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Varkon application developers manual

# External databases with ODBC

Varkon includes MBS functions that can be used to establish a connection with a database or datasource through an ODBC interface. ODBC is a vendor independant interface to database systems like Oracle, Sybase, Informix, DB2 etc. You can even use ODBC to access data in files created with Microsoft Excel.

To use the ODBC functions in MBS be sure that your Varkon system is built with support for ODBC. Consult the installation README or the system administrators manual for more info.

The purpose of the ODBC interface is to make it possible to integrate Varkon applications with traditional database applications. A Varkon application could for example automatically fetch parameter values for a specific design, automatically generate a drawing or module, calculate new data and put that data back into the database.

Here is a short example:

    MACRO MODULE show_price(INT dnr >"Detail number !");

    STRING sql_statement*132,price*10;
    INT    status;

    BEGINMODULE
    !*
    !***Connect to the database.
    !*
       status:=odbc_connect("My_database", "My_name", "My_password");

       if status < 0 then
         exit(odbc_error());
       endif;
    !*
    !***Build SELECT statement.
    !*
       sql_statement:="SELECT price FROM My_table WHERE dnr="+str(dnr,-1,0));
    !*
    !***Execute.
    !*
       status:=odbc_execdirect(sql_statement);

       if status < 0 then
         exit(odbc_error());
       endif;
    !*
    !***Get first line of result.
    !*
       status:=odbc_fetch();

       if status < 0 then
         exit(odbc_error());
       endif;
    !*
    !***Get first data on this line.
    !*
       status:=getstring(price);

       if status < 0 then
         exit(odbc_error());
       endif;
    !*
    !***Close the connection.
    !*
       odbc_disconnect();
    !*
    !***Display result.
    !*
       lst_ini();
       lst_lin("Price is:"+price);
       lst_exi();

    ENDMODULE

This macro module connects to the database, searches for the price of a detail with a specific detail number and displays the result. The error handling could be improved to check if the detail exists, and if not, ask for a new detail number.

Varkon version 1.19E svn# 121M