PHP with SQL Server 2005+

Question

Currently we have a hybrid ASP/PHP setup connecting to a SQL Server 2005 database. But all the query work is done on the client side, I'd like to move some of this to PHP.

What driver and/or connection string is needed to connect to Sql Svr and what is the syntax to use in PHP?

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Update: OK so I was definitely trying to avoid using anything to do with copying DLLs etc. I'll look into the SQL2K5PHP driver (thanks Vincent). @jcarrascal for the sake of clarity, by "client side" I mean our application is an internal web app that runs as an HTA, with all queries done via javascript calls to an ASP which actually submits the DB request.

Answer 1

You have two options:

1) php_mssql extension : If you'd like something that has the same API mysql and mysqli has, then use the php_mssql extension. But there is a catch, the bundled ntwdblib.dll file with PHP is not working. You have to find this file from a SQL Server 2000 installation or you can find it on the Internet. This API is supposedly not very reliable but I have been using it without problem for about one year.

http://ca.php.net/mssql

2) Microsoft SQL Server 2005 PHP Driver : If you'd like something more modern but which does not have the same API and is missing some important functions (mssql_num_rows). The big plus is that it is supported by Microsoft and is likely to work with a future version.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/cc299381.aspx

Answer 2

Just use the mssql_connect() function like this:

$conn = mssql_connect('localhost', 'sa' , '123456')
    or die('Can\'t connect.');
mssql_select_db('database', $conn)
    or die('Can\'t select the database');

Functions relating to SQL Server are defined in the PHP manual for the MSSQL driver.

One question though, "all the query work is done on the client side" WTF? :D