator Descartes and Tim
       Bunce, published by O'Reilly Associates, February 2000, ISBN
       1-56592-699-4. Buy it now if you have not already done so, and read it.

       Locating drivers

       Before writing a new driver, it is in your interests to find out
       whether there already is a driver for your database.  If there is such
       a driver, it would be much easier to make use of it than to write your
       own!

       The primary web-site for locating Perl software is
       <http://search.cpan.org/>.  You should look under the various modules
       listings for the software you are after. For example:

	 http://search.cpan.org/modlist/Database_Interfaces

       Follow the DBD:: and DBIx:: links at the top to see those subsets.

       See the DBI docs for information on DBI web sites and mailing lists.

       Registering a new driver

       Before going through any official registration process, you will need
       to establish that there is no driver already in the works. You'll do
       that by asking the DBI mailing lists whether there is such a driver
       available, or whether anybody is working on one.

       When you get the go ahead, you will need to establish the name of the
       driver and a prefix for the driver. Typically, the name is based on the
       name of the database software it uses, and the prefix is a contraction
       of that. Hence, DBD::Oracle has the name Oracle and the prefix 'ora_'.
       The prefix must be lowercase and contain no underscores other than the
       one at the end.

       This information will be recorded in the DBI module. Apart from docu‐
       mentation purposes, registration is a prerequisite for installing pri‐
       vate methods.

       If you are writing a driver which will not be distributed on CPAN, then
       you should choose a prefix beginning with 'x_', to avoid potential pre‐
       fix collisions with drivers registered in the future. Thus, if you
       wrote a non-CPAN distributed driver called DBD::CustomDB, the prefix
       might be 'x_cdb_'.

       This document assumes you are writing a driver called DBD::Driver, and
       that the prefix 'drv_' is assigned to the driver.

       Two styles of database driver

       There are two distinct styles of database driver that can be written to
       work with the Perl DBI.

       Your driver can be written in pure Perl, requiring no C compiler.  When
       feasible, this is the best solution, but most databases are not written
       in such a way that this can be done. Some examples of pure Perl drivers
       are DBD::File and DBD::CSV.

       Alternatively, and most commonly, your driver will need to use some C
       code to gain access to the database. This will be classified as a C/XS
       driver.

       What code will you write?

       There are a number of files that need to be written for either a pure
       Perl driver or a C/XS driver. There are no extra files needed only by a
       pure Perl driver, but there are several extra files needed only by a
       C/XS driver.

       Files common to pure Perl and C/XS drivers

       Assuming that your driver is called DBD::Driver, these files are:

       * Makefile.PL
       * META.yml
       * README
       * MANIFEST
       * Driver.pm
       * lib/Bundle/DBD/Driver.pm
       * lib/DBD/Driver/Summary.pm
       * t/*.t

       The first four files are mandatory. Makefile.PL is used to control how
       the driver is built and installed. The README file tells people who
       download the file about how to build the module and any prerequisite
       software that must be installed. The MANIFEST file is used by the stan‐
       dard Perl module distribution mechanism. It lists all the source files
       that need to be distributed with your module. Driver.pm is what is
       loaded by the DBI code; it contains the methods peculiar to your
       driver.

       Although the META.yml file is not required you are advised to create
       one. Of particular importance are the build_requires and config‐
       ure_requires attributes which newer CPAN modules understand.  You use
       these to tell the CPAN module (and CPANPLUS) that your build and con‐
       figure mechanisms require DBI. The best reference for META.yml (at the
       time of writing) is <http://module-build.source‐
       forge.net/META-spec-v1.4.html>. You can find a reasonable example of a
       META.yml in DBD::ODBC.

       The lib/Bundle/DBD/Driver.pm file allows you to specify other Perl mod‐
       ules on which yours depends in a format that allows someone to type a
       simple command and ensure that all the pre-requisites are in place as
       well as building your driver.

       The lib/DBD/Driver/Summary.pm file contains (an updated version of) the
       information that was included - or that would have been included - in
       the appendices of the Cheetah book as a summary of the abilities of
       your driver and the associated database.

       The files in the t subdirectory are unit tests for your driver.	You
       should write your tests as stringently as possible, while taking into
       account the diversity of installations that you can encounter:

       ·   Your tests should not casually modify operational databases.

       ·   You should never damage existing tables in a database.

       ·   You should code your tests to use a constrained name space within
	   the database. For example, the tables (and all other named objects)
	   that are created could all begin with 'dbd_drv_'.

       ·   At the end of a test run, there should be no testing objects left
	   behind in the database.

       ·   If you create any databases, you should remove them.

       ·   If your database supports temporary tables that are automatically
	   removed at the end of a session, then exploit them as often as pos‐
	   sible.

       ·   Try to make your tests independent of each other. If you have a
	   test t/t11dowhat.t that depends upon the successful running of
	   t/t10thingamy.t, people cannot run the single test case
	   t/t11dowhat.t. Further, running t/t11dowhat.t twice in a row is
	   likely to fail (at least, if t/t11dowhat.t modifies the database at
	   all) because the database at the start of the second run is not
	   what you saw at the start of the first run.

       ·   Document in your README file what you do, and what privileges peo‐
	   ple need to do it.

       ·   You can, and probably should, sequence your tests by including a
	   test number before an abbreviated version of the test name; the
	   tests are run in the order in which the names are expanded by
	   shell-style globbing.

       ·   It is in your interests to ensure that your tests work as widely as
	   possible.

       Many drivers also install sub-modules DBD::Driver::SubModule for any of
       a variety of different reasons, such as to support the metadata methods
       (see the discussion of "METADATA METHODS" below). Such sub-modules are
       conventionally stored in the directory lib/DBD/Driver. The module
       itself would usually be in a file SubModule.pm. All such sub-modules
       should themselves be version stamped (see the discussions far below).

       Extra files needed by C/XS drivers

       The software for a C/XS driver will typically contain at least four
       extra files that are not relevant to a pure Perl driver.

       * Driver.xs
       * Driver.h
       * dbdimp.h
       * dbdimp.c

       The Driver.xs file is used to generate C code that Perl can call to
       gain access to the C functions you write that will, in turn, call down
       onto your database software.

       The Driver.h header is a stylized header that ensures you can access
       the necessary Perl and DBI macros, types, and function declarations.

       The dbdimp.h is used to specify which functions have been implemented
       by your driver.

       The dbdimp.c file is where you write the C code that does the real work
       of translating between Perl-ish data types and what the database
       expects to use and return.

       There are some (mainly small, but very important) differences between
       the contents of Makefile.PL and Driver.pm for pure Perl and C/XS driv‐
       ers, so those files are described both in the section on creating a
       pure Perl driver and in the section on creating a C/XS driver.

       Obviously, you can add extra source code files to the list.

       Requirements on a driver and driver writer

       To be remotely useful, your driver must be implemented in a format that
       allows it to be distributed via CPAN, the Comprehensive Perl Archive
       Network (<http://www.cpan.org/> and <http://search.cpan.org>).  Of
       course, it is easier if you do not have to meet this criterion, but you
       will not be able to ask for much help if you do not do so, and no-one
       is likely to want to install your module if they have to learn a new
       installation mechanism.

CREATING A PURE PERL DRIVER
       Writing a pure Perl driver is surprisingly simple. However, there are
       some problems you should be aware of. The best option is of course
       picking up an existing driver and carefully modifying one method after
       the other.

       Also look carefully at DBD::AnyData and DBD::Template.

       As an example we take a look at the DBD::File driver, a driver for
       accessing plain files as tables, which is part of the DBD::CSV package.

       The minimal set of files we have to implement are Makefile.PL, README,
       MANIFEST and Driver.pm.

       Pure Perl version of Makefile.PL

       You typically start with writing Makefile.PL, a Makefile generator. The
       contents of this file are described in detail in the ExtUtils::Make‐
       Maker man pages. It is definitely a good idea if you start reading
       them. At least you should know about the variables CONFIGURE, DEFINED,
       PM, DIR, EXE_FILES, INC, LIBS, LINKTYPE, NAME, OPTIMIZE, PL_FILES, VER‐
       SION, VERSION_FROM, clean, depend, realclean from the ExtUtils::Make‐
       Maker man page: these are used in almost any Makefile.PL.

       Additionally read the section on Overriding MakeMaker Methods and the
       descriptions of the distcheck, disttest and dist targets: They will
       definitely be useful for you.

       Of special importance for DBI drivers is the postamble method from the
       ExtUtils::MM_Unix man page.

       For Emacs users, I recommend the libscan method, which removes Emacs
       backup files (file names which end with a tilde '~') from lists of
       files.

       Now an example, I use the word "Driver" wherever you should insert your
       driver's name:

	 # -*- perl -*-

	 use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;

	 WriteMakefile(
	     dbd_edit_mm_attribs( {
		 'NAME'		=> 'DBD::Driver',
		 'VERSION_FROM' => 'Driver.pm',
		 'INC'		=> '',
		 'dist'		=> { 'SUFFIX'	=> '.gz',
				     'COMPRESS' => 'gzip -9f' },
		 'realclean'	=> { FILES => '*.xsi' },
		 'PREREQ_PM'	=> '1.03',
		 'CONFIGURE'	=> sub {
		     eval {require DBI::DBD;};
		     if ($@) {
			 warn $@;
			 exit 0;
		     }
		     my $dbi_arch_dir = dbd_dbi_arch_dir();
		     if (exists($opts{INC})) {
			 return {INC => "$opts{INC} -I$dbi_arch_dir"};
		     } else {
			 return {INC => "-I$dbi_arch_dir"};
		     }
		 }
	     },
	     { create_pp_tests => 1})
	 );

	 package MY;
	 sub postamble { return main::dbd_postamble(@_); }
	 sub libscan {
	     my ($self, $path) = @_;
	     ($path =~ m/\~$/) ? undef : $path;
	 }

       Note the calls to "dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" and "dbd_postamble()".

       The second hash reference in the call to "dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" (con‐
       taining "create_pp_tests()") is optional; you should not use it unless
       your driver is a pure Perl driver (that is, it does not use C and XS
       code). Therefore, the call to "dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" is not relevant
       for C/XS drivers and may be omitted; simply use the (single) hash ref‐
       erence containing NAME etc as the only argument to "WriteMakefile()".

       Note that the "dbd_edit_mm_attribs()" code will fail if you do not have
       a t sub-directory containing at least one test case.

       PREREQ_PM tells MakeMaker that DBI (version 1.03 in this case) is
       required for this module. This will issue a warning that DBI 1.03 is
       missing if someone attempts to install your DBD without DBI 1.03. See
       CONFIGURE below for why this does not work reliably in stopping cpan
       testers failing your module if DBI is not installed.

       CONFIGURE is a subroutine called by MakeMaker during "WriteMakefile".
       By putting the "require DBI::DBD" in this section we can attempt to
       load DBI::DBD but if it is missing we exit with success. As we exit
       successfully without creating a Makefile when DBI::DBD is missing cpan
       testers will not report a failure. This may seem at odds with PREREQ_PM
       but PREREQ_PM does not cause "WriteMakefile" to fail (unless you also
       specify PREREQ_FATAL which is strongly discouraged by MakeMaker) so
       "WriteMakefile" would continue to call "dbd_dbi_arch_dir" and fail.

       All drivers must use "dbd_postamble()" or risk running into problems.

       Note the specification of VERSION_FROM; the named file (Driver.pm) will
       be scanned for the first line that looks like an assignment to $VER‐
       SION, and the subsequent text will be used to determine the version
       number.	Note the commentary in ExtUtils::MakeMaker on the subject of
       correctly formatted version numbers.

       If your driver depends upon external software (it usually will), you
       will need to add code to ensure that your environment is workable
       before the call to "WriteMakefile()". If you need to check for the
       existence of an external library and perhaps modify INC to include the
       paths to where the external library header files are located and you
       cannot find the library or header files make sure you output a message
       saying they cannot be found but "exit 0" (success) before calling
       "WriteMakefile" or CPAN testers will fail your module if the external
       library is not found.

       A full-fledged Makefile.PL can be quite large (for example, the files
       for DBD::Oracle and DBD::Informix are both over 1000 lines long, and
       the Informix one uses - and creates - auxiliary modules too).

       See also ExtUtils::MakeMaker and ExtUtils::MM_Unix. Consider using
       CPAN::MakeMaker in place of ExtUtils::MakeMaker.

       README

       The README file should describe what the driver is for, the pre-requi‐
       sites for the build process, the actual build process, how to report
       errors, and who to report them to.

       Users will find ways of breaking the driver build and test process
       which you would never even have dreamed to be possible in your worst
       nightmares. Therefore, you need to write this document defensively,
       precisely and concisely.

       As always, use the README from one of the established drivers as a
       basis for your own; the version in DBD::Informix is worth a look as it
       has been quite successful in heading off problems.

       ·   Note that users will have versions of Perl and DBI that are both
	   older and newer than you expected, but this will seldom cause much
	   trouble.  When it does, it will be because you are using features
	   of DBI that are not supported in the version they are using.

       ·   Note that users will have versions of the database software that
	   are both older and newer than you expected. You will save yourself
	   time in the long run if you can identify the range of versions
	   which have been tested and warn about versions which are not known
	   to be OK.

       ·   Note that many people trying to install your driver will not be
	   experts in the database software.

       ·   Note that many people trying to install your driver will not be
	   experts in C or Perl.

       MANIFEST

       The MANIFEST will be used by the Makefile's dist target to build the
       distribution tar file that is uploaded to CPAN. It should list every
       file that you want to include in your distribution, one per line.

       lib/Bundle/DBD/Driver.pm

       The CPAN module provides an extremely powerful bundle mechanism that
       allows you to specify pre-requisites for your driver.

       The primary pre-requisite is Bundle::DBI; you may want or need to add
       some more. With the bundle set up correctly, the user can type:

	       perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::DBD::Driver'

       and Perl will download, compile, test and install all the Perl modules
       needed to build your driver.

       The prerequisite modules are listed in the "CONTENTS" section, with the
       official name of the module followed by a dash and an informal name or
       description.

       ·   Listing Bundle::DBI as the main pre-requisite simplifies life.

       ·   Don't forget to list your driver.

       ·   Note that unless the DBMS is itself a Perl module, you cannot list
	   it as a pre-requisite in this file.

       ·   You should keep the version of the bundle the same as the version
	   of your driver.

       ·   You should add configuration management, copyright, and licencing
	   information at the top.

       A suitable skeleton for this file is shown below.

	 package Bundle::DBD::Driver;

	 $VERSION = '0.01';

	 1;

	 __END__

	 =head1 NAME

	 Bundle::DBD::Driver - A bundle to install all DBD::Driver related modules

	 =head1 SYNOPSIS

	 C<perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::DBD::Driver'>

	 =head1 CONTENTS

	 Bundle::DBI  - Bundle for DBI by TIMB (Tim Bunce)

	 DBD::Driver  - DBD::Driver by YOU (Your Name)

	 =head1 DESCRIPTION

	 This bundle includes all the modules used by the Perl Database
	 Interface (DBI) driver for Driver (DBD::Driver), assuming the
	 use of DBI version 1.13 or later, created by Tim Bunce.

	 If you've not previously used the CPAN module to install any
	 bundles, you will be interrogated during its setup phase.
	 But when you've done it once, it remembers what you told it.
	 You could start by running:

	   C<perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::CPAN'>

	 =head1 SEE ALSO

	 Bundle::DBI

	 =head1 AUTHOR

	 Your Name E<lt>F<you@yourdomain.com>E<gt>

	 =head1 THANKS

	 This bundle was created by ripping off Bundle::libnet created by
	 Graham Barr E<lt>F<gbarr@ti.com>E<gt>, and radically simplified
	 with some information from Jochen Wiedmann E<lt>F<joe@ispsoft.de>E<gt>.
	 The template was then included in the DBI::DBD documentation by
	 Jonathan Leffler E<lt>F<jleffler@informix.com>E<gt>.

	 =cut

       lib/DBD/Driver/Summary.pm

       There is no substitute for taking the summary file from a driver that
       was documented in the Perl book (such as DBD::Oracle or DBD::Informix
       or DBD::ODBC, to name but three), and adapting it to describe the
       facilities available via DBD::Driver when accessing the Driver data‐
       base.

       Pure Perl version of Driver.pm

       The Driver.pm file defines the Perl module DBD::Driver for your driver.
       It will define a package DBD::Driver along with some version informa‐
       tion, some variable definitions, and a function "driver()" which will
       have a more or less standard structure.

       It will also define three sub-packages of DBD::Driver:

       DBD::Driver::dr
	   with methods "connect()", "data_sources()" and "disconnect_all()";

       DBD::Driver::db
	   with methods such as "prepare()";

       DBD::Driver::st
	   with methods such as "execute()" and "fetch()".

       The Driver.pm file will also contain the documentation specific to
       DBD::Driver in the format used by perldoc.

       In a pure Perl driver, the Driver.pm file is the core of the implemen‐
       tation. You will need to provide all the key methods needed by DBI.

       Now let's take a closer look at an excerpt of File.pm as an example.
       We ignore things that are common to any module (even non-DBI modules)
       or really specific to the DBD::File package.

       The DBD::Driver package

       The header

	 package DBD::File;

	 use strict;
	 use vars qw($VERSION $drh);

	 $VERSION = "1.23.00"  # Version number of DBD::File

       This is where the version number of your driver is specified, and is
       where Makefile.PL looks for this information. Please ensure that any
       other modules added with your driver are also version stamped so that
       CPAN does not get confused.

       It is recommended that you use a two-part (1.23) or three-part
       (1.23.45) version number. Also consider the CPAN system, which gets
       confused and considers version 1.10 to precede version 1.9, so that
       using a raw CVS, RCS or SCCS version number is probably not appropriate
       (despite being very common).

       For Subversion you could use:

	 $VERSION = sprintf("12.%06d", q$Revision: 12345 $ =~ /(\d+)/o);

       (use lots of leading zeros on the second portion so if you move the
       code to a shared repository like svn.perl.org the much larger revision
       numbers won't cause a problem, at least not for a few years).  For RCS
       or CVS you can use:

	 $VERSION = sprintf "%d.%02d", '$Revision: 11.21 $ ' =~ /(\d+)\.(\d+)/;

       which pads out the fractional part with leading zeros so all is well
       (so long as you don't go past x.99)

	 $drh = undef;	       # holds driver handle once initialized

       This is where the driver handle will be stored, once created.  Note
       that you may assume there is only one handle for your driver.

       The driver constructor

       The "driver()" method is the driver handle constructor. Note that the
       "driver()" method is in the DBD::Driver package, not in one of the sub-
       packages DBD::Driver::dr, DBD::Driver::db, or DBD::Driver::db.

	 sub driver
	 {
	     return $drh if $drh;      # already created - return same one
	     my ($class, $attr) = @_;

	     $class .= "::dr";

	     DBD::Driver::db->install_method('drv_example_dbh_method');
	     DBD::Driver::st->install_method('drv_example_sth_method');

	     # not a 'my' since we use it above to prevent multiple drivers
	     $drh = DBI::_new_drh($class, {
		     'Name'	   => 'File',
		     'Version'	   => $VERSION,
		     'Attribution' => 'DBD::File by Jochen Wiedmann',
		 })
		 or return undef;

	     return $drh;
	 }

       This is a reasonable example of how DBI implements its handles. There
       are three kinds: driver handles (typically stored in $drh; from now on
       called drh or $drh), database handles (from now on called dbh or $dbh)
       and statement handles (from now on called sth or $sth).

       The prototype of "DBI::_new_drh()" is

	 $drh = DBI::_new_drh($class, $public_attrs, $private_attrs);

       with the following arguments:

       $class
	   is typically the class for your driver, (for example,
	   "DBD::File::dr"), passed as the first argument to the "driver()"
	   method.

       $public_attrs
	   is a hash ref to attributes like Name, Version, and Attribution.
	   These are processed and used by DBI. You had better not make any
	   assumptions about them nor should you add private attributes here.

       $private_attrs
	   This is another (optional) hash ref with your private attributes.
	   DBI will store them and otherwise leave them alone.

       The "DBI::_new_drh()" method and the "driver()" method both return
       "undef" for failure (in which case you must look at $DBI::err and
       $DBI::errstr for the failure information, because you have no driver
       handle to use).

       Using install_method() to expose driver-private methods

	   DBD::Foo::db->install_method($method_name, \%attr);

       Installs the driver-private method named by $method_name into the DBI
       method dispatcher so it can be called directly, avoiding the need to
       use the func() method.

       It is called as a static method on the driver class to which the method
       belongs. The method name must begin with the corresponding registered
       driver-private prefix. For example, for DBD::Oracle $method_name must
       being with '"ora_"', and for DBD::AnyData it must begin with '"ad_"'.

       The "\%attr" attributes can be used to provide fine control over how
       the DBI dispatcher handles the dispatching of the method. However it's
       undocumented at the moment. See the IMA_* #define's in DBI.xs and the
       O=>0x000x values in the initialization of %DBI::DBI_methods in DBI.pm.
       (Volunteers to polish up and document the interface are very welcome to
       get in touch via dbi-dev@perl.org).

       Methods installed using install_method default to the standard error
       handling behaviour for DBI methods: clearing err and errstr before
       calling the method, and checking for errors to trigger RaiseError etc.
       on return. This differs from the default behaviour of func().

       Note for driver authors: The DBD::Foo::xx->install_method call won't
       work until the class-hierarchy has been setup. Normally the DBI looks
       after that just after the driver is loaded. This means install_method()
       can't be called at the time the driver is loaded unless the class-hier‐
       archy is set up first. The way to do that is to call the setup_driver()
       method:

	   DBI->setup_driver('DBD::Foo');

       before using install_method().

       The CLONE special subroutine

       Also needed here, in the DBD::Driver package, is a "CLONE()" method
       that will be called by perl when an interpreter is cloned. All your
       "CLONE()" method needs to do, currently, is clear the cached $drh so
       the new interpreter won't start using the cached $drh from the old
       interpreter:

	 sub CLONE {
	   undef $drh;
	 }

       See <http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl/pod/perlmod.pod#Making_your_mod‐
       ule_threadsafe> for details.

       The DBD::Driver::dr package

       The next lines of code look as follows:

	 package DBD::Driver::dr; # ====== DRIVER ======

	 $DBD::Driver::dr::imp_data_size = 0;

       Note that no @ISA is needed here, or for the other DBD::Driver::*
       classes, because the DBI takes care of that for you when the driver is
       loaded.

	*FIX ME* Explain what the imp_data_size is, so that implementors aren't
	practicing cargo-cult programming.

       The database handle constructor

       The database handle constructor is the driver's (hence the changed
       namespace) "connect()" method:

	 sub connect
	 {
	     my ($drh, $dr_dsn, $user, $auth, $attr) = @_;

	     # Some database specific verifications, default settings
	     # and the like can go here. This should only include
	     # syntax checks or similar stuff where it's legal to
	     # 'die' in case of errors.
	     # For example, many database packages requires specific
	     # environment variables to be set; this could be where you
	     # validate that they are set, or default them if they are not set.

	     my $driver_prefix = "drv_"; # the assigned prefix for this driver

	     # Process attributes from the DSN; we assume ODBC syntax
	     # here, that is, the DSN looks like var1=val1;...;varN=valN
	     foreach my $var ( split /;/, $dr_dsn ) {
		 my ($attr_name, $attr_value) = split '=', $var, 2;
		 return $drh->set_err($DBI::stderr, "Can't parse DSN part '$var'")
		     unless defined $attr_value;

		 # add driver prefix to attribute name if it doesn't have it already
		 $attr_name = $driver_prefix.$attr_name
		     unless $attr_name =~ /^$driver_prefix/o;

		 # Store attribute into %$attr, replacing any existing value.
		 # The DBI will STORE() these into $dbh after we've connected
		 $attr->{$attr_name} = $attr_value;
	     }

	     # Get the attributes we'll use to connect.
	     # We use delete here because these no need to STORE them
	     my $db = delete $attr->{drv_database} ⎪⎪ delete $attr->{drv_db}
		 or return $drh->set_err($DBI::stderr, "No database name given in DSN '$dr_dsn'");
	     my $host = delete $attr->{drv_host} ⎪⎪ 'localhost';
	     my $port = delete $attr->{drv_port} ⎪⎪ 123456;

	     # Assume you can attach to your database via drv_connect:
	     my $connection = drv_connect($db, $host, $port, $user, $auth)
		 or return $drh->set_err($DBI::stderr, "Can't connect to $dr_dsn: ...");

	     # create a 'blank' dbh (call superclass constructor)
	     my ($outer, $dbh) = DBI::_new_dbh($drh, { Name => $dr_dsn });

	     $dbh->STORE('Active', 1 );
	     $dbh->{drv_connection} = $connection;

	     return $outer;
	 }

       This is mostly the same as in the driver handle constructor above.  The
       arguments are described in DBI.

       The constructor "DBI::_new_dbh()" is called, returning a database han‐
       dle.  The constructor's prototype is:

	 ($outer, $inner) = DBI::_new_dbh($drh, $public_attr, $private_attr);

       with similar arguments to those in the driver handle constructor,
       except that the $class is replaced by $drh. The Name attribute is a
       standard DBI attribute (see "Database Handle Attributes" in DBI).

       In scalar context, only the outer handle is returned.

       Note the use of the "STORE()" method for setting the dbh attributes.
       That's because within the driver code, the handle object you have is
       the 'inner' handle of a tied hash, not the outer handle that the users
       of your driver have.

       Because you have the inner handle, tie magic doesn't get invoked when
       you get or set values in the hash. This is often very handy for speed
       when you want to get or set simple non-special driver-specific
       attributes.

       However, some attribute values, such as those handled by the DBI like
       PrintError, don't actually exist in the hash and must be read via
       "$h->FETCH($attrib)" and set via "$h->STORE($attrib, $value)".  If in
       any doubt, use these methods.

       The data_sources() method

       The "data_sources()" method must populate and return a list of valid
       data sources, prefixed with the "dbi:Driver" incantation that allows
       them to be used in the first argument of the "DBI->connect()" method.
       An example of this might be scanning the $HOME/.odbcini file on Unix
       for ODBC data sources (DSNs).

       As a trivial example, consider a fixed list of data sources:

	 sub data_sources
	 {
	     my($drh, $attr) = @_;
	     my(@list) = ();
	     # You need more sophisticated code than this to set @list...
	     push @list, "dbi:Driver:abc";
	     push @list, "dbi:Driver:def";
	     push @list, "dbi:Driver:ghi";
	     # End of code to set @list
	     return @list;
	 }

       The disconnect_all() method

       If you need to release any resources when the driver is unloaded, you
       can provide a disconnect_all method.

       Other driver handle methods

       If you need any other driver handle methods, they can follow here.

       Error handling

       It is quite likely that something fails in the connect method.  With
       DBD::File for example, you might catch an error when setting the cur‐
       rent directory to something not existent by using the (driver-specific)
       f_dir attribute.

       To report an error, you use the "set_err()" method:

	 $h->set_err($err, $errmsg, $state);

       This will ensure that the error is recorded correctly and that RaiseEr‐
       ror and PrintError etc are handled correctly.

       Typically you'll always use the method instance, aka your method's
       first argument.

       As "set_err()" always returns "undef" your error handling code can usu‐
       ally be simplified to something like this:

	 return $h->set_err($err, $errmsg, $state) if ...;

       The DBD::Driver::db package

	 package DBD::Driver::db; # ====== DATABASE ======

	 $DBD::Driver::db::imp_data_size = 0;

       The statement handle constructor

       There's nothing much new in the statement handle constructor, which is
       the "prepare()" method:

	 sub prepare
	 {
	     my ($dbh, $statement, @attribs) = @_;

	     # create a 'blank' sth
	     my ($outer, $sth) = DBI::_new_sth($dbh, { Statement => $statement });

	     $sth->STORE('NUM_OF_PARAMS', ($statement =~ tr/?//));

	     $sth->{drv_params} = [];

	     return $outer;
	 }

       This is still the same -- check the arguments and call the super class
       constructor "DBI::_new_sth()". Again, in scalar context, only the outer
       handle is returned. The Statement attribute should be cached as shown.

       Note the prefix drv_ in the attribute names: it is required that all
       your private attributes use a lowercase prefix unique to your driver.
       As mentioned earlier in this document, the DBI contains a registry of
       known driver prefixes and may one day warn about unknown attributes
       that don't have a registered prefix.

       Note that we parse the statement here in order to set the attribute
       NUM_OF_PARAMS. The technique illustrated is not very reliable; it can
       be confused by question marks appearing in quoted strings, delimited
       identifiers or in SQL comments that are part of the SQL statement. We
       could set NUM_OF_PARAMS in the "execute()" method instead because the
       DBI specification explicitly allows a driver to defer this, but then
       the user could not call "bind_param()".

       Transaction handling

       Pure Perl drivers will rarely support transactions. Thus your "com‐
       mit()" and "rollback()" methods will typically be quite simple:

	 sub commit
	 {
	     my ($dbh) = @_;
	     if ($dbh->FETCH('Warn')) {
		 warn("Commit ineffective while AutoCommit is on");
	     }
	     0;
	 }

	 sub rollback {
	     my ($dbh) = @_;
	     if ($dbh->FETCH('Warn')) {
		 warn("Rollback ineffective while AutoCommit is on");
	     }
	     0;
	 }

       Or even simpler, just use the default methods provided by the DBI that
       do nothing except return "undef".

       The DBI's default "begin_work()" method can be used by inheritance.

       The STORE() and FETCH() methods

       These methods (that we have already used, see above) are called for
       you, whenever the user does a:

	 $dbh->{$attr} = $val;

       or, respectively,

	 $val = $dbh->{$attr};

       See perltie for details on tied hash refs to understand why these meth‐
       ods are required.

       The DBI will handle most attributes for you, in particular attributes
       like RaiseError or PrintError. All you have to do is handle your
       driver's private attributes and any attributes, like AutoCommit and
       ChopBlanks, that the DBI can't handle for you.

       A good example might look like this:

	 sub STORE
	 {
	     my ($dbh, $attr, $val) = @_;
	     if ($attr eq 'AutoCommit') {
		 # AutoCommit is currently the only standard attribute we have
		 # to consider.
		 if (!$val) { die "Can't disable AutoCommit"; }
		 return 1;
	     }
	     if ($attr =~ m/^drv_/) {
		 # Handle only our private attributes here
		 # Note that we could trigger arbitrary actions.
		 # Ideally we should warn about unknown attributes.
		 $dbh->{$attr} = $val; # Yes, we are allowed to do this,
		 return 1;	       # but only for our private attributes
	     }
	     # Else pass up to DBI to handle for us
	     $dbh->SUPER::STORE($attr, $val);
	 }

	 sub FETCH
	 {
	     my ($dbh, $attr) = @_;
	     if ($attr eq 'AutoCommit') { return 1; }
	     if ($attr =~ m/^drv_/) {
		 # Handle only our private attributes here
		 # Note that we could trigger arbitrary actions.
		 return $dbh->{$attr}; # Yes, we are allowed to do this,
				       # but only for our private attributes
	     }
	     # Else pass up to DBI to handle
	     $dbh->SUPER::FETCH($attr);
	 }

       The DBI will actually store and fetch driver-specific attributes (with
       all lowercase names) without warning or error, so there's actually no
       need to implement driver-specific any code in your "FETCH()" and
       "STORE()" methods unless you need extra logic/checks, beyond getting or
       setting the value.

       Unless your driver documentation indicates otherwise, the return value
       of the "STORE()" method is unspecified and the caller shouldn't use
       that value.

       Other database handle methods

       As with the driver package, other database handle methods may follow
       here.  In particular you should consider a (possibly empty) "discon‐
       nect()" method and possibly a "quote()" method if DBI's default isn't
       correct for you. You may also need the "type_info_all()" and
       "get_info()" methods, as described elsewhere in this document.

       Where reasonable use "$h->SUPER::foo()" to call the DBI's method in
       some or all cases and just wrap your custom behavior around that.

       If you want to use private trace flags you'll probably want to be able
       to set them by name. To do that you'll need to define a
       "parse_trace_flag()" method (note that's "parse_trace_flag", singular,
       not "parse_trace_flags", plural).

	 sub parse_trace_flag {
	     my ($h, $name) = @_;
	     return 0x01000000 if $name eq 'foo';
	     return 0x02000000 if $name eq 'bar';
	     return 0x04000000 if $name eq 'baz';
	     return 0x08000000 if $name eq 'boo';
	     return 0x10000000 if $name eq 'bop';
	     return $h->SUPER::parse_trace_flag($name);
	 }

       All private flag names must be lowercase, and all private flags must be
       in the top 8 of the 32 bits.

       The DBD::Driver::st package

       This package follows the same pattern the others do:

	 package DBD::Driver::st;

	 $DBD::Driver::st::imp_data_size = 0;

       The execute() and bind_param() methods

       This is perhaps the most difficult method because we have to consider
       parameter bindings here. In addition to that, there are a number of
       statement attributes which must be set for inherited DBI methods to
       function correctly (see "Statement attributes" below).

       We present a simplified implementation by using the drv_params
       attribute from above:

	 sub bind_param
	 {
	     my ($sth, $pNum, $val, $attr) = @_;
	     my $type = (ref $attr) ? $attr->{TYPE} : $attr;
	     if ($type) {
		 my $dbh = $sth->{Database};
		 $val = $dbh->quote($sth, $type);
	     }
	     my $params = $sth->{drv_params};
	     $params->[$pNum-1] = $val;
	     1;
	 }

	 sub execute
	 {
	     my ($sth, @bind_values) = @_;

	     # start of by finishing any previous execution if still active
	     $sth->finish if $sth->FETCH('Active');

	     my $params = (@bind_values) ?
		 \@bind_values : $sth->{drv_params};
	     my $numParam = $sth->FETCH('NUM_OF_PARAMS');
	     return $sth->set_err($DBI::stderr, "Wrong number of parameters")
		 if @$params != $numParam;
	     my $statement = $sth->{'Statement'};
	     for (my $i = 0;  $i < $numParam;  $i++) {
		 $statement =~ s/?/$params->[$i]/; # XXX doesn't deal with quoting etc!
	     }
	     # Do anything ... we assume that an array ref of rows is
	     # created and store it:
	     $sth->{'drv_data'} = $data;
	     $sth->{'drv_rows'} = @$data; # number of rows
	     $sth->STORE('NUM_OF_FIELDS') = $numFields;
	     $sth->{Active} = 1;
	     @$data ⎪⎪ '0E0';
	 }

       There are a number of things you should note here.

       We initialize the NUM_OF_FIELDS and Active attributes here, because
       they are essential for "bind_columns()" to work.

       We use attribute "$sth->{Statement}" which we created within "pre‐
       pare()". The attribute "$sth->{Database}", which is nothing else than
       the dbh, was automatically created by DBI.

       Finally, note that (as specified in the DBI specification) we return
       the string '0E0' instead of the number 0, so that the result tests true
       but equal to zero.

	 $sth->execute() or die $sth->errstr;

       The execute_array(), execute_for_fetch() and bind_param_array() methods

       In general, DBD's only need to implement "execute_for_fetch()" and
       "bind_param_array". DBI's default "execute_array()" will invoke the
       DBD's "execute_for_fetch()" as needed.

       The following sequence describes the interaction between DBI "exe‐
       cute_array" and a DBD's "execute_for_fetch":

       1   App calls "$sth->execute_array(\%attrs, @array_of_arrays)"

       2   If @array_of_arrays was specified, DBI processes @array_of_arrays
	   by calling DBD's "bind_param_array()". Alternately, App may have
	   directly called "bind_param_array()"

       3   DBD validates and binds each array

       4   DBI retrieves the validated param arrays from DBD's ParamArray
	   attribute

       5   DBI calls DBD's "execute_for_fetch($fetch_tuple_sub, \@tuple_sta‐
	   tus)", where &$fetch_tuple_sub is a closure to iterate over the
	   returned ParamArray values, and "\@tuple_status" is an array to
	   receive the disposition status of each tuple.

       6   DBD iteratively calls &$fetch_tuple_sub to retrieve parameter
	   tuples to be added to its bulk database operation/request.

       7   when DBD reaches the limit of tuples it can handle in a single
	   database operation/request, or the &$fetch_tuple_sub indicates no
	   more tuples by returning undef, the DBD executes the bulk opera‐
	   tion, and reports the disposition of each tuple in \@tuple_status.

       8   DBD repeats steps 6 and 7 until all tuples are processed.

       E.g., here's the essence of DBD::Oracle's execute_for_fetch:

	      while (1) {
		  my @tuple_batch;
		  for (my $i = 0; $i < $batch_size; $i++) {
		       push @tuple_batch, [ @{$fetch_tuple_sub->() ⎪⎪ last} ];
		  }
		  last unless @tuple_batch;
		  my $res = ora_execute_array($sth, \@tuple_batch,
		     scalar(@tuple_batch), $tuple_batch_status);
		  push @$tuple_status, @$tuple_batch_status;
	      }

       Note that DBI's default execute_array()/execute_for_fetch() implementa‐
       tion requires the use of positional (i.e., '?') placeholders. Drivers
       which require named placeholders must either emulate positional place‐
       holders (e.g., see DBD::Oracle), or must implement their own exe‐
       cute_array()/execute_for_fetch() methods to properly sequence bound
       parameter arrays.

       Fetching data

       Only one method needs to be written for fetching data,
       "fetchrow_arrayref()".  The other methods, "fetchrow_array()",
       "fetchall_arrayref()", etc, as well as the database handle's "select*"
       methods are part of DBI, and call "fetchrow_arrayref()" as necessary.

	 sub fetchrow_arrayref
	 {
	     my ($sth) = @_;
	     my $data = $sth->{drv_data};
	     my $row = shift @$data;
	     if (!$row) {
		 $sth->STORE(Active => 0); # mark as no longer active
		 return undef;
	     }
	     if ($sth->FETCH('ChopBlanks')) {
		 map { $_ =~ s/\s+$//; } @$row;
	     }
	     return $sth->_set_fbav($row);
	 }
	 *fetch = \&fetchrow_arrayref; # required alias for fetchrow_arrayref

       Note the use of the method "_set_fbav()" -- this is required so that
       "bind_col()" and "bind_columns()" work.

       If an error occurs which leaves the $sth in a state where remaining
       rows can't be fetched then Active should be turned off before the
       method returns.

       The "rows()" method for this driver can be implemented like this:

	 sub rows { shift->{drv_rows} }

       because it knows in advance how many rows it has fetched.  Alterna‐
       tively you could delete that method and so fallback to the DBI's own
       method which does the right thing based on the number of calls to
       "_set_fbav()".

       The more_results method

       If your driver doesn't support multiple result sets, then don't even
       implement this method.

       Otherwise, this method needs to get the statement handle ready to fetch
       results from the next result set, if there is one. Typically you'd
       start with:

	   $sth->finish;

       then you should delete all the attributes from the attribute cache that
       may no longer be relevant for the new result set:

	   delete $sth->{$_}
	       for qw(NAME TYPE PRECISION SCALE ...);

       for drivers written in C use:

	   hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "NAME", 4, G_DISCARD);
	   hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "NULLABLE", 8, G_DISCARD);
	   hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "NUM_OF_FIELDS", 13, G_DISCARD);
	   hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "PRECISION", 9, G_DISCARD);
	   hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "SCALE", 5, G_DISCARD);
	   hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(sth), "TYPE", 4, G_DISCARD);

       Don't forget to also delete, or update, any driver-private attributes
       that may not be correct for the next resultset.

       The NUM_OF_FIELDS attribute is a special case. It should be set using
       STORE:

	   $sth->STORE(NUM_OF_FIELDS => 0); /* for DBI <= 1.53 */
	   $sth->STORE(NUM_OF_FIELDS => $new_value);

       for drivers written in C use this incantation:

	   /* Adjust NUM_OF_FIELDS - which also adjusts the row buffer size */
	   DBIc_NUM_FIELDS(imp_sth) = 0; /* for DBI <= 1.53 */
	   DBIc_STATE(imp_xxh)->set_attr_k(sth, sv_2mortal(newSVpvn("NUM_OF_FIELDS",13)), 0,
	       sv_2mortal(newSViv(mysql_num_fields(imp_sth->result)))
	   );

       For DBI versions prior to 1.54 you'll also need to explicitly adjust
       the number of elements in the row buffer array
       ("DBIc_FIELDS_AV(imp_sth)") to match the new result set. Fill any new
       values with newSV(0) not &sv_undef.  Alternatively you could free
       DBIc_FIELDS_AV(imp_sth) and set it to null, but that would mean
       bind_columns() wouldn't work across result sets.

       Statement attributes

       The main difference between dbh and sth attributes is, that you should
       implement a lot of attributes here that are required by the DBI, such
       as NAME, NULLABLE, TYPE, etc. See "Statement Handle Attributes" in DBI
       for a complete list.

       Pay attention to attributes which are marked as read only, such as
       NUM_OF_PARAMS. These attributes can only be set the first time a state‐
       ment is executed. If a statement is prepared, then executed multiple
       times, warnings may be generated.

       You can protect against these warnings, and prevent the recalculation
       of attributes which might be expensive to calculate (such as the NAME
       and NAME_* attributes):

	   my $storedNumParams = $sth->FETCH('NUM_OF_PARAMS');
	   if (!defined $storedNumParams or $storedNumFields < 0) {
	       $sth->STORE('NUM_OF_PARAMS') = $numParams;

	       # Set other useful attributes that only need to be set once
	       # for a statement, like $sth->{NAME} and $sth->{TYPE}
	   }

       One particularly important attribute to set correctly (mentioned in
       "ATTRIBUTES COMMON TO ALL HANDLES" in DBI is Active. Many DBI methods,
       including "bind_columns()", depend on this attribute.

       Besides that the "STORE()" and "FETCH()" methods are mainly the same as
       above for dbh's.

       Other statement methods

       A trivial "finish()" method to discard stored data, reset any
       attributes (such as Active) and do "$sth->SUPER::finish()".

       If you've defined a "parse_trace_flag()" method in ::db you'll also
       want it in ::st, so just alias it in:

	 *parse_trace_flag = \&DBD::foo:db::parse_trace_flag;

       And perhaps some other methods that are not part of the DBI specifica‐
       tion, in particular to make metadata available.	Remember that they
       must have names that begin with your drivers registered prefix so they
       can be installed using "install_method()".

       If "DESTROY()" is called on a statement handle that's still active
       ("$sth->{Active}" is true) then it should effectively call "finish()".

	   sub DESTROY {
	       my $sth = shift;
	       $sth->finish if $sth->FETCH('Active');
	   }

       Tests

       The test process should conform as closely as possibly to the Perl
       standard test harness.

       In particular, most (all) of the tests should be run in the t
       sub-directory, and should simply produce an "ok" when run under "make
       test".  For details on how this is done, see the Camel book and the
       section in Chapter 7, "The Standard Perl Library" on Test::Harness.

       The tests may need to adapt to the type of database which is being used
       for testing, and to the privileges of the user testing the driver. For
       example, the DBD::Informix test code has to adapt in a number of places
       to the type of database to which it is connected as different Informix
       databases have different capabilities: some of the tests are for data‐
       bases without transaction logs; others are for databases with a trans‐
       action log; some versions of the server have support for blobs, or
       stored procedures, or user-defined data types, and others do not.

       When a complete file of tests must be skipped, you can provide a reason
       in a pseudo-comment:

	   if ($no_transactions_available)
	   {
	       print "1..0 # Skip: No transactions available\n";
	       exit 0;
	   }

       Consider downloading the DBD::Informix code and look at the code in
       DBD/Informix/TestHarness.pm which is used throughout the DBD::Informix
       tests in the t sub-directory.

CREATING A C/XS DRIVER
       Please also see the section under "CREATING A PURE PERL DRIVER" regard‐
       ing the creation of the Makefile.PL.

       Creating a new C/XS driver from scratch will always be a daunting task.
       You can and should greatly simplify your task by taking a good refer‐
       ence driver implementation and modifying that to match the database
       product for which you are writing a driver.

       The de facto reference driver has been the one for DBD::Oracle written
       by Tim Bunce, who is also the author of the DBI package. The DBD::Ora‐
       cle module is a good example of a driver implemented around a C-level
       API.

       Nowadays it it seems better to base on DBD::ODBC, another driver main‐
       tained by Tim and Jeff Urlwin, because it offers a lot of metadata and
       seems to become the guideline for the future development. (Also as
       DBD::Oracle digs deeper into the Oracle 8 OCI interface it'll get even
       more hairy than it is now.)

       The DBD::Informix driver is one driver implemented using embedded SQL
       instead of a function-based API.	 DBD::Ingres may also be worth a look.

       C/XS version of Driver.pm

       A lot of the code in the Driver.pm file is very similar to the code for
       pure Perl modules - see above.  However, there are also some subtle
       (and not so subtle) differences, including:

       ·       The variables $DBD::Driver::{dr⎪db⎪st}::imp_data_size are not
	       defined here, but in the XS code, because they declare the size
	       of certain C structures.

       ·       Some methods are typically moved to the XS code, in particular
	       "prepare()", "execute()", "disconnect()", "disconnect_all()"
	       and the "STORE()" and "FETCH()" methods.

       ·       Other methods are still part of Driver.pm, but have callbacks
	       to the XS code.

       ·       If the driver-specific parts of the imp_drh_t structure need to
	       be formally initialized (which does not seem to be a common
	       requirement), then you need to add a call to an appropriate XS
	       function in the driver method of "DBD::Driver::driver()", and
	       you define the corresponding function in Driver.xs, and you
	       define the C code in dbdimp.c and the prototype in dbdimp.h.

	       For example, DBD::Informix has such a requirement, and adds the
	       following call after the call to "_new_drh()" in Informix.pm:

		 DBD::Informix::dr::driver_init($drh);

	       and the following code in Informix.xs:

		 # Initialize the DBD::Informix driver data structure
		 void
		 driver_init(drh)
		     SV *drh
		     CODE:
		     ST(0) = dbd_ix_dr_driver_init(drh) ? &sv_yes : &sv_no;

	       and the code in dbdimp.h declares:

		 extern int dbd_ix_dr_driver_init(SV *drh);

	       and the code in dbdimp.ec (equivalent to dbdimp.c) defines:

		 /* Formally initialize the DBD::Informix driver structure */
		 int
		 dbd_ix_dr_driver(SV *drh)
		 {
		     D_imp_drh(drh);
		     imp_drh->n_connections = 0;       /* No active connections */
		     imp_drh->current_connection = 0;  /* No current connection */
		     imp_drh->multipleconnections = (ESQLC_VERSION >= 600) ? True : False;
		     dbd_ix_link_newhead(&imp_drh->head);  /* Empty linked list of connections */
		     return 1;
		 }

	       DBD::Oracle has a similar requirement but gets around it by
	       checking whether the private data part of the driver handle is
	       all zeroed out, rather than add extra functions.

       Now let's take a closer look at an excerpt from Oracle.pm (revised
       heavily to remove idiosyncrasies) as an example, ignoring things that
       were already discussed for pure Perl drivers.

       The connect method

       The connect method is the database handle constructor.  You could write
       either of two versions of this method: either one which takes connec‐
       tion attributes (new code) and one which ignores them (old code only).

       If you ignore the connection attributes, then you omit all mention of
       the $auth variable (which is a reference to a hash of attributes), and
       the XS system manages the differences for you.

	 sub connect
	 {
	     my ($drh, $dbname, $user, $auth, $attr) = @_;

	     # Some database specific verifications, default settings
	     # and the like following here. This should only include
	     # syntax checks or similar stuff where it's legal to
	     # 'die' in case of errors.

	     my $dbh = DBI::_new_dbh($drh, {
		     'Name'   => $dbname,
		 })
		 or return undef;

	     # Call the driver-specific function _login in Driver.xs file which
	     # calls the DBMS-specific function(s) to connect to the database,
	     # and populate internal handle data.
	     DBD::Driver::db::_login($dbh, $dbname, $user, $auth, $attr)
		 or return undef;

	     $dbh;
	 }

       This is mostly the same as in the pure Perl case, the exception being
       the use of the private "_login()" callback, which is the function that
       will really connect to the database. It is implemented in Driver.xst
       (you should not implement it) and calls "dbd_db_login6()" or
       "dbd_db_login6_sv" from dbdimp.c. See below for details.

       If your driver has driver-specific attributes which may be passed in
       the connect method and hence end up in $attr in "dbd_db_login6" then it
       is best to delete any you process so DBI does not send them again via
       STORE after connect. You can do this in C like this:

	 DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE(attr, "my_attribute_name",
			   strlen("my_attribute_name"));

       However, prior to DBI subversion version 11605 (and fixed post 1.607)
       DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE segfaulted so if you cannot guarantee the DBI version
       will be post 1.607 you need to use:

	 hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(attr), "my_attribute_name",
			    strlen("my_attribute_name"), G_DISCARD);

	*FIX ME* Discuss removing attributes in Perl code.

       The disconnect_all method

	*FIX ME* T.B.S

       The data_sources method

       If your "data_sources()" method can be implemented in pure Perl, then
       do so because it is easier than doing it in XS code (see the section
       above for pure Perl drivers).

       If your "data_sources()" method must call onto compiled functions, then
       you will need to define dbd_dr_data_sources in your dbdimp.h file,
       which will trigger Driver.xst (in DBI v1.33 or greater) to generate the
       XS code that calls your actual C function (see the discussion below for
       details) and you do not code anything in Driver.pm to handle it.

       The prepare method

       The prepare method is the statement handle constructor, and most of it
       is not new. Like the "connect()" method, it now has a C callback:

	 package DBD::Driver::db; # ====== DATABASE ======
	 use strict;

	 sub prepare
	 {
	     my ($dbh, $statement, $attribs) = @_;

	     # create a 'blank' sth
	     my $sth = DBI::_new_sth($dbh, {
		 'Statement' => $statement,
		 })
		 or return undef;

	     # Call the driver-specific function _prepare in Driver.xs file
	     # which calls the DBMS-specific function(s) to prepare a statement
	     # and populate internal handle data.
	     DBD::Driver::st::_prepare($sth, $statement, $attribs)
		 or return undef;
	     $sth;
	 }

       The execute method

	*FIX ME* T.B.S

       The fetchrow_arrayref method

	*FIX ME* T.B.S

       Other methods?

	*FIX ME* T.B.S

       Driver.xs

       Driver.xs should look something like this:

	 #include "Driver.h"

	 DBISTATE_DECLARE;

	 INCLUDE: Driver.xsi

	 MODULE = DBD::Driver	 PACKAGE = DBD::Driver::dr

	 /* Non-standard drh XS methods following here, if any.	      */
	 /* If none (the usual case), omit the MODULE line above too. */

	 MODULE = DBD::Driver	 PACKAGE = DBD::Driver::db

	 /* Non-standard dbh XS methods following here, if any.	      */
	 /* Currently this includes things like _list_tables from     */
	 /* DBD::mSQL and DBD::mysql.				      */

	 MODULE = DBD::Driver	 PACKAGE = DBD::Driver::st

	 /* Non-standard sth XS methods following here, if any.	      */
	 /* In particular this includes things like _list_fields from */
	 /* DBD::mSQL and DBD::mysql for accessing metadata.	      */

       Note especially the include of Driver.xsi here: DBI inserts stub func‐
       tions for almost all private methods here which will typically do much
       work for you.

       Wherever you really have to implement something, it will call a private
       function in dbdimp.c, and this is what you have to implement.

       You need to set up an extra routine if your driver needs to export con‐
       stants of its own, analogous to the SQL types available when you say:

	 use DBI qw(:sql_types);

	*FIX ME* T.B.S

       Driver.h

       Driver.h is very simple and the operational contents should look like
       this:

	 #ifndef DRIVER_H_INCLUDED
	 #define DRIVER_H_INCLUDED

	 #define NEED_DBIXS_VERSION 93	  /* 93 for DBI versions 1.00 to 1.51+ */
	 #define PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT	  /* if used require DBI 1.51+ */

	 #include <DBIXS.h>	 /* installed by the DBI module	 */

	 #include "dbdimp.h"

	 #include "dbivport.h"	 /* see below			 */

	 #include <dbd_xsh.h>	 /* installed by the DBI module	 */

	 #endif /* DRIVER_H_INCLUDED */

       The DBIXS.h header defines most of the interesting information that the
       writer of a driver needs.

       The file dbd_xsh.h header provides prototype declarations for the C
       functions that you might decide to implement. Note that you should nor‐
       mally only define one of "dbd_db_login()", "dbd_db_login6()" or
       "dbd_db_login6_sv" unless you are intent on supporting really old ver‐
       sions of DBI (prior to DBI 1.06) as well as modern versions. The only
       standard, DBI-mandated functions that you need write are those speci‐
       fied in the dbd_xsh.h header. You might also add extra driver-specific
       functions in Driver.xs.

       The dbivport.h file should be copied from the latest DBI release into
       your distribution each time you modify your driver. Its job is to allow
       you to enhance your code to work with the latest DBI API while still
       allowing your driver to be compiled and used with older versions of the
       DBI (for example, when the "DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR()" macro was added to DBI
       1.41, an emulation of it was added to dbivport.h). This makes users
       happy and your life easier. Always read the notes in dbivport.h to
       check for any limitations in the emulation that you should be aware of.

       With DBI v1.51 or better I recommend that the driver defines
       PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT before DBIXS.h is included. This can significantly
       improve efficiency when running under a thread enabled perl. (Remember
       that the standard perl in most Linux distributions is built with
       threads enabled.	 So is ActiveState perl for Windows, and perl built
       for Apache mod_perl2.)  If you do this there are some things to keep in
       mind:

       ·   If PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT is defined, then every function that calls
	   the Perl API will need to start out with a "dTHX;" declaration.

       ·   You'll know which functions need this, because the C compiler will
	   complain that the undeclared identifier "my_perl" is used if and
	   only if the perl you are using to develop and test your driver has
	   threads enabled.

       ·   If you don't remember to test with a thread-enabled perl before
	   making a release it's likely that you'll get failure reports from
	   users who are.

       ·   For driver private functions it is possible to gain even more effi‐
	   ciency by replacing "dTHX;" with "pTHX_" prepended to the parameter
	   list and then "aTHX_" prepended to the argument list where the
	   function is called.

       See "How multiple interpreters and concurrency are supported" in
       perlguts for additional information about PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT.

       Implementation header dbdimp.h

       This header file has two jobs:

       First it defines data structures for your private part of the handles.

       Second it defines macros that rename the generic names like
       "dbd_db_login()" to database specific names like "ora_db_login()". This
       avoids name clashes and enables use of different drivers when you work
       with a statically linked perl.

       It also will have the important task of disabling XS methods that you
       don't want to implement.

       Finally, the macros will also be used to select alternate implementa‐
       tions of some functions. For example, the "dbd_db_login()" function is
       not passed the attribute hash.

       Since DBI v1.06, if a "dbd_db_login6()" macro is defined (for a func‐
       tion with 6 arguments), it will be used instead with the attribute hash
       passed as the sixth argument.

       Since DBI post v1.607, if a "dbd_db_login6_sv()" macro is defined (for
       a function like dbd_db_login6 but with scalar pointers for the dbname,
       username and password), it will be used instead. This will allow your
       login6 function to see if there are any Unicode characters in the
       dbname.

       People used to just pick Oracle's dbdimp.c and use the same names,
       structures and types. I strongly recommend against that. At first
       glance this saves time, but your implementation will be less readable.
       It was just hell when I had to separate DBI specific parts, Oracle spe‐
       cific parts, mSQL specific parts and mysql specific parts in
       DBD::mysql's dbdimp.h and dbdimp.c. (DBD::mysql was a port of DBD::mSQL
       which was based on DBD::Oracle.) [Seconded, based on the experience
       taking DBD::Informix apart, even though the version inherited in 1996
       was only based on DBD::Oracle.]

       This part of the driver is your exclusive part. Rewrite it from
       scratch, so it will be clean and short: in other words, a better piece
       of code. (Of course keep an eye on other people's work.)

	 struct imp_drh_st {
	     dbih_drc_t com;	       /* MUST be first element in structure   */
	     /* Insert your driver handle attributes here */
	 };

	 struct imp_dbh_st {
	     dbih_dbc_t com;	       /* MUST be first element in structure   */
	     /* Insert your database handle attributes here */
	 };

	 struct imp_sth_st {
	     dbih_stc_t com;	       /* MUST be first element in structure   */
	     /* Insert your statement handle attributes here */
	 };

	 /*  Rename functions for avoiding name clashes; prototypes are	 */
	 /*  in dbd_xsh.h						 */
	 #define dbd_init	     drv_dr_init
	 #define dbd_db_login6_sv    drv_db_login_sv
	 #define dbd_db_do	     drv_db_do
	 ... many more here ...

       These structures implement your private part of the handles.

       You have to use the name "imp_dbh_{dr⎪db⎪st}" and the first field must
       be of type dbih_drc_t⎪_dbc_t⎪_stc_t and must be called "com".

       You should never access these fields directly, except by using the
       DBIc_xxx() macros below.

       Implementation source dbdimp.c

       Conventionally, dbdimp.c is the main implementation file (but
       DBD::Informix calls the file dbdimp.ec). This section includes a short
       note on each function that is used in the Driver.xsi template and thus
       has to be implemented.

       Of course, you will probably also need to implement other support func‐
       tions, which should usually be file static if they are placed in
       dbdimp.c. If they are placed in other files, you need to list those
       files in Makefile.PL (and MANIFEST) to handle them correctly.

       It is wise to adhere to a namespace convention for your functions to
       avoid conflicts. For example, for a driver with prefix drv_, you might
       call externally visible functions dbd_drv_xxxx. You should also avoid
       non-constant global variables as much as possible to improve the sup‐
       port for threading.

       Since Perl requires support for function prototypes (ANSI or ISO or
       Standard C), you should write your code using function prototypes too.

       It is possible to use either the unmapped names such as "dbd_init()" or
       the mapped names such as "dbd_ix_dr_init()" in the dbdimp.c file.
       DBD::Informix uses the mapped names which makes it easier to identify
       where to look for linkage problems at runtime (which will report errors
       using the mapped names).

       Most other drivers, and in particular DBD::Oracle, use the unmapped
       names in the source code which makes it a little easier to compare code
       between drivers and eases discussions on the dbi-dev mailing list.  The
       majority of the code fragments here will use the unmapped names.

       Ultimately, you should provide implementations for most of the func‐
       tions listed in the dbd_xsh.h header. The exceptions are optional func‐
       tions (such as "dbd_st_rows()") and those functions with alternative
       signatures, such as "dbd_db_login6_sv", "dbd_db_login6()" and
       dbd_db_login(). Then you should only implement one of the alternatives,
       and generally the newer one of the alternatives.

       The dbd_init method

	 #include "Driver.h"

	 DBISTATE_DECLARE;

	 void dbd_init(dbistate_t* dbistate)
	 {
	     DBISTATE_INIT;  /*	 Initialize the DBI macros  */
	 }

       The "dbd_init()" function will be called when your driver is first
       loaded; the bootstrap command in "DBD::Driver::dr::driver()" triggers
       this, and the call is generated in the BOOT section of Driver.xst.
       These statements are needed to allow your driver to use the DBI macros.
       They will include your private header file dbdimp.h in turn.  Note that
       DBISTATE_INIT requires the name of the argument to "dbd_init()" to be
       called "dbistate()".

       The dbd_drv_error method

       You need a function to record errors so DBI can access them properly.
       You can call it whatever you like, but we'll call it "dbd_drv_error()"
       here.

       The argument list depends on your database software; different systems
       provide different ways to get at error information.

	 static void dbd_drv_error(SV *h, int rc, const char *what)
	 {

       Note that h is a generic handle, may it be a driver handle, a database
       or a statement handle.

	     D_imp_xxh(h);

       This macro will declare and initialize a variable imp_xxh with a
       pointer to your private handle pointer. You may cast this to to
       imp_drh_t, imp_dbh_t or imp_sth_t.

       To record the error correctly, equivalent to the "set_err()" method,
       use one of the "DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR(...)" or "DBIh_SET_ERR_SV(...)"
       macros, which were added in DBI 1.41:

	 DBIh_SET_ERR_SV(h, imp_xxh, err, errstr, state, method);
	 DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR(h, imp_xxh, err_c, err_i, errstr, state, method);

       For "DBIh_SET_ERR_SV" the err, errstr, state, and method parameters are
       "SV*" (use &sv_undef instead of NULL).

       For "DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR" the err_c, errstr, state, method parameters are
       "char*".

       The err_i parameter is an "IV" that's used instead of err_c if err_c is
       "Null".

       The method parameter can be ignored.

       The "DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR" macro is usually the simplest to use when you
       just have an integer error code and an error message string:

	 DBIh_SET_ERR_CHAR(h, imp_xxh, Nullch, rc, what, Nullch, Nullch);

       As you can see, any parameters that aren't relevant to you can be
       "Null".

       To make drivers compatible with DBI < 1.41 you should be using dbiv‐
       port.h as described in "Driver.h" above.

       The (obsolete) macros such as "DBIh_EVENT2" should be removed from
       drivers.

       The names "dbis" and "DBIS", which were used in previous versions of
       this document, should be replaced with the "DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_xxh)"
       macro.

       The name "DBILOGFP", which was also used in previous versions of this
       document, should be replaced by "DBIc_LOGPIO(imp_xxh)".

       Your code should not call the C "<stdio.h>" I/O functions; you should
       use "PerlIO_printf()" as shown:

	     if (DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL(imp_xxh) >= 2)
		 PerlIO_printf(DBIc_LOGPIO(imp_xxh), "foobar %s: %s\n",
		     foo, neatsvpv(errstr,0));

       That's the first time we see how tracing works within a DBI driver.
       Make use of this as often as you can, but don't output anything at a
       trace level less than 3. Levels 1 and 2 are reserved for the DBI.

       You can define up to 8 private trace flags using the top 8 bits of
       "DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS(imp)", that is: 0xFF000000. See the
       "parse_trace_flag()" method elsewhere in this document.

       The dbd_dr_data_sources method

       This method is optional; the support for it was added in DBI v1.33.

       As noted in the discussion of Driver.pm, if the data sources can be
       determined by pure Perl code, do it that way. If, as in DBD::Informix,
       the information is obtained by a C function call, then you need to
       define a function that matches the prototype:

	 extern AV *dbd_dr_data_sources(SV *drh, imp_drh_t *imp_drh, SV *attrs);

       An outline implementation for DBD::Informix follows, assuming that the
       "sqgetdbs()" function call shown will return up to 100 databases names,
       with the pointers to each name in the array dbsname and the name
       strings themselves being stores in dbsarea.

	 AV *dbd_dr_data_sources(SV *drh, imp_drh_t *imp_drh, SV *attr)
	 {
	     int ndbs;
	     int i;
	     char *dbsname[100];
	     char  dbsarea[10000];
	     AV *av = Nullav;

	     if (sqgetdbs(&ndbs, dbsname, 100, dbsarea, sizeof(dbsarea)) == 0)
	     {
		 av = NewAV();
		 av_extend(av, (I32)ndbs);
		 sv_2mortal((SV *)av);
		 for (i = 0; i < ndbs; i++)
		   av_store(av, i, newSVpvf("dbi:Informix:%s", dbsname[i]));
	     }
	     return(av);
	 }

       The actual DBD::Informix implementation has a number of extra lines of
       code, logs function entry and exit, reports the error from "sqget‐
       dbs()", and uses "#define"'d constants for the array sizes.

       The dbd_db_login6 method

	 int dbd_db_login6_sv(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, SV* dbname,
			      SV* user, SV* auth, SV *attr);

	 or

	 int dbd_db_login6(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, char* dbname,
			  char* user, char* auth, SV *attr);

       This function will really connect to the database. The argument dbh is
       the database handle. imp_dbh is the pointer to the handles private
       data, as is imp_xxx in "dbd_drv_error()" above. The arguments dbname,
       user, auth and attr correspond to the arguments of the driver handle's
       "connect()" method.

       You will quite often use database specific attributes here, that are
       specified in the DSN. I recommend you parse the DSN (using Perl) within
       the "connect()" method and pass the segments of the DSN via the
       attributes parameter through "_login()" to "dbd_db_login6()".

       Here's how you fetch them; as an example we use hostname attribute,
       which can be up to 12 characters long excluding null terminator:

	 SV** svp;
	 STRLEN len;
	 char* hostname;

	 if ( (svp = DBD_ATTRIB_GET_SVP(attr, "drv_hostname", 12)) && SvTRUE(*svp)) {
	     hostname = SvPV(*svp, len);
	     DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE(attr, "drv_hostname", 12); /* avoid later STORE */
	 } else {
	     hostname = "localhost";
	 }

       If you handle any driver specific attributes in the dbd_db_login6
       method you probably want to delete them from "attr" (as above with
       DBD_ATTRIB_DELETE). If you don't delete your handled attributes DBI
       will call "STORE" for each attribute after the connect/login and this
       is at best redundant for attributes you have already processed.

       Note: Until revision 11605 (post DBI 1.607), there was a problem with
       DBD_ATTRIBUTE_DELETE so unless you require a DBI version after 1.607
       you need to replace each DBD_ATTRIBUTE_DELETE call with:

	 hv_delete((HV*)SvRV(attr), key, key_len, G_DISCARD)

       Note that you can also obtain standard attributes such as AutoCommit
       and ChopBlanks from the attributes parameter, using "DBD_ATTRIB_GET_IV"
       for integer attributes.

       If, for example, your database does not support transactions but Auto‐
       Commit is set off (requesting transaction support), then you can emu‐
       late a 'failure to connect'.

       Now you should really connect to the database. In general, if the con‐
       nection fails, it is best to ensure that all allocated resources are
       released so that the handle does not need to be destroyed separately.
       If you are successful (and possibly even if you fail but you have allo‐
       cated some resources), you should use the following macros:

	 DBIc_IMPSET_on(imp_dbh);

       This indicates that the driver (implementor) has allocated resources in
       the imp_dbh structure and that the implementors private
       "dbd_db_destroy()" function should be called when the handle is
       destroyed.

	 DBIc_ACTIVE_on(imp_dbh);

       This indicates that the handle has an active connection to the server
       and that the "dbd_db_disconnect()" function should be called before the
       handle is destroyed.

       Note that if you do need to fail, you should report errors via the drh
       or imp_drh rather than via dbh or imp_dbh because imp_dbh will be
       destroyed by the failure, so errors recorded in that handle will not be
       visible to DBI, and hence not the user either.

       Note too, that the function is passed dbh and imp_dbh, and there is a
       macro "D_imp_drh_from_dbh" which can recover the imp_drh from the
       imp_dbh. However, there is no DBI macro to provide you with the drh
       given either the imp_dbh or the dbh or the imp_drh (and there's no way
       to recover the dbh given just the imp_dbh).

       This suggests that, despite the above notes about "dbd_drv_error()"
       taking an "SV *", it may be better to have two error routines, one tak‐
       ing imp_dbh and one taking imp_drh instead. With care, you can factor
       most of the formatting code out so that these are small routines call‐
       ing a common error formatter. See the code in DBD::Informix 1.05.00 for
       more information.

       The "dbd_db_login6()" function should return TRUE for success, FALSE
       otherwise.

       Drivers implemented long ago may define the five-argument function
       "dbd_db_login()" instead of "dbd_db_login6()". The missing argument is
       the attributes. There are ways to work around the missing attributes,
       but they are ungainly; it is much better to use the 6-argument form.
       Even later drivers will use "dbd_db_login6_sv()" which provides the
       dbname, username and password as SVs.

       The dbd_db_commit and dbd_db_rollback methods

	 int dbd_db_commit(SV *dbh, imp_dbh_t *imp_dbh);
	 int dbd_db_rollback(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh);

       These are used for commit and rollback. They should return TRUE for
       success, FALSE for error.

       The arguments dbh and imp_dbh are the same as for "dbd_db_login6()"
       above; I will omit describing them in what follows, as they appear
       always.

       These functions should return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise.

       The dbd_db_disconnect method

       This is your private part of the "disconnect()" method. Any dbh with
       the ACTIVE flag on must be disconnected. (Note that you have to set it
       in "dbd_db_connect()" above.)

	 int dbd_db_disconnect(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh);

       The database handle will return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise.  In
       any case it should do a:

	 DBIc_ACTIVE_off(imp_dbh);

       before returning so DBI knows that "dbd_db_disconnect()" was executed.

       Note that there's nothing to stop a dbh being disconnected while it
       still have active children. If your database API reacts badly to trying
       to use an sth in this situation then you'll need to add code like this
       to all sth methods:

	 if (!DBIc_ACTIVE(DBIc_PARENT_COM(imp_sth)))
	   return 0;

       Alternatively, you can add code to your driver to keep explicit track
       of the statement handles that exist for each database handle and
       arrange to destroy those handles before disconnecting from the data‐
       base. There is code to do this in DBD::Informix. Similar comments apply
       to the driver handle keeping track of all the database handles.

       Note that the code which destroys the subordinate handles should only
       release the associated database resources and mark the handles inac‐
       tive; it does not attempt to free the actual handle structures.

       This function should return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise, but it
       is not clear what anything can do about a failure.

       The dbd_db_discon_all method

	 int dbd_discon_all (SV *drh, imp_drh_t *imp_drh);

       This function may be called at shutdown time. It should make best-
       efforts to disconnect all database handles - if possible. Some data‐
       bases don't support that, in which case you can do nothing but return
       'success'.

       This function should return TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise, but it
       is not clear what anything can do about a failure.

       The dbd_db_destroy method

       This is your private part of the database handle destructor. Any dbh
       with the IMPSET flag on must be destroyed, so that you can safely free
       resources. (Note that you have to set it in "dbd_db_connect()" above.)

	 void dbd_db_destroy(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh)
	 {
	     DBIc_IMPSET_off(imp_dbh);
	 }

       The DBI Driver.xst code will have called "dbd_db_disconnect()" for you,
       if the handle is still 'active', before calling "dbd_db_destroy()".

       Before returning the function must switch IMPSET to off, so DBI knows
       that the destructor was called.

       A DBI handle doesn't keep references to its children. But children do
       keep references to their parents. So a database handle won't be
       "DESTROY"'d until all its children have been "DESTROY"'d.

       The dbd_db_STORE_attrib method

       This function handles

	 $dbh->{$key} = $value;

       Its prototype is:

	 int dbd_db_STORE_attrib(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, SV* keysv,
				 SV* valuesv);

       You do not handle all attributes; on the contrary, you should not han‐
       dle DBI attributes here: leave this to DBI. (There are two exceptions,
       AutoCommit and ChopBlanks, which you should care about.)

       The return value is TRUE if you have handled the attribute or FALSE
       otherwise. If you are handling an attribute and something fails, you
       should call "dbd_drv_error()", so DBI can raise exceptions, if desired.
       If "dbd_drv_error()" returns, however, you have a problem: the user
       will never know about the error, because he typically will not check
       "$dbh->errstr()".

       I cannot recommend a general way of going on, if "dbd_drv_error()"
       returns, but there are examples where even the DBI specification
       expects that you "croak()". (See the AutoCommit method in DBI.)

       If you have to store attributes, you should either use your private
       data structure imp_xxx, the handle hash (via "(HV*)SvRV(dbh)"), or use
       the private imp_data.

       The first is best for internal C values like integers or pointers and
       where speed is important within the driver. The handle hash is best for
       values the user may want to get/set via driver-specific attributes.
       The private imp_data is an additional "SV" attached to the handle. You
       could think of it as an unnamed handle attribute. It's not normally
       used.

       The dbd_db_FETCH_attrib method

       This is the counterpart of "dbd_db_STORE_attrib()", needed for:

	 $value = $dbh->{$key};

       Its prototype is:

	 SV* dbd_db_FETCH_attrib(SV* dbh, imp_dbh_t* imp_dbh, SV* keysv);

       Unlike all previous methods this returns an "SV" with the value. Note
       that you should normally execute "sv_2mortal()", if you return a non‐
       constant value. (Constant values are &sv_undef, &sv_no and &sv_yes.)

       Note, that DBI implements a caching algorithm for attribute values.  If
       you think, that an attribute may be fetched, you store it in the dbh
       itself:

	 if (cacheit) /* cache value for later DBI 'quick' fetch? */
	     hv_store((HV*)SvRV(dbh), key, kl, cachesv, 0);

       The dbd_st_prepare method

       This is the private part of the "prepare()" method. Note that you must
       not really execute the statement here. You may, however, preparse and
       validate the statement, or do similar things.

	 int dbd_st_prepare(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, char* statement,
			    SV* attribs);

       A typical, simple, possibility is to do nothing and rely on the perl
       "prepare()" code that set the Statement attribute on the handle. This
       attribute can then be used by "dbd_st_execute()".

       If the driver supports placeholders then the NUM_OF_PARAMS attribute
       must be set correctly by "dbd_st_prepare()":

	 DBIc_NUM_PARAMS(imp_sth) = ...

       If you can, you should also setup attributes like NUM_OF_FIELDS, NAME,
       etc. here, but DBI doesn't require that - they can be deferred until
       execute() is called. However, if you do, document it.

       In any case you should set the IMPSET flag, as you did in "dbd_db_con‐
       nect()" above:

	 DBIc_IMPSET_on(imp_sth);

       The dbd_st_execute method

       This is where a statement will really be executed.

	 int dbd_st_execute(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth);

       "dbd_st_execute" should return -2 for any error, -1 if the number of
       rows affected is unknown else it should be the number of affected
       (updated, inserted) rows.

       Note that you must be aware a statement may be executed repeatedly.
       Also, you should not expect that "finish()" will be called between two
       executions, so you might need code, like the following, near the start
       of the function:

	 if (DBIc_ACTIVE(imp_sth))
	     dbd_st_finish(h, imp_sth);

       If your driver supports the binding of parameters (it should!), but the
       database doesn't, you must do it here. This can be done as follows:

	 SV *svp;
	 char* statement = DBD_ATTRIB_GET_PV(h, "Statement", 9, svp, "");
	 int numParam = DBIc_NUM_PARAMS(imp_sth);
	 int i;

	 for (i = 0; i < numParam; i++)
	 {
	     char* value = dbd_db_get_param(sth, imp_sth, i);
	     /* It is your drivers task to implement dbd_db_get_param,	  */
	     /* it must be setup as a counterpart of dbd_bind_ph.	  */
	     /* Look for '?' and replace it with 'value'.  Difficult	  */
	     /* task, note that you may have question marks inside	  */
	     /* quotes and comments the like ...  :-(			  */
	     /* See DBD::mysql for an example. (Don't look too deep into  */
	     /* the example, you will notice where I was lazy ...)	  */
	 }

       The next thing is to really execute the statement.

       Note that you must set the attributes NUM_OF_FIELDS, NAME, etc when the
       statement is successfully executed if the driver has not already done
       so: they may be used even before a potential "fetchrow()".  In particu‐
       lar you have to tell DBI the number of fields that the statement has,
       because it will be used by DBI internally. Thus the function will typi‐
       cally ends with:

	 if (isSelectStatement) {
	     DBIc_NUM_FIELDS(imp_sth) = numFields;
	     DBIc_ACTIVE_on(imp_sth);
	 }

       It is important that the ACTIVE flag only be set for "SELECT" state‐
       ments (or any other statements that can return many values from the
       database using a cursor-like mechanism). See "dbd_db_connect()" above
       for more explanations.

       There plans for a preparse function to be provided by DBI, but this has
       not reached fruition yet.  Meantime, if you want to know how ugly it
       can get, try looking at the "dbd_ix_preparse()" in DBD::Informix
       dbdimp.ec and the related functions in iustoken.c and sqltoken.c.

       The dbd_st_fetch method

       This function fetches a row of data. The row is stored in in an array,
       of "SV"'s that DBI prepares for you. This has two advantages: it is
       fast (you even reuse the "SV"'s, so they don't have to be created after
       the first "fetchrow()"), and it guarantees that DBI handles
       "bind_cols()" for you.

       What you do is the following:

	 AV* av;
	 int numFields = DBIc_NUM_FIELDS(imp_sth); /* Correct, if NUM_FIELDS
	     is constant for this statement. There are drivers where this is
	     not the case! */
	 int chopBlanks = DBIc_is(imp_sth, DBIcf_ChopBlanks);
	 int i;

	 if (!fetch_new_row_of_data(...)) {
	     ... /* check for error or end-of-data */
	     DBIc_ACTIVE_off(imp_sth); /* turn off Active flag automatically */
	     return Nullav;
	 }
	 /* get the fbav (field buffer array value) for this row       */
	 /* it is very important to only call this after you know      */
	 /* that you have a row of data to return.		       */
	 av = DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_sth)->get_fbav(imp_sth);
	 for (i = 0; i < numFields; i++) {
	     SV* sv = fetch_a_field(..., i);
	     if (chopBlanks && SvOK(sv) && type_is_blank_padded(field_type[i])) {
		 /*  Remove white space from end (only) of sv  */
	     }
	     sv_setsv(AvARRAY(av)[i], sv); /* Note: (re)use! */
	 }
	 return av;

       There's no need to use a "fetch_a_field()" function returning an "SV*".
       It's more common to use your database API functions to fetch the data
       as character strings and use code like this:

	 sv_setpvn(AvARRAY(av)[i], char_ptr, char_count);

       "NULL" values must be returned as "undef". You can use code like this:

	 SvOK_off(AvARRAY(av)[i]);

       The function returns the "AV" prepared by DBI for success or "Nullav"
       otherwise.

	*FIX ME* Discuss what happens when there's no more data to fetch.
	Are errors permitted if another fetch occurs after the first fetch
	that reports no more data. (Permitted, not required.)

       If an error occurs which leaves the $sth in a state where remaining
       rows can't be fetched then Active should be turned off before the
       method returns.

       The dbd_st_finish3 method

       The "$sth->finish()" method can be called if the user wishes to indi‐
       cate that no more rows will be fetched even if the database has more
       rows to offer, and the DBI code can call the function when handles are
       being destroyed. See the DBI specification for more background details.

       In both circumstances, the DBI code ends up calling the "dbd_st_fin‐
       ish3()" method (if you provide a mapping for "dbd_st_finish3()" in
       dbdimp.h), or "dbd_st_finish()" otherwise.  The difference is that
       "dbd_st_finish3()" takes a third argument which is an "int" with the
       value 1 if it is being called from a "destroy()" method and 0 other‐
       wise.

       Note that DBI v1.32 and earlier test on "dbd_db_finish3()" to call
       "dbd_st_finish3()"; if you provide "dbd_st_finish3()", either define
       "dbd_db_finish3()" too, or insist on DBI v1.33 or later.

       All it needs to do is turn off the Active flag for the sth.  It will
       only be called by Driver.xst code, if the driver has set ACTIVE to on
       for the sth.

       Outline example:

	 int dbd_st_finish3(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, int from_destroy) {
	     if (DBIc_ACTIVE(imp_sth))
	     {
		 /* close cursor or equivalent action */
		 DBIc_ACTIVE_off(imp_sth);
	     }
	     return 1;
	 }

       The from_destroy parameter is true if "dbd_st_finish3()" is being
       called from "DESTROY()" - and so the statement is about to be
       destroyed.  For many drivers there is no point in doing anything more
       than turning off the Active flag in this case.

       The function returns TRUE for success, FALSE otherwise, but there isn't
       a lot anyone can do to recover if there is an error.

       The dbd_st_destroy method

       This function is the private part of the statement handle destructor.

	 void dbd_st_destroy(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth) {
	     ... /* any clean-up that's needed */
	     DBIc_IMPSET_off(imp_sth); /* let DBI know we've done it   */
	 }

       The DBI Driver.xst code will call "dbd_st_finish()" for you, if the sth
       has the ACTIVE flag set, before calling "dbd_st_destroy()".

       The dbd_st_STORE_attrib and dbd_st_FETCH_attrib methods

       These functions correspond to "dbd_db_STORE()" and "dbd_db_FETCH()"
       attrib above, except that they are for statement handles.  See above.

	 int dbd_st_STORE_attrib(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, SV* keysv,
				 SV* valuesv);
	 SV* dbd_st_FETCH_attrib(SV* sth, imp_sth_t* imp_sth, SV* keysv);

       The dbd_bind_ph method

       This function is internally used by the "bind_param()" method, the
       "bind_param_inout()" method and by the DBI Driver.xst code if "exe‐
       cute()" is called with any bind parameters.

	 int dbd_bind_ph (SV *sth, imp_sth_t *imp_sth, SV *param,
			  SV *value, IV sql_type, SV *attribs,
			  int is_inout, IV maxlen);

       The param argument holds an "IV" with the parameter number (1, 2, ...).
       The value argument is the parameter value and sql_type is its type.

       If your driver does not support "bind_param_inout()" then you should
       ignore maxlen and croak if is_inout is TRUE.

       If your driver does support "bind_param_inout()" then you should note
       that value is the "SV" after dereferencing the reference passed to
       "bind_param_inout()".

       In drivers of simple databases the function will, for example, store
       the value in a parameter array and use it later in "dbd_st_execute()".
       See the DBD::mysql driver for an example.

       Implementing bind_param_inout support

       To provide support for parameters bound by reference rather than by
       value, the driver must do a number of things.  First, and most impor‐
       tantly, it must note the references and stash them in its own driver
       structure.  Secondly, when a value is bound to a column, the driver
       must discard any previous reference bound to the column.	 On each exe‐
       cute, the driver must evaluate the references and internally bind the
       values resulting from the references.  This is only applicable if the
       user writes:

	 $sth->execute;

       If the user writes:

	 $sth->execute(@values);

       then DBI automatically calls the binding code for each element of @val‐
       ues.  These calls are indistinguishable from explicit user calls to
       "bind_param()".

       C/XS version of Makefile.PL

       The Makefile.PL file for a C/XS driver is similar to the code needed
       for a pure Perl driver, but there are a number of extra bits of infor‐
       mation needed by the build system.

       For example, the attributes list passed to "WriteMakefile()" needs to
       specify the object files that need to be compiled and built into the
       shared object (DLL). This is often, but not necessarily, just dbdimp.o
       (unless that should be dbdimp.obj because you're building on MS Win‐
       dows).

       Note that you can reliably determine the extension of the object files
       from the $Config{obj_ext} values, and there are many other useful
       pieces of configuration information lurking in that hash.  You get
       access to it with:

	   use Config;

       Methods which do not need to be written

       The DBI code implements the majority of the methods which are accessed
       using the notation "DBI->function()", the only exceptions being
       "DBI->connect()" and "DBI->data_sources()" which require support from
       the driver.

       The DBI code implements the following documented driver, database and
       statement functions which do not need to be written by the DBD driver
       writer.

       $dbh->do()
	   The default implementation of this function prepares, executes and
	   destroys the statement.  This can be replaced if there is a better
	   way to implement this, such as "EXECUTE IMMEDIATE" which can some‐
	   times be used if there are no parameters.

       $h->errstr()
       $h->err()
       $h->state()
       $h->trace()
	   The DBD driver does not need to worry about these routines at all.

       $h->{ChopBlanks}
	   This attribute needs to be honored during "fetch()" operations, but
	   does not need to be handled by the attribute handling code.

       $h->{RaiseError}
	   The DBD driver does not need to worry about this attribute at all.

       $h->{PrintError}
	   The DBD driver does not need to worry about this attribute at all.

       $sth->bind_col()
	   Assuming the driver uses the "DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_xxh)->get_fbav()"
	   function (C drivers, see below), or the "$sth->_set_fbav($data)"
	   method (Perl drivers) the driver does not need to do anything about
	   this routine.

       $sth->bind_columns()
	   Regardless of whether the driver uses "DBIc_DBIS‐
	   TATE(imp_xxh)->get_fbav()", the driver does not need to do anything
	   about this routine as it simply iteratively calls
	   "$sth->bind_col()".

       The DBI code implements a default implementation of the following func‐
       tions which do not need to be written by the DBD driver writer unless
       the default implementation is incorrect for the Driver.

       $dbh->quote()
	   This should only be written if the database does not accept the
	   ANSI SQL standard for quoting strings, with the string enclosed in
	   single quotes and any embedded single quotes replaced by two con‐
	   secutive single quotes.

	   For the two argument form of quote, you need to implement the
	   "type_info()" method to provide the information that quote needs.

       $dbh->ping()
	   This should be implemented as a simple efficient way to determine
	   whether the connection to the database is still alive. Typically
	   code like this:

	     sub ping {
		 my $dbh = shift;
		 $sth = $dbh->prepare_cached(q{
		     select * from A_TABLE_NAME where 1=0
		 }) or return 0;
		 $sth->execute or return 0;
		 $sth->finish;
		 return 1;
	     }

	   where A_TABLE_NAME is the name of a table that always exists (such
	   as a database system catalogue).

       $drh->default_user
	   The default implementation of default_user will get the database
	   username and password fields from $ENV{DBI_USER} and
	   $ENV{DBI_PASS}. You can override this method. It is called as fol‐
	   lows:

	     ($user, $pass) = $drh->default_user($user, $pass, $attr)

METADATA METHODS
       The exposition above ignores the DBI MetaData methods.  The metadata
       methods are all associated with a database handle.

       Using DBI::DBD::Metadata

       The DBI::DBD::Metadata module is a good semi-automatic way for the
       developer of a DBD module to write the "get_info()" and "type_info()"
       functions quickly and accurately.

       Generating the get_info method

       Prior to DBI v1.33, this existed as the method "write_getinfo_pm()" in
       the DBI::DBD module. From DBI v1.33, it exists as the method
       "write_getinfo_pm()" in the DBI::DBD::Metadata module. This discussion
       assumes you have DBI v1.33 or later.

       You examine the documentation for "write_getinfo_pm()" using:

	   perldoc DBI::DBD::Metadata

       To use it, you need a Perl DBI driver for your database which imple‐
       ments the "get_info()" method. In practice, this means you need to
       install DBD::ODBC, an ODBC driver manager, and an ODBC driver for your
       database.

       With the pre-requisites in place, you might type:

	   perl -MDBI::DBD::Metadata -we \
	      "write_getinfo_pm (qw{ dbi:ODBC:foo_db username password Driver })"

       The procedure writes to standard output the code that should be added
       to your Driver.pm file and the code that should be written to
       lib/DBD/Driver/GetInfo.pm.

       You should review the output to ensure that it is sensible.

       Generating the type_info method

       Given the idea of the "write_getinfo_pm()" method, it was not hard to
       devise a parallel method, "write_typeinfo_pm()", which does the analo‐
       gous job for the DBI "type_info_all()" metadata method. The
       "write_typeinfo_pm()" method was added to DBI v1.33.

       You examine the documentation for "write_typeinfo_pm()" using:

	   perldoc DBI::DBD::Metadata

       The setup is exactly analogous to the mechanism described in "Generat‐
       ing the get_info method".

       With the pre-requisites in place, you might type:

	   perl -MDBI::DBD::Metadata -we \
	      "write_typeinfo (qw{ dbi:ODBC:foo_db username password Driver })"

       The procedure writes to standard output the code that should be added
       to your Driver.pm file and the code that should be written to
       lib/DBD/Driver/TypeInfo.pm.

       You should review the output to ensure that it is sensible.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::get_info

       If you use the DBI::DBD::Metadata module, then the code you need is
       generated for you.

       If you decide not to use the DBI::DBD::Metadata module, you should
       probably borrow the code from a driver that has done so (eg
       DBD::Informix from version 1.05 onwards) and crib the code from there,
       or look at the code that generates that module and follow that. The
       method in Driver.pm will be very simple; the method in
       lib/DBD/Driver/GetInfo.pm is not very much more complex unless your
       DBMS itself is much more complex.

       Note that some of the DBI utility methods rely on information from the
       "get_info()" method to perform their operations correctly. See, for
       example, the "quote_identifier()" and quote methods, discussed below.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::type_info_all

       If you use the "DBI::DBD::Metadata" module, then the code you need is
       generated for you.

       If you decide not to use the "DBI::DBD::Metadata" module, you should
       probably borrow the code from a driver that has done so (eg
       "DBD::Informix" from version 1.05 onwards) and crib the code from
       there, or look at the code that generates that module and follow that.
       The method in Driver.pm will be very simple; the method in
       lib/DBD/Driver/TypeInfo.pm is not very much more complex unless your
       DBMS itself is much more complex.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::type_info

       The guidelines on writing this method are still not really clear.  No
       sample implementation is available.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::table_info

	*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
	No sample implementation is available.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::column_info

	*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
	No sample implementation is available.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::primary_key_info

	*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
	No sample implementation is available.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::primary_key

	*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
	No sample implementation is available.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::foreign_key_info

	*FIX ME* The guidelines on writing this method have not been written yet.
	No sample implementation is available.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::tables

       This method generates an array of names in a format suitable for being
       embedded in SQL statements in places where a table name is expected.

       If your database hews close enough to the SQL standard or if you have
       implemented an appropriate "table_info()" function and and the appro‐
       priate "quote_identifier()" function, then the DBI default version of
       this method will work for your driver too.

       Otherwise, you have to write a function yourself, such as:

	   sub tables
	   {
	       my($dbh, $cat, $sch, $tab, $typ) = @_;
	       my(@res);
	       my($sth) = $dbh->table_info($cat, $sch, $tab, $typ);
	       my(@arr);
	       while (@arr = $sth->fetchrow_array)
	       {
		   push @res, $dbh->quote_identifier($arr[0], $arr[1], $arr[2]);
	       }
	       return @res;
	   }

       See also the default implementation in DBI.pm.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::quote

       This method takes a value and converts it into a string suitable for
       embedding in an SQL statement as a string literal.

       If your DBMS accepts the SQL standard notation for strings (single
       quotes around the string as a whole with any embedded single quotes
       doubled up), then you do not need to write this method as DBI provides
       a default method that does it for you.

       If your DBMS uses an alternative notation or escape mechanism, then you
       need to provide an equivalent function. For example, suppose your DBMS
       used C notation with double quotes around the string and backslashes
       escaping both double quotes and backslashes themselves. Then you might
       write the function as:

	   sub quote
	   {
	       my($dbh, $str) = @_;
	       $str =~ s/["\\]/\\$&/gmo;
	       return qq{"$str"};
	   }

       Handling newlines and other control characters is left as an exercise
       for the reader.

       This sample method ignores the $data_type indicator which is the
       optional second argument to the method.

       Writing DBD::Driver::db::quote_identifier

       This method is called to ensure that the name of the given table (or
       other database object) can be embedded into an SQL statement without
       danger of misinterpretation. The result string should be usable in the
       text of an SQL statement as the identifier for a table.

       If your DBMS accepts the SQL standard notation for quoted identifiers
       (which uses double quotes around the identifier as a whole, with any
       embedded double quotes doubled up) and accepts "schema"."identifier"
       (and "catalog"."schema"."identifier" when a catalog is specified), then
       you do not need to write this method as DBI provides a default method
       that does it for you.

       In fact, even if your DBMS does not handle exactly that notation but
       you have implemented the "get_info()" method and it gives the correct
       responses, then it will work for you. If your database is fussier, then
       you need to implement your own version of the function.

       For example, DBD::Informix has to deal with an environment variable
       DELIMIDENT. If it is not set, then the DBMS treats names enclosed in
       double quotes as strings rather than names, which is usually a syntax
       error. Additionally, the catalog portion of the name is separated from
       the schema and table by a different delimiter (colon instead of dot),
       and the catalog portion is never enclosed in quotes. (Fortunately,
       valid strings for the catalog will never contain weird characters that
       might need to be escaped, unless you count dots, dashes, slashes and
       at-signs as weird.) Finally, an Informix database can contain objects
       that cannot be accessed because they were created by a user with the
       DELIMIDENT environment variable set, but the current user does not have
       it set. By design choice, the "quote_identifier()" method encloses
       those identifiers in double quotes anyway, which generally triggers a
       syntax error, and the metadata methods which generate lists of tables
       etc omit those identifiers from the result sets.

	   sub quote_identifier
	   {
	       my($dbh, $cat, $sch, $obj) = @_;
	       my($rv) = "";
	       my($qq) = (defined $ENV{DELIMIDENT}) ? '"' : '';
	       $rv .= qq{$cat:} if (defined $cat);
	       if (defined $sch)
	       {
		   if ($sch !~ m/^\w+$/o)
		   {
		       $qq = '"';
		       $sch =~ s/$qq/$qq$qq/gm;
		   }
		   $rv .= qq{$qq$sch$qq.};
	       }
	       if (defined $obj)
	       {
		   if ($obj !~ m/^\w+$/o)
		   {
		       $qq = '"';
		       $obj =~ s/$qq/$qq$qq/gm;
		   }
		   $rv .= qq{$qq$obj$qq};
	       }
	       return $rv;
	   }

       Handling newlines and other control characters is left as an exercise
       for the reader.

       Note that there is an optional fourth parameter to this function which
       is a reference to a hash of attributes; this sample implementation
       ignores that.

       This sample implementation also ignores the single-argument variant of
       the method.

TRACING
       Tracing in DBI is controlled with a combination of a trace level and a
       set of flags which together are known as the trace settings. The trace
       settings are stored in a single integer and divided into levels and
       flags by a set of masks ("DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL_MASK" and
       "DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS_MASK").

       Each handle has it's own trace settings and so does the DBI. When you
       call a method the DBI merges the handles settings into its own for the
       duration of the call: the trace flags of the handle are OR'd into the
       trace flags of the DBI, and if the handle has a higher trace level then
       the DBI trace level is raised to match it. The previous DBI trace set‐
       tings are restored when the called method returns.

       Trace Level

       The trace level is the first 4 bits of the trace settings (masked by
       "DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS_MASK") and represents trace levels of 1 to 15. Do not
       output anything at trace levels less than 3 as they are reserved for
       DBI.

       For advice on what to output at each level see "Trace Levels" in DBI.

       To test for a trace level you can use the "DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL" macro like
       this:

	 if (DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL(imp_xxh) >= 2) {
	     PerlIO_printf(DBIc_LOGPIO(imp_xxh), "foobar");
	 }

       Also note the use of PerlIO_printf which you should always use for
       tracing and never the C "stdio.h" I/O functions.

       Trace Flags

       Trace flags are used to enable tracing of specific activities within
       the DBI and drivers. The DBI defines some trace flags and drivers can
       define others. DBI trace flag names begin with a capital letter and
       driver specific names begin with a lowercase letter. For a list of DBI
       defined trace flags see "Trace Flags" in DBI.

       If you want to use private trace flags you'll probably want to be able
       to set them by name. Drivers are expected to override the
       parse_trace_flag (note the singular) and check if $trace_flag_name is a
       driver specific trace flags and, if not, then call the DBIs default
       parse_trace_flag(). To do that you'll need to define a
       parse_trace_flag() method like this:

	 sub parse_trace_flag {
	     my ($h, $name) = @_;
	     return 0x01000000 if $name eq 'foo';
	     return 0x02000000 if $name eq 'bar';
	     return 0x04000000 if $name eq 'baz';
	     return 0x08000000 if $name eq 'boo';
	     return 0x10000000 if $name eq 'bop';
	     return $h->SUPER::parse_trace_flag($name);
	 }

       All private flag names must be lowercase, and all private flags must be
       in the top 8 of the 32 bits of "DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS(imp)" i.e.,
       0xFF000000.

       If you've defined a parse_trace_flag() method in ::db you'll also want
       it in ::st, so just alias it in:

	 *parse_trace_flag = \&DBD::foo:db::parse_trace_flag;

       You may want to act on the current 'SQL' trace flag that DBI defines to
       output SQL prepared/executed as DBI currently does not do SQL tracing.

       Trace Macros

       Access to the trace level and trace flags is via a set of macros.

	 DBIc_TRACE_SETTINGS(imp) returns the trace settings
	 DBIc_TRACE_LEVEL(imp) returns the trace level
	 DBIc_TRACE_FLAGS(imp) returns the trace flags
	 DBIc_TRACE(imp, flags, flaglevel, level)

	 e.g.,

	 DBIc_TRACE(imp, 0, 0, 4)
	   if level >= 4

	 DBIc_TRACE(imp, DBDtf_FOO, 2, 4)
	   if tracing DBDtf_FOO & level>=2 or level>=4

	 DBIc_TRACE(imp, DBDtf_FOO, 2, 0)
	   as above but never trace just due to level

WRITING AN EMULATION LAYER FOR AN OLD PERL INTERFACE
       Study Oraperl.pm (supplied with DBD::Oracle) and Ingperl.pm (supplied
       with DBD::Ingres) and the corresponding dbdimp.c files for ideas.

       Note that the emulation code sets "$dbh->{CompatMode} = 1;" for each
       connection so that the internals of the driver can implement behaviour
       compatible with the old interface when dealing with those handles.

       Setting emulation perl variables

       For example, ingperl has a $sql_rowcount variable. Rather than try to
       manually update this in Ingperl.pm it can be done faster in C code.  In
       "dbd_init()":

	 sql_rowcount = perl_get_sv("Ingperl::sql_rowcount", GV_ADDMULTI);

       In the relevant places do:

	 if (DBIc_COMPAT(imp_sth))     /* only do this for compatibility mode handles */
	     sv_setiv(sql_rowcount, the_row_count);

OTHER MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
       The imp_xyz_t types

       Any handle has a corresponding C structure filled with private data.
       Some of this data is reserved for use by DBI (except for using the DBIc
       macros below), some is for you. See the description of the dbdimp.h
       file above for examples. Most functions in dbdimp.c are passed both the
       handle "xyz" and a pointer to "imp_xyz". In rare cases, however, you
       may use the following macros:

       D_imp_dbh(dbh)
	   Given a function argument dbh, declare a variable imp_dbh and ini‐
	   tialize it with a pointer to the handles private data. Note: This
	   must be a part of the function header, because it declares a vari‐
	   able.

       D_imp_sth(sth)
	   Likewise for statement handles.

       D_imp_xxx(h)
	   Given any handle, declare a variable imp_xxx and initialize it with
	   a pointer to the handles private data. It is safe, for example, to
	   cast imp_xxx to "imp_dbh_t*", if "DBIc_TYPE(imp_xxx) == DBIt_DB".
	   (You can also call "sv_derived_from(h, "DBI::db")", but that's much
	   slower.)

       D_imp_dbh_from_sth
	   Given a imp_sth, declare a variable imp_dbh and initialize it with
	   a pointer to the parent database handle's implementors structure.

       Using DBIc_IMPSET_on

       The driver code which initializes a handle should use
       "DBIc_IMPSET_on()" as soon as its state is such that the cleanup code
       must be called.	When this happens is determined by your driver code.

       Failure to call this can lead to corruption of data structures.

       For example, DBD::Informix maintains a linked list of database handles
       in the driver, and within each handle, a linked list of statements.
       Once a statement is added to the linked list, it is crucial that it is
       cleaned up (removed from the list). When DBIc_IMPSET_on() was being
       called too late, it was able to cause all sorts of problems.

       Using DBIc_is(), DBIc_has(), DBIc_on() and DBIc_off()

       Once upon a long time ago, the only way of handling the internal DBI
       boolean flags/attributes was through macros such as:

	 DBIc_WARN	 DBIc_WARN_on	     DBIc_WARN_off
	 DBIc_COMPAT	 DBIc_COMPAT_on	     DBIc_COMPAT_off

       Each of these took an imp_xxh pointer as an argument.

       Since then, new attributes have been added such as ChopBlanks, RaiseEr‐
       ror and PrintError, and these do not have the full set of macros. The
       approved method for handling these is now the four macros:

	 DBIc_is(imp, flag)
	 DBIc_has(imp, flag)	   an alias for DBIc_is
	 DBIc_on(imp, flag)
	 DBIc_off(imp, flag)
	 DBIc_set(imp, flag, on)   set if on is true, else clear

       Consequently, the "DBIc_XXXXX" family of macros is now mostly depre‐
       cated and new drivers should avoid using them, even though the older
       drivers will probably continue to do so for quite a while yet. How‐
       ever...

       There is an important exception to that. The ACTIVE and IMPSET flags
       should be set via the "DBIc_ACTIVE_on()" and "DBIc_IMPSET_on()" macros,
       and unset via the "DBIc_ACTIVE_off()" and "DBIc_IMPSET_off()" macros.

       Using the get_fbav() method

       THIS IS CRITICAL for C/XS drivers.

       The "$sth->bind_col()" and "$sth->bind_columns()" documented in the DBI
       specification do not have to be implemented by the driver writer
       because DBI takes care of the details for you.

       However, the key to ensuring that bound columns work is to call the
       function "DBIc_DBISTATE(imp_xxh)->get_fbav()" in the code which fetches
       a row of data.

       This returns an "AV", and each element of the "AV" contains the "SV"
       which should be set to contain the returned data.

       The pure Perl equivalent is the "$sth->_set_fbav($data)" method, as
       described in the part on pure Perl drivers.

       Casting strings to Perl types based on a SQL type

       DBI from 1.611 (and DBIXS_REVISION 13606) defines the
       sql_type_cast_svpv method which may be used to cast a string represen‐
       tation of a value to a more specific Perl type based on a SQL type. You
       should consider using this method when processing bound column data as
       it provides some support for the TYPE bind_col attribute which is
       rarely used in drivers.

	 int sql_type_cast_svpv(pTHX_ SV *sv, int sql_type, U32 flags, void *v)

       "sv" is what you would like cast, "sql_type" is one of the DBI defined
       SQL types (e.g., "SQL_INTEGER") and "flags" is a bitmask as follows:

       DBIstcf_STRICT
	   If set this indicates you want an error state returned if the cast
	   cannot be performed.

       DBIstcf_DISCARD_STRING
	   If set and the pv portion of the "sv" is cast then this will cause
	   sv's pv to be freed up.

       sql_type_cast_svpv returns the following states:

	-2 sql_type is not handled - sv not changed
	-1 sv is undef, sv not changed
	 0 sv could not be cast cleanly and DBIstcf_STRICT was specified
	 1 sv could not be case cleanly and DBIstcf_STRICT was not specified
	 2 sv was cast ok

       The current implementation of sql_type_cast_svpv supports "SQL_INTE‐
       GER", "SQL_DOUBLE" and "SQL_NUMERIC". "SQL_INTEGER" uses sv_2iv and
       hence may set IV, UV or NV depending on the number. "SQL_DOUBLE" uses
       sv_2nv so may set NV and "SQL_NUMERIC" will set IV or UV or NV.

       DBIstcf_STRICT should be implemented as the StrictlyTyped attribute and
       DBIstcf_DISCARD_STRING implemented as the DiscardString attribute to
       the bind_col method and both default to off.

       See DBD::Oracle for an example of how this is used.

SUBCLASSING DBI DRIVERS
       This is definitely an open subject. It can be done, as demonstrated by
       the DBD::File driver, but it is not as simple as one might think.

       (Note that this topic is different from subclassing the DBI. For an
       example of that, see the t/subclass.t file supplied with the DBI.)

       The main problem is that the dbh's and sth's that your "connect()" and
       "prepare()" methods return are not instances of your DBD::Driver::db or
       DBD::Driver::st packages, they are not even derived from it.  Instead
       they are instances of the DBI::db or DBI::st classes or a derived sub‐
       class. Thus, if you write a method "mymethod()" and do a

	 $dbh->mymethod()

       then the autoloader will search for that method in the package DBI::db.
       Of course you can instead to a

	 $dbh->func('mymethod')

       and that will indeed work, even if "mymethod()" is inherited, but not
       without additional work. Setting @ISA is not sufficient.

       Overwriting methods

       The first problem is, that the "connect()" method has no idea of sub‐
       classes. For example, you cannot implement base class and subclass in
       the same file: The "install_driver()" method wants to do a

	 require DBD::Driver;

       In particular, your subclass has to be a separate driver, from the view
       of DBI, and you cannot share driver handles.

       Of course that's not much of a problem. You should even be able to
       inherit the base classes "connect()" method. But you cannot simply
       overwrite the method, unless you do something like this, quoted from
       DBD::CSV:

	 sub connect ($$;$$$) {
	     my ($drh, $dbname, $user, $auth, $attr) = @_;

	     my $this = $drh->DBD::File::dr::connect($dbname, $user, $auth, $attr);
	     if (!exists($this->{csv_tables})) {
		 $this->{csv_tables} = {};
	     }

	     $this;
	 }

       Note that we cannot do a

	 $drh->SUPER::connect($dbname, $user, $auth, $attr);

       as we would usually do in a an OO environment, because $drh is an
       instance of DBI::dr. And note, that the "connect()" method of DBD::File
       is able to handle subclass attributes. See the description of Pure Perl
       drivers above.

       It is essential that you always call superclass method in the above
       manner. However, that should do.

       Attribute handling

       Fortunately the DBI specifications allow a simple, but still performant
       way of handling attributes. The idea is based on the convention that
       any driver uses a prefix driver_ for its private methods. Thus it's
       always clear whether to pass attributes to the super class or not. For
       example, consider this "STORE()" method from the DBD::CSV class:

	 sub STORE {
	     my ($dbh, $attr, $val) = @_;
	     if ($attr !~ /^driver_/) {
		 return $dbh->DBD::File::db::STORE($attr, $val);
	     }
	     if ($attr eq 'driver_foo') {
	     ...
	 }

AUTHORS
       Jonathan Leffler <jleffler@us.ibm.com> (previously <jlef‐
       fler@informix.com>), Jochen Wiedmann <joe@ispsoft.de>, Steffen Goeldner
       <sgoeldner@cpan.org>, and Tim Bunce <dbi-users@perl.org>.

perl v5.8.8			  2012-02-04			   DBI::DBD(3)
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