XLVI. Oracle 8 functions
    These functions allow you to access Oracle8 and Oracle7 databases.     It uses the Oracle8 Call-Interface (OCI8). You will need the Oracle8     client libraries to use this extension.    
    This extension is more flexible than the standard Oracle     extension. It supports binding of global and local PHP variables     to Oracle placeholders, has full LOB, FILE and ROWID support     and allows you to use user-supplied define variables.    
    Before using this extension, make sure that you have set up your     oracle environment variables properly for the Oracle user, as well     as your web daemon user. The variables you might need to set are as     follows:     
       ORACLE_HOME       
       ORACLE_SID       
       LD_PRELOAD       
       LD_LIBRARY_PATH       
       NLS_LANG       
       ORA_NLS33       
    
    After setting up the environment variables for your webserver user,     be sure to also add the webserver user (nobody, www) to the oracle     group.    
    
Example 1. OCI Hints 
<?php // by sergo@bacup.ru  // Use option: OCI_DEFAULT for execute command to delay execution OCIExecute($stmt, OCI_DEFAULT);  // for retrieve data use (after fetch):  $result = OCIResult($stmt, $n); if (is_object ($result)) $result = $result->load();  // For INSERT or UPDATE statement use:  $sql = "insert into table (field1, field2) values (field1 = 'value',  field2 = empty_clob()) returning field2 into :field2"; OCIParse($conn, $sql); $clob = OCINewDescriptor($conn, OCI_D_LOB); OCIBindByName ($stmt, ":field2", &$clob, -1, OCI_B_CLOB); OCIExecute($stmt, OCI_DEFAULT); $clob->save ("some text");  ?>       |  
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    You can easily access stored procedures in the same way as you     would from the commands line.     
Example 2. Using Stored Procedures 
<?php // by webmaster@remoterealty.com $sth = OCIParse ( $dbh, "begin sp_newaddress( :address_id, '$firstname',  '$lastname', '$company', '$address1', '$address2', '$city', '$state',  '$postalcode', '$country', :error_code );end;" );  // This calls stored procedure sp_newaddress, with :address_id being an // in/out variable and :error_code being an out variable.  // Then you do the binding:     OCIBindByName ( $sth, ":address_id", $addr_id, 10 );    OCIBindByName ( $sth, ":error_code", $errorcode, 10 );    OCIExecute ( $sth );  ?>        |  
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    - Table of Contents
 - OCIDefineByName —       Use a PHP variable for the define-step during a SELECT     
 - OCIBindByName —       Bind a PHP variable to an Oracle Placeholder     
 - OCILogon — Establishes a connection to Oracle
 - OCIPLogon — Connect to an Oracle database and log on using a     persistant connection. Returns a new session.
 - OCINLogon — Connect to an Oracle database and log on using a new     connection. Returns a new session.
 - OCILogOff — Disconnects from Oracle
 - OCIExecute — Execute a statement
 - OCICommit — Commits outstanding transactions
 - OCIRollback — Rolls back outstanding transactions
 - OCINewDescriptor —       Initialize a new empty descriptor LOB/FILE (LOB is default)     
 - OCIRowCount — Gets the number of affected rows
 - OCINumCols —       Return the number of result columns in a statement     
 - OCIResult — Returns column value for fetched row
 - OCIFetch — Fetches the next row into result-buffer
 - OCIFetchInto — Fetches the next row into result-array
 - OCIFetchStatement — Fetch all rows of result data into an array.
 - OCIColumnIsNULL — test whether a result column is NULL
 - OCIColumnName — Returns the name of a column.
 - OCIColumnSize — return result column size
 - OCIColumnType — Returns the data type of a column.
 - OCIServerVersion — Return a string containing server version     information.
 - OCIStatementType — Return the type of an OCI statement.
 - OCINewCursor —       Return a new cursor (Statement-Handle) - use to bind ref-cursors.     
 - OCIFreeStatement —       Free all resources associated with a statement.     
 - OCIFreeCursor —       Free all resources associated with a cursor.     
 - OCIFreeDesc — Deletes a large object descriptor.
 - OCIParse — Parse a query and return a statement
 - OCIError — Return the last error of stmt|conn|global.       If no error happened returns false.     
 - OCIInternalDebug —       Enables or disables internal debug output.  By default it is      disabled