Yes absolutely. What you are trying to do is re-invent some of the
existing
functionality of both Apache::DBI and DBI. DBI can cache prepared
statements so
you don't have to prepare them everytime and Apache::DBI can pool those
statements' connections so you don't have to re-create them everytime. In
a
mod_perl environment you should almost always be using prepare_cached().
In fact, in this precise situation, what I have to do is examine some old
code, written by another team, and try to point out potential bugs, and
that's exactly why I was asking this question. (I am not trying to reinvent
the wheel, that's forbidden in Perl ;) )
Basically, this old code, for each request, was using Apache::DBI to
retrieve DB connection
handles, but was storing prepared statement handles in package variables.
Then, during later calls, they assumed that if the current DB handle was the
same as the previous one (i.e. same address), then, the stored statement
handle could be reused wihout being prepared again.
So,according to what you are telling me, in rare situations, I think this
could lead to bugs.
I had a quick look at Apache::DBI::connect code, and basically, what it
does, when you ask for a DB connection handle (with the same attributes as
previous calls), is first of all testing the current cached DB connection
handle (via a ping call) and in case pinging fails, it calls DBI::connect to
get a new connection. So, in case DBI::connect returns the same address for
the DB handle (but with a new connection), using an already prepared
statement would fail...
Thanks for your reply.
Lionel.
