Connect to SQL Server through PDO using SQL Server Driver

Question

I am trying to connect to an existing SQL Server database using PDO with the drivers provided by Microsoft.

I have seen examples using odbc, dblib, mssql, etc., however I believe the connection string with these drivers should use 'sqlsrv'?

Are there any good examples of how to properly do this? If I should be doing this via some other method please let me know. Thanks!

Answer 1

Well that's the best part about PDOs is that it's pretty easy to access any database. Provided you have installed those drivers, you should be able to just do:

$db = new PDO("sqlsrv:Server=YouAddress;Database=YourDatabase", "Username", "Password"); 

Answer 2

Mind you that in my experience and also of other (PHP - Why is new SQLSRV driver slower than the old mssql driver?) that using PDO_SQLSRV is way slower than through PDO_ODBC.

If you want to use the faster PDO_ODBC you can use:

//use any of these or check exact MSSQL ODBC drivername in "ODBC Data Source Administrator" $mssqldriver = '{SQL Server}';  $mssqldriver = '{SQL Server Native Client 11.0}'; $mssqldriver = '{ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server}';  $hostname='127.0.0.1'; $dbname='test'; $username='user'; $password='pw'; $dbDB = new PDO("odbc:Driver=$mssqldriver;Server=$hostname;Database=$dbname", $username, $password);