Chapter 9

Introduction to SQL
Programming Techniques
 Chapter Outline
 Database Programming
 Embedded SQL
 Functions Calls, SQL/CLI
 Stored Procedures, SQL/PSM
 Summary

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Database Programming
 Objective:
 To access a database from an application program
(as opposed to interactive interfaces)
 Why?
 An interactive interface is convenient but not
sufficient

A majority of database operations are made thru
application programs (increasingly thru web
applications)

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Database Programming Approaches
 Embedded commands:
 Database commands are embedded in a general-
purpose programming language
 Library of database functions:
 Available to the host language for database calls;
known as an API

API standards for Application Program Interface
 A brand new, full-fledged language
 Minimizes impedance mismatch

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Impedance Mismatch
 Incompatibilities between a host programming
language and the database model, e.g.,
 type mismatch and incompatibilities; requires a
new binding for each language
 set vs. record-at-a-time processing
 need special iterators to loop over query results and
manipulate individual values

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Steps in Database Programming
 Client program opens a connection to the
database server
 Client program submits queries to and/or
updates the database
 When database access is no longer needed,
client program closes (terminates) the
connection

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Embedded SQL
 Most SQL statements can be embedded in a
general-purpose host programming language
such as COBOL, C, Java
 An embedded SQL statement is distinguished
from the host language statements by enclosing it
between EXEC SQL or EXEC SQL BEGIN and a
matching END-EXEC or EXEC SQL END (or
semicolon)
 Syntax may vary with language
 Shared variables (used in both languages) usually
prefixed with a colon (:) in SQL

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Example: Variable Declaration
in Language C
 Variables inside DECLARE are shared and can appear
(while prefixed by a colon) in SQL statements
 SQLCODE is used to communicate errors/exceptions
between the database and the program
int loop;
EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
varchar dname[16], fname[16], …;
char ssn[10], bdate[11], …;
int dno, dnumber, SQLCODE, …;
EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;

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SQL Commands for
Connecting to a Database
 Connection (multiple connections are possible
but only one is active)
CONNECT TO server-name AS connection-name
AUTHORIZATION user-account-info;

 Change from an active connection to another one

 Disconnection
DISCONNECT connection-name;

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Embedded SQL in C
Programming Examples
loop = 1;
while (loop) {
prompt (“Enter SSN: “, ssn);
EXEC SQL
select FNAME, LNAME, ADDRESS, SALARY
into :fname, :lname, :address, :salary
from EMPLOYEE where SSN == :ssn;
if (SQLCODE == 0) printf(fname, …);
else printf(“SSN does not exist: “, ssn);
prompt(“More SSN? (1=yes, 0=no): “, loop);
END-EXEC
}

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Embedded SQL in C
Programming Examples
 A cursor (iterator) is needed to process multiple
tuples
 FETCH commands move the cursor to the next
tuple
 CLOSE CURSOR indicates that the processing of
query results has been completed

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Dynamic SQL
 Objective:
 Composing and executing new (not previously compiled)
SQL statements at run-time

a program accepts SQL statements from the keyboard at run-
time

a point-and-click operation translates to certain SQL query
 Dynamic update is relatively simple; dynamic query can
be complex
 because the type and number of retrieved attributes are
unknown at compile time

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Dynamic SQL: An Example

EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;

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Embedded SQL in Java
 SQLJ: a standard for embedding SQL in Java
 An SQLJ translator converts SQL statements into
Java
 These are executed thru the JDBC interface
 Certain classes have to be imported
 E.g., java.sql

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Java Database Connectivity
 JDBC:
 SQL connection function calls for Java
programming
 A Java program with JDBC functions can access
any relational DBMS that has a JDBC driver
 JDBC allows a program to connect to several
databases (known as data sources)

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Steps in JDBC Database Access
 Import JDBC library (java.sql.*)
 Load JDBC driver:
Class.forname(“oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver”)
 Define appropriate variables
 Create a connect object (via getConnection)
 Create a statement object from the Statement class:
 1. PreparedStatment 2. CallableStatement
 Identify statement parameters (designated by question marks)
 Bound parameters to program variables
 Execute SQL statement (referenced by an object) via JDBC’s
executeQuery
 Process query results (returned in an object of type ResultSet)
 ResultSet is a 2-dimentional table

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Embedded SQL in Java:
An Example
ssn = readEntry("Enter a SSN: ");
try {
#sql{select FNAME< LNAME, ADDRESS, SALARY
into :fname, :lname, :address, :salary
from EMPLOYEE where SSN = :ssn};
}
catch (SQLException se) {
System.out.println("SSN does not exist: ",+ssn);
return;
}
System.out.println(fname + " " + lname + … );

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Multiple Tuples in SQLJ
 SQLJ supports two types of iterators:
 named iterator: associated with a query result
 positional iterator: lists only attribute types in a
query result
 A FETCH operation retrieves the next tuple in a
query result:
fetch iterator-variable into program-variable

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Database Programming with Functional
Calls
 Embedded SQL provides static database
programming
 API: Dynamic database programming with a
library of functions
 Advantage:
 No preprocessor needed (thus more flexible)
 Disadvantage:

SQL syntax checks to be done at run-time

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SQL Call Level Interface
 A part of the SQL standard
 Provides easy access to several databases within
the same program
 Certain libraries (e.g., sqlcli.h for C) have to
be installed and available
 SQL statements are dynamically created and
passed as string parameters in the calls

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Components of SQL/CLI
 Environment record:
 Keeps track of database connections
 Connection record:
 Keep tracks of info needed for a particular
connection
 Statement record:
 Keeps track of info needed for one SQL statement
 Description record:
 Keeps track of tuples

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Steps in C and SQL/CLI Programming
 Load SQL/CLI libraries
 Declare record handle variables for the above
components (called: SQLHSTMT, SQLHDBC,
SQLHENV, SQLHDEC)
 Set up an environment record using SQLAllocHandle
 Set up a connection record using SQLAllocHandle
 Set up a statement record using SQLAllocHandle
 Prepare a statement using SQL/CLI function
SQLPrepare
 Bound parameters to program variables
 Execute SQL statement via SQLExecute
 Bound query columns to a C variable via SQLBindCol
 Use SQLFetch to retrieve column values into C
variables
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Database Stored Procedures
 Persistent procedures/functions (modules) are stored
locally and executed by the database server
 As opposed to execution by clients
 Advantages:
 If the procedure is needed by many applications, it can be
invoked by any of them (thus reduce duplications)
 Execution by the server reduces communication costs
 Enhance the modeling power of views
 Disadvantages:
 Every DBMS has its own syntax and this can make the
system less portable

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SQL Persistent Stored Modules
 SQL/PSM:
 Part of the SQL standard for writing persistent
stored modules
 SQL + stored procedures/functions + additional
programming constructs
 E.g., branching and looping statements
 Enhance the power of SQL

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