Connecting two databases in Codeigniter - php

Question

I am conneting two databases in codeigniter. My database.php configuration is as follows.
$db['default'] = array(
'dsn' => '',
'hostname' => 'localhost',
'username' => 'root',
'password' => '',
'database' => 'dvrs',
'dbdriver' => 'mysqli',
'dbprefix' => '',
'pconnect' => FALSE,
'db_debug' => TRUE,
'cache_on' => FALSE,
'cachedir' => '',
'char_set' => 'utf8',
'dbcollat' => 'utf8_general_ci',
'swap_pre' => '',
'encrypt' => FALSE,
'compress' => FALSE,
'stricton' => FALSE,
'failover' => array(),
'save_queries' => TRUE
);
$db['orcl_db'] = array(
'dsn' => '',
'hostname' => 'localhost',
'username' => 'mvrs',
'password' => 'mvrs',
'database' => 'MVRS',
'dbdriver' => 'oci8',
'dbprefix' => '',
'pconnect' => FALSE,
'db_debug' => TRUE,
'cache_on' => FALSE,
'cachedir' => '',
'char_set' => 'utf8',
'dbcollat' => 'utf8_general_ci',
'swap_pre' => '',
'encrypt' => FALSE,
'compress' => FALSE,
'stricton' => FALSE,
'failover' => array(),
'save_queries' => TRUE
);
Now I am autoloading the default database, and loading the orcl_db in the respective model on demand using
$this->orclDB = $this->database->load("orcl_db", TRUE);
I am connecting to both dbs and running queries successfully.
I need to make sure that the oracle server is available before connecting to it and display proper error messages if the server is not available / not responding.
What will be the best way to do this?

Answer 1

Following is the code to ensure it.
$this->orclDB = $this->load->database('orcl_db', TRUE);
if (!$this->orclDB ->initialize()) {
$response["status"] = false;
$response["message"] = "Oracle DB is not available.";
}

Answer 2

In order to turn off db debugging, which throws fatal error when db connection fails, use $db['orcl_db']['db_debug'] = FALSE; in your database config file. Then you can check if database is loaded like this:
if ( $this->load->database('orcl_db') === FALSE )
{
// do whatever you think is appropriate, but do not panick
}