Natively Connect to PostgreSQL Data in PHP

Drop the CData ODBC Driver for PostgreSQL into your LAMP or WAMP stack to build PostgreSQL-connected Web applications. This article shows how to use PHP's ODBC built-in functions to connect to PostgreSQL data, execute queries, and output the results.

Configure a DSN

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To connect to PostgreSQL, set the Server, Port (the default port is 5432), and Database connection properties and set the User and Password you wish to use to authenticate to the server. If the Database property is not specified, the data provider connects to the user's default database.

SSH Connectivity for PostgreSQL

You can use SSH (Secure Shell) to authenticate with PostgreSQL, whether the instance is hosted on-premises or in supported cloud environments. SSH authentication ensures that access is encrypted (as compared to direct network connections).

SSH Connections to PostgreSQL in Password Auth Mode

To connect to PostgreSQL via SSH in Password Auth mode, set the following connection properties:

• User: PostgreSQL User name
• Password: PostgreSQL Password
• Database: PostgreSQL database name
• Server: PostgreSQL Server name
• Port: PostgreSQL port number like 3306
• UserSSH: "true"
• SSHAuthMode: "Password"
• SSHPort: SSH Port number
• SSHServer: SSH Server name
• SSHUser: SSH User name
• SSHPassword: SSH Password

SSH Connections to PostgreSQL in Public Key Auth Mode

To connect to PostgreSQL via SSH in Password Auth mode, set the following connection properties:

• User: PostgreSQL User name
• Password: PostgreSQL Password
• Database: PostgreSQL database name
• Server: PostgreSQL Server name
• Port: PostgreSQL port number like 3306
• UserSSH: "true"
• SSHAuthMode: "Public_Key"
• SSHPort: SSH Port number
• SSHServer: SSH Server name
• SSHUser: SSH User name
• SSHClientCret: the path for the public key certificate file

Establish a Connection

Open the connection to PostgreSQL by calling the or methods. To close connections, use or .

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC PostgreSQL Source","user","password");

Connections opened with are closed when the script ends. Connections opened with the method are still open after the script ends. This enables other scripts to share that connection when they connect with the same credentials. By sharing connections among your scripts, you can save system resources, and queries execute faster.

$conn = odbc_pconnect("CData ODBC PostgreSQL Source","user","password");
...
odbc_close($conn); //persistent connection must be closed explicitly

Create Prepared Statements

Create prepared statements and parameterized queries with the function.

$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE ShipCountry = ?");

Execute Queries

Execute prepared statements with .

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC PostgreSQL Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE ShipCountry = ?");
$success = odbc_execute($query, array('USA'));
 

Execute nonparameterized queries with .

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC PostgreSQL Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT ShipName, ShipCity FROM Orders");
 

Process Results

Access a row in the result set as an array with the function.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC PostgreSQL data Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT ShipName, ShipCity FROM Orders");
while($row = odbc_fetch_array($query)){
 echo $row["ShipName"] . "\n";
}

Display the result set in an HTML table with the function.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC PostgreSQL data Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE ShipCountry = ?");
$success = odbc_execute($query, array('USA'));
if($success)
 odbc_result_all($query);

More Example Queries

You will find complete information on the driver's supported SQL in the help documentation. The code examples above are PostgreSQL-specific adaptations of the PHP community documentation for all ODBC functions.