What's new in the May 2008 CTP?

dpblogs — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:17:00 GMT

A new Community Technology Preview (CTP) version of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is now available for download. The May CTP version (1.0.821.1) is a significant improvement over the previous CTP version (1.0.515.1 of February 2008) and it includes several new and/or refined features.

The list of major changes includes:

· A new API, sqlsrv_fetch_object, offers a more sophisticated alternative to sqlsrv_fetch_array by enabling retrieval of data rows as PHP objects.

· Another new API, sqlsrv_num_fields, returns the number of fields in an active result set (thus reducing the need for calling sqlsrv_field_metadata).

· A redesigned configuration facility anchored on two APIs, sqlsrv_get_config and sqlsrv_configure, allows you to explore and/or modify the error handling settings and to configure of the logging system.

· By default, the driver treats most (i.e. all but four) of ODBC warnings as errors. This behavior can be turned on and off via sqlsrv_configure.

· Connection options offer several new attributes, including the ability to enable (or disable) connection pooling. (Note: connection pooling is enabled by default.)

· New query options (in both sqlsrv_query and sqlsrv_prepare) allow a better control of query execution. QueryTimeout aims to avoid execution deadlocks and SendStreamParamsAtExec eliminates the need for subsequent calls to sqlsrv_send_stream_data.

· User Data Type (UDT) is now supported.

· Results set fields are no longer starting at index 1. Both sqlsrv_get_field and sqlsrv_fetch_array have first data field at index 0.

· All APIs (including sqlsrv_close and sqlsrv_free_stmt) will now return false when called with an invalid parameter.

Additional improvements aim to provide better indications of error conditions and reduce the potential for resource and/or memory leakage.

For additional details, please consult “What’s New” topic at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc296192.aspx

The CTP release and documentation are available for download at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=85f99a70-5df5-4558-991f-8aee8506833c&displaylang=en

More info is available on the MSDN site and the PHP blog site: http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlphp/

For any questions regarding the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP driver, please feel free to post a question on the MSDN forum site for the PHP driver.

- Serban Iliescu

Test Lead, SQL Server Driver for PHP

Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP Team Blog : May 2008 CTP

What's new in the May 2008 CTP?