Natively Connect to SQL Server Data in PHP

Drop the CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server into your LAMP or WAMP stack to build SQL Server-connected Web applications. This article shows how to use PHP's ODBC built-in functions to connect to SQL Server 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.

Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server

Connect to Microsoft SQL Server using the following properties:

• Server: The name of the server running SQL Server.
• User: The username provided for authentication with SQL Server.
• Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
• Database: The name of the SQL Server database.

Connecting to Azure SQL Server and Azure Data Warehouse

You can authenticate to Azure SQL Server or Azure Data Warehouse by setting the following connection properties:

• Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to "SQL databases" (or "SQL data warehouses") -> "Select your database" -> "Overview" -> "Server name."
• User: The name of the user authenticating to Azure.
• Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
• Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the SQL databases (or SQL warehouses) page.

SSH Connectivity for SQL Server

You can use SSH (Secure Shell) to authenticate with SQL Server, 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 SQL Server in Password Auth Mode

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

• User: SQL Server User name
• Password: SQL Server Password
• Database: SQL Server database name
• Server: SQL Server Server name
• Port: SQL Server 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 SQL Server in Public Key Auth Mode

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

• User: SQL Server User name
• Password: SQL Server Password
• Database: SQL Server database name
• Server: SQL Server Server name
• Port: SQL Server 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 SQL Server by calling the or methods. To close connections, use or .

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SQL 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.

$conn = odbc_pconnect("CData ODBC SQL Source","user","password");
...
odbc_close($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 SQL 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 SQL Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT ShipName, Freight FROM Orders");
 

Process Results

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

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SQL Server data Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT ShipName, Freight 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 SQL Server 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 SQL Server-specific adaptations of the PHP community documentation for all ODBC functions.