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