PHP - Best way to connect to database when there are multiple connections - php

I have just recently acquired the service side of a medium size project. The former developer has all of his functions as separate php scripts instead of classes (func1.php, func2.php, etc)... All these 'functions' make a reference to mysqli_connect via referencing the actual
'databaseonnection.php' file. This is creating a new connection every time any of the scripts run (every time I have to call a function) and I don't want to do that. I was thinking about having a persistent connection, but I'm worried about it getting out of hands as the project is growing more and more every day. So, has anyone ever encountered a similar situation? What is the best way to handle my connection to the database? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

From the docs for mysql_connect. If a second call is made to mysql_connect() with the same arguments, no new link will be established, but instead, the link identifier of the already opened link will be returned.

EDIT: I'm sorry I thought you wanted connectivity help. There is no way except to move all those "functions" into one file where the connection is for them only.
I create a con.php file where my PDO connection is established then include that file anywhere you wish to use a connection Here is the base for a PDO connection:
$PDO = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=dbname", "user_name", "password");
Here is my notes on using the PDO object to make prepared queries. There is more than you need below but good luck.
Within your PHP file that needs a connection:
1: include('con.php');
2: $datas = $PDO->prepare(SELECT * FROM table WHERE title LIKE :searchquery);
// prepare method creates and returns a PDOstatment object ( print_r($datas); ) which contains an execute() method
// PDOstatment object has its own methods ie. rowCount()
// $datas->bindValue(':search', '% . $search . %', )
// Optional - Manually bind value. see http://php.net/manual/en/pdostatement.bindparam.php
3: $datas->execute( array(':searchquery' => $searchquery . '%'));
// pass in values that need to be bound AND EXECUTE.
// There are 17 ways to "fetch" data with the PDO object.
4: $datas-fetchALL(PDO::FETCH_OBJ);
close a pdo connection by the handle:
$PDO = null;

I think you'll be much better off using PDO as opposed to the old MYSQL functions e.g. mysql_connect. It's much more robust an interface.
Below is the basic code to do this:
$db_handle = new PDO("mysql:host=".$db_host.";dbname=".$db_name.";port=".$db_port."", $db_username, $db_password, $connect_options);
where $db_handle is the PDO object representing the database connection, $db_host is your hostname [usually localhost], $db_name is the name of your database, $db_port is the database port number [usually 3306], $db_username and $db_password are your database user access credentials, and $connect_options are optional driver-specific connection options.
To enable persistent connections you need to set the driver-specific connection option for it before opening the connection: $connect_options = array(PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true); then execute the earlier database connection code.
You can get more information on this from the PHP Docs here: http://www.php.net/manual/en/pdo.construct.php and http://php.net/manual/en/pdo.connections.php.
Regarding creating persistent connections, I would suggest that you close every database connection you open at the end of your script (after all your database operations of course) by nullifying your database handle: $db_handle = NULL;. You should do this whether you opened a persistent connection or not. It sounds counter-intuitive, but I believe you should free up any database resources when your script is done.
The performance disadvantages of doing this [from my experience] are neglible for most applications. This is obviously an arguable assertion and you may also find the following link helpful in further clarifying your strategy in this regard:
Persistent DB Connections - Yea or Nay?
Happy coding!

if you have very complex project and need big budget to re-design, and prefer very simple alteration then
1) stay in mysqli_connect
2) move the database connection to header of your script.
3) remove the function databse close() on that functions.
4) remove the connection link variables, it wont needed for single database.
5) close the database on end of footer.
By this way, database connection establish when starting your script and after all queries, it will be closed on footer. your server can handle the connections without closing/re-open by using keepalive method. basically default keepalive value is 30 to 90 seconds.

Related

best practise to do many connections mysqli

I received max_user_connections error this days. and I was wondering if I am doing something wrong.
I have a config.php file with mysqli connection script:
$mysqli = new mysqli('localhost', 'my_user', 'my_password', 'my_db');
so pages where I need to get something in mysqli I include config.php. here is an example:
example.php
<?php
include_once("config.php");
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("select...");
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->bind_result(...,...);
while($stmt->fetch()) {
...
}
$stmt->close();
?>
some html <p> <img>...
<?php
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("select...");
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->bind_result(...,...);
while($stmt->fetch()) {
...
}
$stmt->close();
?>
some html <p> <img>...
<?php
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("select...");
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->bind_result(...,...);
while($stmt->fetch()) {
...
}
$stmt->close();
?>
So, my question is: is it the best practise to do selects like this? should I close mysqli connect after each select and open again? or do selects on the top together without separete than with some html in the middle?
the best practise to do selects like this?
I hate it when people use the term "best practice" it's usually a good indicator they don't know what they are talking about.
The advantage of your approach is that its nice and simple. But as you've discovered, it does not scale well.
In practice its quite hard to measure, but in most applications the MySQL connection is unused for most of the lifecycle of the script. Hence there are usually big wins to be made by delaying the opening of connection and closing it as soon as possible.
The former can be done by decorating the mysqli class, the connect method just stores the credentials while anything which needs to talk to the database should call the wrapped connect method when it needs access to the database. However typically the yeild of this approach is low unless your code creates a lot of database connections which are never used (in which case a cheaper solution would be to increase the connection limit).
It can take a long time after the last query is run before the connection is closed down. Explicitly closing the connection addresses this, but requires a lot of code changes.
do not open and close a connection for each query. Although it will result in a reduced number of connections to the databasee, the performance will suck
The biggest win usually comes from optimizing your queries - reduced concurrency and a better user experience.

Connecting to a mysql database without keeping details in the script

I am attempting to create a separate login file for database connections as I am not too fond of having all the access details on each page that requires database access.
I have created a separate file on my server that contains the variables required for a successful login and then use the;
include_once('path_to_file/filename.php');
to get the variables and then use;
$dbconnection = mysqli_connect("$hostname","$username","$password","$database") or die ("Could not connect to the server");
but the connection fails every time. I tried including the connection script in the file I am attempting to include but then I get this message:
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysqld.sock' (2)
I'm not really sure how to fix this, but every page in my server more or less access the database and I think it has to be a security risk having login details replicated everywhere!
Anyone have any suggestions or alternatives?
databaseloging format is:
<?php
# parameters for connection to MySQL database
$hostname="hostname";
$database="databasename";
$username="username";
$password="password";
?>
P.S. I have also tried require and got the same result.
Also when using multiple MySQL connections in PHP, you have to supply a fourth argument telling PHP to actually create new connections like this (this is very important, if you are using two connections to the same host):
$db1 = mysql_connect($host1, $user1, $passwd1, true);
$db2 = mysql_connect($host2, $user2, $passwd2, true);
If the fourth argument is not used, and the parameters are the same, then PHP will return the same link and no new connection will be made.
After this you should use "mysql_query" with an extra parameter than defines which connection to use:
$res1 = mysql_query($sql1, $db1) or die(mysql_error($res1));
$res2 = mysql_query($sql2, $db2) or die(mysql_error($res2));
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-connect.php

Fetch data from second database frequently while connection to first database is always available

I m working on old existing project which uses mysql function for database operation. The existing system connects to the database, say cdcol. The connection to this database is available through site wise.
Now I want to fetch data from another database say crawlerdb, assign fetched data to an array and close connection to this database. The connection to second database is inside a function say GetAccess, and each time the extra data needed, the function is called, data fetched and connection closed to the second database.
All I want is connection to first database should be available every time.
The problem I m facing is. If i don't close connection to second database. Then mysql query used after calling the function GetAccess, still search items from second database, because the connection to second database is active. If I close the connection to second database, still the query doesnot work. Following code explains my situation.
<?php
//$conn1 is permanent connection that is used sitewise.
$conn1=mysql_connect("localhost","root","",true) or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("cdcol",$conn1) or die(mysql_error());
echo "1. Current Database = ".mysql_current_db();//prints cdcol
echo "<Br> Function Returned Value = ".GetAccess();
echo "<Br>2. Current Database = ".mysql_current_db(); //In GetAccess function, which is called above if mysql_close($conn2) is used, the mysql_current_db() returns empty value.
//A FUNCTION TO GET EXTRA DATA FROM SECOND DATABASE
function GetAccess(){
$conn2=mysql_connect("localhost","root","",true) or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("crawlerdb",$conn2) or die(mysql_error());
$test=mysql_query("select * from tbllensinfo",$conn2); //here i have used $conn2 as link identifier
$var= mysql_num_rows($test);
mysql_close($conn2);
return $var;
}
//FUNCTION TO IDENTIFY WHICH DATABASE IS CURRENTLY BEING USED
function mysql_current_db() {
$r = mysql_query("SELECT DATABASE()") or die(mysql_error());
return mysql_result($r,0);
}
$res=mysql_query("select * from cds"); //here link identifier $conn1 is not used, i cant change this code because there are several 100s codes, so not possible to change in all of them. Everything will work if $conn1 is used here though
echo "<br>".mysql_num_rows($res);
?>
NOTE:
The two database are hosted on same server, but database users are different, one of which have no access to other database.
So in short What I need is I need to fetch data from second database frequently while connection to first database is always available.
Any help will highly be appreciable, thanks !
Thanks
Sharmila
The mysql functions, such as mysql_query, all have an optional resource parameter identifying the database connection to use. If you omit this second parameter, the functions use the most recently opened connection. That is, they use the connection resulting from the most recent call to mysql_connect. It's considered the most recent result even if you have closed it already.
(Global variable! Let's party like it's 1999!)
If you're going to use more than one connection with mysql calls in your program, you must specify the resource parameter in all mysql_* calls in your program.
Please consider switching to PDO or mysqli. The PHP people have been trying to get rid of this mysql API for years, partly because of this problem, and mostly because it has serious insecurities.

How do I detect database name using MySQL PDO

I am rather new to the PDO library, so I apologize for my inexperience. I am writing a class that uses the PDO library to build and execute queries and return the results, no matter what they are.
Within the class, I detect whether there is an open connection to a database, and if it is the same as the one being configured, it uses this one instead. This is really easy to do using the MsSQL library as the PDO::getAttribute() function returns 'CurrentDatabase' and 'SQLServerName', so I can just apply a condition like so:
if(!empty($this->PDO)){
// Get the current connection information
$current_connection = $this->PDO->getAttribute(PDO::ATTR_SERVER_INFO);
// Return if the connection is the same
if($this->connection_parameters['hostname']==$current_connection['SQLServerName']&&$this->connection_parameters['database']==$current_connection['CurrentDatabase']){
return;
}
}
However, when it comes to MySQL, the data returned from PDO::getAttribute is completely different and I cannot seem to get the database name from the current connection.
Does any body know a function or method to get the currently connected database of a MySQL connection using the PDO library in PHP?
I order to connect to both MySQL and MsSQL, you must have 2 connections. However, changing the database on a live connection is very simple.
The following simply checks if a PDO instance already exists and whether or not it is using the required database. If so then it continues with this connection, if not it changes the database.
// Test if the PDO object already exists
if(!empty($this->PDO)){
// If connection is the same then select the database
if($this->connection_engine==$this->PDO->getAttribute(PDO::ATTR_DRIVER_NAME)){
// Get the current database in use
$database = $this->PDO->query("SELECT {$this->select_db_function}");
$database = $database->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_NUM);
$database = $database[0][0];
// If the current database matches the new database then return
if($database==$this->connection_parameters['database']){
return;
}
}
}
I see no point in looking for the opened connection and - especially - in checking for the current database.
Why can't you just open the connection, select the database for it and then use this connection all the time throughout your class - just like everyone does?
See comments on the MySQL manual page for 'USE database'

Do SQL connections opened with PDO in PHP have to be closed

When I open a MySQL connection in PHP with just PHP's built-in MySQL functions, I do the following:
$link = mysql_connect($servername, $username, $password);
mysql_select_db($dbname);
//queries etcetera
mysql_close($link);
When I open a connection with PDO, it looks like this:
$link = new PDO("mysql:dbname=$dbname;host=$servername",$username,$password);
//prepare statements, perform queries
Do I have to explicitly close the connection like I do with mysql_connect() and mysql_close()? If not, how does PHP know when I'm done with my connection?
TIA.
Use $link = null to let PDO know it can close the connection.
PHP: PDO Connections & Connection Management
Upon successful connection to the database, an instance of the PDO class is returned to your script. The connection remains active for the lifetime of that PDO object. To close the connection, you need to destroy the object by ensuring that all remaining references to it are deleted--you do this by assigning NULL to the variable that holds the object. If you don't do this explicitly, PHP will automatically close the connection when your script ends.
PDO does not offer such a function on its own. Connections via PDO are indirectly managed via the PDO objects refcount in PHP.
But sometimes you want to close the connection anyway, regardless of the refcount. Either because you can not control it, need it for testing purposes or similar.
You can close the Mysql connection with PDO by running a SQL query. Every user that is able to connect to the Mysql server is able to KILL at least its own thread:
/*
* Close Mysql Connection (PDO)
*/
$pdo_mysql_close = function (PDO $connection) {
$query = 'SHOW PROCESSLIST -- ' . uniqid('pdo_mysql_close ', 1);
$list = $connection->query($query)->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
foreach ($list as $thread) {
if ($thread['Info'] === $query) {
return $connection->query('KILL ' . $thread['Id']);
}
}
return false;
};
$pdo_mysql_close($conn);
Related Mysql Documentation:
13.7.5.30. SHOW PROCESSLIST Syntax
13.7.6.4. KILL Syntax
Related Stackoverflow Questions:
PHP PDO close()? (Apr 2012)
When the PHP script finishes executing, all connections are closed. Also you don't have to explicitly close your connection with mysql_close().
You can also limit your connections to within local functions. That way the connection is closed as soon as the function is completed.
Well seeing as the $link for the PDO is assigned an object, PHP would set that as null as soon as the script runs so that it's no longer an object. Therefore you could just do:
$link = new PDO("mysql:dbname=$dbname;host=$servername",$username,$password);
//prepare statements, perform queries
$link = null;
http://uk3.php.net/pdo
From what i gather i could not see anyway to close it in the php manual, and examples of scripts i quickly looked at never closed the connection in anyway from what i could see.

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