SAP DB Programming Interfaces

	SAP DB
	The FREE Enterprise Open Source Database

You Are Here: SAP DB > Interfaces

SAP DB is open to many programming languages via open interfaces that separate database and application logic for better scalability.
For developing SAP DB, the following programming interfaces can be used.

ODBC

C/C++ Precompiler

C/C++ Precompiler User Manual: SAP DB 7.4

Java

JDBC 2.0/3.0

Perl

Support for DBI

SAP DB supports DBI via DBD::ODBC.
From version 0.31, the module DBD::ODBC uses Perl with the SAP DB ODBC-driver.
(Thanks to Flemming Frandsen and the developers of DBD::ODBC.)

Prerequistes

You have installed the SAP DB ODBC-driver.

Procedure

Working with a driver manager:

Install DBD::ODBC
Install the driver manager
Note:
In Windows NT/98/2000 use the system driver manager. For Unix/Linux you can use the freely available driver managers iODBC or unixODBC.
Select the driver via the data source name (DSN)

Working without a driver manager:

Build DBD::ODBC using the SAP DB ODBC libraries
Set the environment variable $ODBCHOME to the directory in which you have installed ODBC.
For rpm packages it is /opt/sapdb/interfaces/odbc.
For tgz packages it is <dependent_path>.
Note:
Before starting the make process, check that the variable has been set correctly. For that purpose, test whether the system finds the file $ODBCHOME/lib/libsqlod.a.
Connect to the database:
- Create the file /var/spool/sql/ini/odbc.ini and define the data source names in it
  (See ODBC Manual: SAP DB)
  or
- Use <host>:<database_name> as data source name

Additional modules

module SAP::DBTech::dbm to access the Database Manager CLI: SAP DB 7.4
module SAP::DBTech::loader to access the Loader: SAP DB 7.4

The modules DBD::SAP_DB and SAP::DBTech::sapdb are not maintained any more. We recommend to use DBD::ODBC instead.

Python

module sapdb.sql to execute SQL statements
module sapdb.dbm to access the Database Manager CLI: SAP DB 7.4
module sapdb.loader to access the Loader: SAP DB 7.4
module sapdb.dbapi that implements the Python DB API 2.0

PHP

From version 4.0.3, PHP 4 accesses SAP DB via PHP's Unified ODBC and the SAP DB ODBC driver. Similar to Perl, this can be performed using a driver manager.
(Thanks to A. Karajannis of the the PHP ODBC module team).

Third Party Programming Interfaces

Support for OLE DB, ADO, DAO, RDO and .NET

Microsoft provides components for using these interfaces via ODBC.
You can find more information on this topic at www.microsoft.com. (For example Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), OLE DB data provider, .NET data provider).

Delphi

ODBC-DBExpress driver (Open Source)
Softvector: dbExpress driver for Windows (commercial)

TCL

sapdbtcl (Open Source)

Please check the mailing list archive for information or comments of users who deploy some of these techniques.

Search / Contact Info

SAP DB Information

Questions or comments about the Web site? Contact the webmaster.

This site is sponsored by SAP AG.