HDescribeConnection (Function)

Describes a new connection to an external database. This connection is named. Specific parameters can be defined such as the management mode of cursors (if the accessed database allows it).

To associate this connection with a table or a data file, use HChangeConnection.

To open the connection, use HOpenConnection. If the connection parameters described by HDescribeConnection are incorrect, HOpenConnection will return an error.

With HDescribeConnection, an Oracle table description imported into the analysis can be directly used by HFSQL Classic data files. Simply describe a temporary connection to an HFSQL Classic database and associate it with the file description from in the analysis. See the Examples for more details.

This function is kept for backward compatibility. We recommend that you use a Connection variable and its properties to describe a connection.

Example

See additional examples

HDescribeConnection("MyConnection", "", "", ...
"Server_SQLServer", "dbo", hNativeAccessSQLServer, hOReadWrite, "")

Syntax

Describing a connection through programming Hide the details

<Result> = HDescribeConnection(<Connection> , <User> [, <Password>] , <Data source> , <Database> , <OLE DB provider or Native Connector> [, <Access> [, <Extended information>]])

<Result>: Boolean

True if the operation was performed,
False if a problem occurs. HErrorInfo is used to identify the error.
To establish this connection, use HOpenConnection (this function will return an error if the connection parameters are incorrect).
To assign this connection to a data file, use HChangeConnection.

<Connection>: Character string

Name of new connection to define.
If this name is already used by an existing connection, the former connection is replaced with the new one. The former connection (as well as the data files that used it) are automatically closed.

<User>: Character string

Username used for the database. This parameter is returned by the CtUserName property.

<Password>: Optional character string

Connection password (if this password exists). If no password is required, use an empty string ("") or the NULL keyword.

<Data source>: Character string

Full path of the data source. The connection will be created and opened for this data source. This parameter is returned by the CtDatabase property.
XML: This parameter corresponds to the name of XML file.
This parameter corresponds to the server name. The port number used by the HFSQL server can be specified. The port 4900 will be used by default. If the port number of the HFSQL server is different, use the following notation:
<Computer name>: <Port number>
Example: "ComputerName:4901".
For a use via Internet, the ports must be managed by Firewall. For more details, see Managing ports.
You have the ability to specify an IPv6 address by writing the IPv6 address between square brackets. In this case, the port number must be specified after the closing square bracket. For example: [0154:2145:2155::5554]:4900.

For an Android application:
Connection to an HFSQL Client/Server database:
The database is found on the development computer and it is handled from an Android emulator: use the IP address 10.0.2.2 with the server port. Example: "10.0.2.2:4900"
The database is found on the network of the development computer and it is handled from an Android emulator: use the full name of server with the domain. Example: "Server@domain.com:4900" (with the WINDEV Mobile simulator, the computer name without domain may be sufficient).
Connection to an SQLite database:
Full path of the file containing the SQLite database on the Android device.
Example : /sdcard/bdd/MyDatabase.db
If the parameter corresponds to an empty string (""), the file containing the database data will be created in the "databases" directory of application and its name will be identical to the application name followed by the ".db" extension.

<Database>: Character string

Name of database that will be used on the data source, empty string ("") if no name must be specified. This parameter can be used if the data source allows you to specify the database that must be used.
For example, on SQL Server, the "Master" database is the default database but other databases can be handled ("dbo" for example).
To specify that the access is performed on a file found in the "dbo" database (that is not the default database), <Database> must correspond to "dbo".
This parameter is returned by the CtInitialCatalog property.

<OLE DB provider or Native Connector>: Character string or constant

Name of OLE DB provider used. To easily retrieve the string to use, select "Connection" in the data model editor (see the Notes).

or
one of the following constants:
hAccessHF7 Pseudo-connection to HFSQL Classic database
hAccessHFClientServer Native Connector to an HFSQL Client/Server database.
hNativeAccessAS400 Native AS/400 Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessDB2 Native DB2 Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessInformix Native Informix Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessMariaDB Native MariaDB Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessMySQL Native MySQL Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessOracle Native Oracle Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessOracleLite Native Oracle Connector (optional module of WINDEV Mobile)
hNativeAccessPostgreSQL Native PostgreSQL Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessProgress Native Progress Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessSQLAzure Native SQL Azure Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV, provided with Native SQL Server Connector)
hNativeAccessSQLite Native SQLite Connector (provided with WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessSQLServer Native SQL Server Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV).
The former Native Connector is used by default. To use the new Native SQL Server Connector, use the H.SQLServerMode variable.
hNativeAccessSQLServerMobile Native SQL Server Mobile Connector (optional module of WINDEV Mobile)
hNativeAccessSybase Native Sybase Connector (optional module of WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessXBase Native xBase Connector (included with WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hNativeAccessXML Native XML Connector (included with WINDEV/WEBDEV)
hODBC OLE DB provider for ODBC (used to access an ODBC data source declared in the ODBC data sources of Windows)
hOledbAccess97 OLE DB provider for Access 97
hOledbAccess2000 OLE DB provider for Access 2000
hOledbDBase5 OLE DB provider for dBase 5
hOledbExcel97 OLE DB provider for Excel 97
hOledbExcel2000 OLE DB provider for Excel 2000
hOledbLotus4 OLE DB provider for Lotus 4
hOledbOracle OLE DB provider for Oracle
hOledbSQLServer OLE DB provider for SQL Server

The available constants are as follows:
hNativeAccessSQLite Native SQLite Connector from an Android application.

<Access>: Optional constant

Configures the type of access to the database.
hORead The database can be accessed in read-only. You only have the ability to read the records. No record can be added or deleted.
hOReadWrite
(default value) The database can be accessed in read/write. You have the ability to read the records and to write new records.

This parameter is returned by the CtAccess property.

<Extended information>: Optional character string

Optional information inserted into the string for connecting to the database. If specific keywords are recognized, the corresponding information is extracted from the connection string. The rest of the connection string is sent to the database. Then, the extracted parameters are processed by the Native Connector or by the OLE DB connector used.
These keywords must be indicated as follows: "<Keyword> = <Value>;".
You can for example specify "Trusted_Connection=YES" in order to use a connection with authentication via the NT login.
The keywords recognized by OLE DB and the Native Connectors are presented in the Optional connection information page.
Example of string to use:

"WD Cache Size = 10000; Server Port=3306;"

Keywords recognized for the access by HFSQL Client/Server:
COMPRESSION Enables or disables the compression of data exchanged between Client and Server. This keyword can correspond to:
TRUE to enable the data compression.
FALSE to disable the data compression.
DB_EXIST Checks the existence of the database. If the specified database does not exist, HDescribeConnection returns False.
ENCRYPTION Enables the encryption of data exchanged between Client and Server. This keyword can take two values:
FAST
RC5_16 for a RC5 encryption (16 rounds).

This parameter is returned by the CtExtendedInfo property.

Remarks

Syntax 1: Using a character string for the OLE DB provider

To easily find the character string that must be used to define the OLE DB provider, we recommend that you proceed as follows:

In the data model editor, open the connection description window: on the "Analysis" tab, in the "Connections" group, click "Connections".
Select the provider to use ("Connect via" combo box).
The character string corresponding to the provider is displayed. This character string can be used to define the OLE DB provider used in <OLE DB provider>.

Syntax 1: Pseudo-connection to HFSQL Classic database

OLE DB data files or native data files are described in the data model editor. To handle these descriptions through programming with an HFSQL database, simply specify the hAccessHF7 constant as provider name.

Then, this connection can be assigned to the data files affected by HChangeConnection.

The data files in HFSQL format corresponding to the description of the OLE DB or native files will be created (if necessary) in the directory defined by <Data source>. By default, these data files are empty when they are created.

Differences between HOpenConnection and HDescribeConnection

Method 1: To open a connection at the start of the application and close it at the end, use HOpenConnection. To use this connection when handling data files or tables, simply change this connection with HChangeConnection.

HOpenConnection(MyConnection, params) // open the connection
HChangeConnection(AFile, MyConnection)

Method 2: To describe a connection through programming and to automatically open it when opening the data file, you must:

describe the connection with HDescribeConnection.
associate this connection with the desired data file description using HChangeConnection. The connection will only be opened the first time the data file is accessed.

This solution can be useful when an application handles both HFSQL data files and Oracle data files. For example, if the application uses a single Oracle file, in a specific process, the connection to the Oracle database will only be made if necessary.

If the first solution is chosen for the same type of application, the connection (that may take quite a long time) will be established whenever the application is started.

Example:

HDescribeConnection(MyConnection, params)
HChangeConnection(AFile, MyConnection)
...
HReadFirst(AFile) // Open the connection
...
HClose(AFile) // Close the connection

Using the Native xBase Connector with non-Latin character sets

To use the Native xBase Connector with non-Latin character sets, a standard OEM/ANSI conversion must be performed by the Native Connector. To do so, the following string must be specified in the extended information:

OEMTOANSI=WINDOWS;

Example:

In the initialization code of the project, add the code used to modify the character set:

ChangeCharset(charsetChinese)
Create an xBase connection:

HDescribeConnection("CntxBase", "", "", fExeDir(), "", hNativeAccessXBase, hOReadWrite, ...
"OEMTOANSI=WINDOWS;")
HChangeConnection("*", "CntxBase")

Business / UI classification: Business Logic

Component: wd270hf.dll