Re: DBIx::DBH - Perl extension for simplifying database connectio ns

[Adriano R. Ferreira]

Orton, Yves wrote:
   DBI->connect("dbi:Oracle:", "database", "password");
If DBI->connect() would accept a hash ref with some meaningful keys,
I think the bare minimum can be 'url', 'user', 'pass' (or 'password').
So the line above would read
	DBI->connect({ url => 'dbi:Oracle:', user => 'database', pass => 
'password' });

or even better reading this from an external source (like a XML or YAML
file) which isolates the source code of configuration parameters.
        use XML::Simple;
        my $params = XMLin('boo.xml');
        my $dbi_params = $params->{connection}->{first_db};
        my $conn = DBI->connect($dbi_params); # DBI
(or if you prefer YAML
        use YAML qw(LoadFile);
        my $params = LoadFile('boo.yml');
        my $dbi_params = $params->{connection}->{first_db};
        my $conn = DBI->connect($dbi_params); # DBI
) But this have nothing to do inherently to DBI but marked lines.
I think that is simple enough and maybe useful. The same piece
of code before can be used without change for the most various
databases, with any parameter you care about. For example, opening
a Firebird database connection with autocommit off
and specifying a date-to-char translation default:
        ---
        url: 'dbi:Oracle:'
        user: sysdba
        pass: masterkey
        AutoCommit: 0
        params:
                ib_timestampformat => '%m-%d-%Y %H:%M'
The first level is for parameters that make sense for most databases.
If it doesn't make sense, don't use it. Just like some ODBC sources
won't care about users and passwords.
The point of this thread is that url's are bad because each one has
its style. So if the driver author gives support one could say
        ---
        host: mysqlhost
        port: 8888
        database: dadada
        user: joe
        pass: doe
And there are those who don't care to consult a notebook for how
to write a DSN and will use just
        ---
        dsn: host=mysqlhost;port=8888;database=dadada;user=joe;pass=doe
No one would force authors to comply with that, but with patches
and with suggestions it could be done. So I think that
accepting a hash ref as the only parameter in DBI->connect()
is the first step. "But it is too little! Why don't you say:
        DBI->connect($params->{url}, $params->{user}, $params->{pass}, $params)
Answer: Laziness. My poor 2 cents.
Best regards,
Adriano Ferreira.