Re: DB vs MDB vs MDB2?

Larry Garfield wrote:

What is the current status of the various database wrappers in PEAR? It's been a long time since I looked into them, at which time DB was the most widely used but MDB was recommended (I think). Which other packages (DataObjects, Auth, etc.) are compatible with MDB or MDB2 instead of just DB? Which is recommended for stability/compatibility/future-proofing?

The situation is indeed somewhat confusing and honestly its also even frustrating. Currently we are still very PHP4 focused in our solutions, though atleast DB and MDB2 also work on PHP5 (with E_STRICT warnings though). As you point out all database using packages work with DB, some work with MDB and most with MDB2 (including DataObject, though the integration really does not leverage all the possibilities of MDB2). To make a long story short have a look here for some more information and you still have questions let me know so I can extend the FAQ: http://oss.backendmedia.com/MDB2/FaQ

I am looking to replace a lame ad hoc system with a proper DB wrapper layer (for validation/SQL insertion protection, mostly), and am trying to consider my options. Right now the production server for the app in question is running PHP 4.0.6, which I know won't run PEAR, but we want to try and convince the admin to upgrade to something modern. If we can, I want to future-proof myself as much as possible. Of course, the catch is that the admin, for no sane reason, only allows about a third of the odbc_* functions. (odbc_result() being the only permitted way to access data from a result object.) With those limitations, would any of the existing DB wrappers work or would they all fail that overly-strict limitation?

Neither MDB or MDB2 currently have an ODBC driver. regards, Lukas