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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>36.4. Using Host Variables</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="ecpg-commands.html" title="36.3. Running SQL Commands" /><link rel="next" href="ecpg-dynamic.html" title="36.5. Dynamic SQL" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">36.4. Using Host Variables</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ecpg-commands.html" title="36.3. Running SQL Commands">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="ecpg.html" title="Chapter 36. ECPG — Embedded SQL in C">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 36. <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="application">ECPG</span> — Embedded <acronym xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="acronym">SQL</acronym> in C</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 14.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ecpg-dynamic.html" title="36.5. Dynamic SQL">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="sect1" id="ECPG-VARIABLES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">36.4. Using Host Variables</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-VARIABLES-OVERVIEW">36.4.1. Overview</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-DECLARE-SECTIONS">36.4.2. Declare Sections</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-RETRIEVING">36.4.3. Retrieving Query Results</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-VARIABLES-TYPE-MAPPING">36.4.4. Type Mapping</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-VARIABLES-NONPRIMITIVE-SQL">36.4.5. Handling Nonprimitive SQL Data Types</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-INDICATORS">36.4.6. Indicators</a></span></dt></dl></div><p>
+ In <a class="xref" href="ecpg-commands.html" title="36.3. Running SQL Commands">Section 36.3</a> you saw how you can execute SQL
+ statements from an embedded SQL program. Some of those statements
+ only used fixed values and did not provide a way to insert
+ user-supplied values into statements or have the program process
+ the values returned by the query. Those kinds of statements are
+ not really useful in real applications. This section explains in
+ detail how you can pass data between your C program and the
+ embedded SQL statements using a simple mechanism called
+ <em class="firstterm">host variables</em>. In an embedded SQL program we
+ consider the SQL statements to be <em class="firstterm">guests</em> in the C
+ program code which is the <em class="firstterm">host language</em>. Therefore
+ the variables of the C program are called <em class="firstterm">host
+ variables</em>.
+ </p><p>
+ Another way to exchange values between PostgreSQL backends and ECPG
+ applications is the use of SQL descriptors, described
+ in <a class="xref" href="ecpg-descriptors.html" title="36.7. Using Descriptor Areas">Section 36.7</a>.
+ </p><div class="sect2" id="ECPG-VARIABLES-OVERVIEW"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">36.4.1. Overview</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ Passing data between the C program and the SQL statements is
+ particularly simple in embedded SQL. Instead of having the
+ program paste the data into the statement, which entails various
+ complications, such as properly quoting the value, you can simply
+ write the name of a C variable into the SQL statement, prefixed by
+ a colon. For example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL INSERT INTO sometable VALUES (:v1, 'foo', :v2);
+</pre><p>
+ This statement refers to two C variables named
+ <code class="varname">v1</code> and <code class="varname">v2</code> and also uses a
+ regular SQL string literal, to illustrate that you are not
+ restricted to use one kind of data or the other.
+ </p><p>
+ This style of inserting C variables in SQL statements works
+ anywhere a value expression is expected in an SQL statement.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="ECPG-DECLARE-SECTIONS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">36.4.2. Declare Sections</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ To pass data from the program to the database, for example as
+ parameters in a query, or to pass data from the database back to
+ the program, the C variables that are intended to contain this
+ data need to be declared in specially marked sections, so the
+ embedded SQL preprocessor is made aware of them.
+ </p><p>
+ This section starts with:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+</pre><p>
+ and ends with:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+</pre><p>
+ Between those lines, there must be normal C variable declarations,
+ such as:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+int x = 4;
+char foo[16], bar[16];
+</pre><p>
+ As you can see, you can optionally assign an initial value to the variable.
+ The variable's scope is determined by the location of its declaring
+ section within the program.
+ You can also declare variables with the following syntax which implicitly
+ creates a declare section:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL int i = 4;
+</pre><p>
+ You can have as many declare sections in a program as you like.
+ </p><p>
+ The declarations are also echoed to the output file as normal C
+ variables, so there's no need to declare them again. Variables
+ that are not intended to be used in SQL commands can be declared
+ normally outside these special sections.
+ </p><p>
+ The definition of a structure or union also must be listed inside
+ a <code class="literal">DECLARE</code> section. Otherwise the preprocessor cannot
+ handle these types since it does not know the definition.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="ECPG-RETRIEVING"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">36.4.3. Retrieving Query Results</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ Now you should be able to pass data generated by your program into
+ an SQL command. But how do you retrieve the results of a query?
+ For that purpose, embedded SQL provides special variants of the
+ usual commands <code class="command">SELECT</code> and
+ <code class="command">FETCH</code>. These commands have a special
+ <code class="literal">INTO</code> clause that specifies which host variables
+ the retrieved values are to be stored in.
+ <code class="command">SELECT</code> is used for a query that returns only
+ single row, and <code class="command">FETCH</code> is used for a query that
+ returns multiple rows, using a cursor.
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+/*
+ * assume this table:
+ * CREATE TABLE test1 (a int, b varchar(50));
+ */
+
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+int v1;
+VARCHAR v2;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ ...
+
+EXEC SQL SELECT a, b INTO :v1, :v2 FROM test;
+</pre><p>
+ So the <code class="literal">INTO</code> clause appears between the select
+ list and the <code class="literal">FROM</code> clause. The number of
+ elements in the select list and the list after
+ <code class="literal">INTO</code> (also called the target list) must be
+ equal.
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example using the command <code class="command">FETCH</code>:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+int v1;
+VARCHAR v2;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ ...
+
+EXEC SQL DECLARE foo CURSOR FOR SELECT a, b FROM test;
+
+ ...
+
+do
+{
+ ...
+ EXEC SQL FETCH NEXT FROM foo INTO :v1, :v2;
+ ...
+} while (...);
+</pre><p>
+ Here the <code class="literal">INTO</code> clause appears after all the
+ normal clauses.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="ECPG-VARIABLES-TYPE-MAPPING"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">36.4.4. Type Mapping</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ When ECPG applications exchange values between the PostgreSQL
+ server and the C application, such as when retrieving query
+ results from the server or executing SQL statements with input
+ parameters, the values need to be converted between PostgreSQL
+ data types and host language variable types (C language data
+ types, concretely). One of the main points of ECPG is that it
+ takes care of this automatically in most cases.
+ </p><p>
+ In this respect, there are two kinds of data types: Some simple
+ PostgreSQL data types, such as <code class="type">integer</code>
+ and <code class="type">text</code>, can be read and written by the application
+ directly. Other PostgreSQL data types, such
+ as <code class="type">timestamp</code> and <code class="type">numeric</code> can only be
+ accessed through special library functions; see
+ <a class="xref" href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-SPECIAL-TYPES" title="36.4.4.2. Accessing Special Data Types">Section 36.4.4.2</a>.
+ </p><p>
+ <a class="xref" href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-DATATYPE-HOSTVARS-TABLE" title="Table 36.1. Mapping Between PostgreSQL Data Types and C Variable Types">Table 36.1</a> shows which PostgreSQL
+ data types correspond to which C data types. When you wish to
+ send or receive a value of a given PostgreSQL data type, you
+ should declare a C variable of the corresponding C data type in
+ the declare section.
+ </p><div class="table" id="ECPG-DATATYPE-HOSTVARS-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 36.1. Mapping Between PostgreSQL Data Types and C Variable Types</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Mapping Between PostgreSQL Data Types and C Variable Types" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>PostgreSQL data type</th><th>Host variable type</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code class="type">smallint</code></td><td><code class="type">short</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">integer</code></td><td><code class="type">int</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">bigint</code></td><td><code class="type">long long int</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">decimal</code></td><td><code class="type">decimal</code><a href="#ftn.ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN" class="footnote"><sup class="footnote" id="ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN">[a]</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">numeric</code></td><td><code class="type">numeric</code><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ftn.ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN" class="footnoteref"><sup class="footnoteref">[a]</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">real</code></td><td><code class="type">float</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">double precision</code></td><td><code class="type">double</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">smallserial</code></td><td><code class="type">short</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">serial</code></td><td><code class="type">int</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">bigserial</code></td><td><code class="type">long long int</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">oid</code></td><td><code class="type">unsigned int</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">character(<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em>)</code>, <code class="type">varchar(<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em>)</code>, <code class="type">text</code></td><td><code class="type">char[<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em>+1]</code>, <code class="type">VARCHAR[<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em>+1]</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">name</code></td><td><code class="type">char[NAMEDATALEN]</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">timestamp</code></td><td><code class="type">timestamp</code><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ftn.ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN" class="footnoteref"><sup class="footnoteref">[a]</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">interval</code></td><td><code class="type">interval</code><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ftn.ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN" class="footnoteref"><sup class="footnoteref">[a]</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">date</code></td><td><code class="type">date</code><a href="ecpg-variables.html#ftn.ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN" class="footnoteref"><sup class="footnoteref">[a]</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">boolean</code></td><td><code class="type">bool</code><a href="#ftn.id-1.7.5.10.7.5.2.2.17.2.2" class="footnote"><sup class="footnote" id="id-1.7.5.10.7.5.2.2.17.2.2">[b]</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td><code class="type">bytea</code></td><td><code class="type">char *</code>, <code class="type">bytea[<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em>]</code></td></tr></tbody><tbody class="footnotes"><tr><td colspan="2"><div id="ftn.ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN" class="footnote"><p><a href="#ECPG-DATATYPE-TABLE-FN" class="para"><sup class="para">[a] </sup></a>This type can only be accessed through special library functions; see <a class="xref" href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-SPECIAL-TYPES" title="36.4.4.2. Accessing Special Data Types">Section 36.4.4.2</a>.</p></div><div id="ftn.id-1.7.5.10.7.5.2.2.17.2.2" class="footnote"><p><a href="#id-1.7.5.10.7.5.2.2.17.2.2" class="para"><sup class="para">[b] </sup></a>declared in <code class="filename">ecpglib.h</code> if not native</p></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><div class="sect3" id="ECPG-CHAR"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">36.4.4.1. Handling Character Strings</h4></div></div></div><p>
+ To handle SQL character string data types, such
+ as <code class="type">varchar</code> and <code class="type">text</code>, there are two
+ possible ways to declare the host variables.
+ </p><p>
+ One way is using <code class="type">char[]</code>, an array
+ of <code class="type">char</code>, which is the most common way to handle
+ character data in C.
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ char str[50];
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+</pre><p>
+ Note that you have to take care of the length yourself. If you
+ use this host variable as the target variable of a query which
+ returns a string with more than 49 characters, a buffer overflow
+ occurs.
+ </p><p>
+ The other way is using the <code class="type">VARCHAR</code> type, which is a
+ special type provided by ECPG. The definition on an array of
+ type <code class="type">VARCHAR</code> is converted into a
+ named <code class="type">struct</code> for every variable. A declaration like:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+VARCHAR var[180];
+</pre><p>
+ is converted into:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+struct varchar_var { int len; char arr[180]; } var;
+</pre><p>
+ The member <code class="structfield">arr</code> hosts the string
+ including a terminating zero byte. Thus, to store a string in
+ a <code class="type">VARCHAR</code> host variable, the host variable has to be
+ declared with the length including the zero byte terminator. The
+ member <code class="structfield">len</code> holds the length of the
+ string stored in the <code class="structfield">arr</code> without the
+ terminating zero byte. When a host variable is used as input for
+ a query, if <code class="literal">strlen(arr)</code>
+ and <code class="structfield">len</code> are different, the shorter one
+ is used.
+ </p><p>
+ <code class="type">VARCHAR</code> can be written in upper or lower case, but
+ not in mixed case.
+ </p><p>
+ <code class="type">char</code> and <code class="type">VARCHAR</code> host variables can
+ also hold values of other SQL types, which will be stored in
+ their string forms.
+ </p></div><div class="sect3" id="ECPG-SPECIAL-TYPES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">36.4.4.2. Accessing Special Data Types</h4></div></div></div><p>
+ ECPG contains some special types that help you to interact easily
+ with some special data types from the PostgreSQL server. In
+ particular, it has implemented support for the
+ <code class="type">numeric</code>, <code class="type">decimal</code>, <code class="type">date</code>, <code class="type">timestamp</code>,
+ and <code class="type">interval</code> types. These data types cannot usefully be
+ mapped to primitive host variable types (such
+ as <code class="type">int</code>, <code class="type">long long int</code>,
+ or <code class="type">char[]</code>), because they have a complex internal
+ structure. Applications deal with these types by declaring host
+ variables in special types and accessing them using functions in
+ the pgtypes library. The pgtypes library, described in detail
+ in <a class="xref" href="ecpg-pgtypes.html" title="36.6. pgtypes Library">Section 36.6</a> contains basic functions to deal
+ with those types, such that you do not need to send a query to
+ the SQL server just for adding an interval to a time stamp for
+ example.
+ </p><p>
+ The follow subsections describe these special data types. For
+ more details about pgtypes library functions,
+ see <a class="xref" href="ecpg-pgtypes.html" title="36.6. pgtypes Library">Section 36.6</a>.
+ </p><div class="sect4" id="id-1.7.5.10.7.7.4"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.2.1. timestamp, date</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ Here is a pattern for handling <code class="type">timestamp</code> variables
+ in the ECPG host application.
+ </p><p>
+ First, the program has to include the header file for the
+ <code class="type">timestamp</code> type:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+#include &lt;pgtypes_timestamp.h&gt;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Next, declare a host variable as type <code class="type">timestamp</code> in
+ the declare section:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+timestamp ts;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ And after reading a value into the host variable, process it
+ using pgtypes library functions. In following example, the
+ <code class="type">timestamp</code> value is converted into text (ASCII) form
+ with the <code class="function">PGTYPEStimestamp_to_asc()</code>
+ function:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL SELECT now()::timestamp INTO :ts;
+
+printf("ts = %s\n", PGTYPEStimestamp_to_asc(ts));
+</pre><p>
+ This example will show some result like following:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+ts = 2010-06-27 18:03:56.949343
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ In addition, the DATE type can be handled in the same way. The
+ program has to include <code class="filename">pgtypes_date.h</code>, declare a host variable
+ as the date type and convert a DATE value into a text form using
+ <code class="function">PGTYPESdate_to_asc()</code> function. For more details about the
+ pgtypes library functions, see <a class="xref" href="ecpg-pgtypes.html" title="36.6. pgtypes Library">Section 36.6</a>.
+ </p></div><div class="sect4" id="ECPG-TYPE-INTERVAL"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.2.2. interval</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ The handling of the <code class="type">interval</code> type is also similar
+ to the <code class="type">timestamp</code> and <code class="type">date</code> types. It
+ is required, however, to allocate memory for
+ an <code class="type">interval</code> type value explicitly. In other words,
+ the memory space for the variable has to be allocated in the
+ heap memory, not in the stack memory.
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example program:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
+#include &lt;stdlib.h&gt;
+#include &lt;pgtypes_interval.h&gt;
+
+int
+main(void)
+{
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ interval *in;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ EXEC SQL CONNECT TO testdb;
+ EXEC SQL SELECT pg_catalog.set_config('search_path', '', false); EXEC SQL COMMIT;
+
+ in = PGTYPESinterval_new();
+ EXEC SQL SELECT '1 min'::interval INTO :in;
+ printf("interval = %s\n", PGTYPESinterval_to_asc(in));
+ PGTYPESinterval_free(in);
+
+ EXEC SQL COMMIT;
+ EXEC SQL DISCONNECT ALL;
+ return 0;
+}
+</pre><p>
+ </p></div><div class="sect4" id="ECPG-TYPE-NUMERIC-DECIMAL"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.2.3. numeric, decimal</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ The handling of the <code class="type">numeric</code>
+ and <code class="type">decimal</code> types is similar to the
+ <code class="type">interval</code> type: It requires defining a pointer,
+ allocating some memory space on the heap, and accessing the
+ variable using the pgtypes library functions. For more details
+ about the pgtypes library functions,
+ see <a class="xref" href="ecpg-pgtypes.html" title="36.6. pgtypes Library">Section 36.6</a>.
+ </p><p>
+ No functions are provided specifically for
+ the <code class="type">decimal</code> type. An application has to convert it
+ to a <code class="type">numeric</code> variable using a pgtypes library
+ function to do further processing.
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example program handling <code class="type">numeric</code>
+ and <code class="type">decimal</code> type variables.
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
+#include &lt;stdlib.h&gt;
+#include &lt;pgtypes_numeric.h&gt;
+
+EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLERROR STOP;
+
+int
+main(void)
+{
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ numeric *num;
+ numeric *num2;
+ decimal *dec;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ EXEC SQL CONNECT TO testdb;
+ EXEC SQL SELECT pg_catalog.set_config('search_path', '', false); EXEC SQL COMMIT;
+
+ num = PGTYPESnumeric_new();
+ dec = PGTYPESdecimal_new();
+
+ EXEC SQL SELECT 12.345::numeric(4,2), 23.456::decimal(4,2) INTO :num, :dec;
+
+ printf("numeric = %s\n", PGTYPESnumeric_to_asc(num, 0));
+ printf("numeric = %s\n", PGTYPESnumeric_to_asc(num, 1));
+ printf("numeric = %s\n", PGTYPESnumeric_to_asc(num, 2));
+
+ /* Convert decimal to numeric to show a decimal value. */
+ num2 = PGTYPESnumeric_new();
+ PGTYPESnumeric_from_decimal(dec, num2);
+
+ printf("decimal = %s\n", PGTYPESnumeric_to_asc(num2, 0));
+ printf("decimal = %s\n", PGTYPESnumeric_to_asc(num2, 1));
+ printf("decimal = %s\n", PGTYPESnumeric_to_asc(num2, 2));
+
+ PGTYPESnumeric_free(num2);
+ PGTYPESdecimal_free(dec);
+ PGTYPESnumeric_free(num);
+
+ EXEC SQL COMMIT;
+ EXEC SQL DISCONNECT ALL;
+ return 0;
+}
+</pre><p>
+ </p></div><div class="sect4" id="id-1.7.5.10.7.7.7"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.2.4. bytea</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ The handling of the <code class="type">bytea</code> type is similar to
+ that of <code class="type">VARCHAR</code>. The definition on an array of type
+ <code class="type">bytea</code> is converted into a named struct for every
+ variable. A declaration like:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+bytea var[180];
+</pre><p>
+ is converted into:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+struct bytea_var { int len; char arr[180]; } var;
+</pre><p>
+ The member <code class="structfield">arr</code> hosts binary format
+ data. It can also handle <code class="literal">'\0'</code> as part of
+ data, unlike <code class="type">VARCHAR</code>.
+ The data is converted from/to hex format and sent/received by
+ ecpglib.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ <code class="type">bytea</code> variable can be used only when
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-client.html#GUC-BYTEA-OUTPUT">bytea_output</a> is set to <code class="literal">hex</code>.
+ </p></div></div></div><div class="sect3" id="ECPG-VARIABLES-NONPRIMITIVE-C"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">36.4.4.3. Host Variables with Nonprimitive Types</h4></div></div></div><p>
+ As a host variable you can also use arrays, typedefs, structs, and
+ pointers.
+ </p><div class="sect4" id="ECPG-VARIABLES-ARRAYS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.3.1. Arrays</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ There are two use cases for arrays as host variables. The first
+ is a way to store some text string in <code class="type">char[]</code>
+ or <code class="type">VARCHAR[]</code>, as
+ explained in <a class="xref" href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-CHAR" title="36.4.4.1. Handling Character Strings">Section 36.4.4.1</a>. The second use case is to
+ retrieve multiple rows from a query result without using a
+ cursor. Without an array, to process a query result consisting
+ of multiple rows, it is required to use a cursor and
+ the <code class="command">FETCH</code> command. But with array host
+ variables, multiple rows can be received at once. The length of
+ the array has to be defined to be able to accommodate all rows,
+ otherwise a buffer overflow will likely occur.
+ </p><p>
+ Following example scans the <code class="literal">pg_database</code>
+ system table and shows all OIDs and names of the available
+ databases:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+int
+main(void)
+{
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ int dbid[8];
+ char dbname[8][16];
+ int i;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ memset(dbname, 0, sizeof(char)* 16 * 8);
+ memset(dbid, 0, sizeof(int) * 8);
+
+ EXEC SQL CONNECT TO testdb;
+ EXEC SQL SELECT pg_catalog.set_config('search_path', '', false); EXEC SQL COMMIT;
+
+ /* Retrieve multiple rows into arrays at once. */
+ EXEC SQL SELECT oid,datname INTO :dbid, :dbname FROM pg_database;
+
+ for (i = 0; i &lt; 8; i++)
+ printf("oid=%d, dbname=%s\n", dbid[i], dbname[i]);
+
+ EXEC SQL COMMIT;
+ EXEC SQL DISCONNECT ALL;
+ return 0;
+}
+</pre><p>
+
+ This example shows following result. (The exact values depend on
+ local circumstances.)
+</p><pre class="screen">
+oid=1, dbname=template1
+oid=11510, dbname=template0
+oid=11511, dbname=postgres
+oid=313780, dbname=testdb
+oid=0, dbname=
+oid=0, dbname=
+oid=0, dbname=
+</pre><p>
+ </p></div><div class="sect4" id="ECPG-VARIABLES-STRUCT"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.3.2. Structures</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ A structure whose member names match the column names of a query
+ result, can be used to retrieve multiple columns at once. The
+ structure enables handling multiple column values in a single
+ host variable.
+ </p><p>
+ The following example retrieves OIDs, names, and sizes of the
+ available databases from the <code class="literal">pg_database</code>
+ system table and using
+ the <code class="function">pg_database_size()</code> function. In this
+ example, a structure variable <code class="varname">dbinfo_t</code> with
+ members whose names match each column in
+ the <code class="literal">SELECT</code> result is used to retrieve one
+ result row without putting multiple host variables in
+ the <code class="literal">FETCH</code> statement.
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ typedef struct
+ {
+ int oid;
+ char datname[65];
+ long long int size;
+ } dbinfo_t;
+
+ dbinfo_t dbval;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ memset(&amp;dbval, 0, sizeof(dbinfo_t));
+
+ EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT oid, datname, pg_database_size(oid) AS size FROM pg_database;
+ EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+ /* when end of result set reached, break out of while loop */
+ EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+ while (1)
+ {
+ /* Fetch multiple columns into one structure. */
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :dbval;
+
+ /* Print members of the structure. */
+ printf("oid=%d, datname=%s, size=%lld\n", dbval.oid, dbval.datname, dbval.size);
+ }
+
+ EXEC SQL CLOSE cur1;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ This example shows following result. (The exact values depend on
+ local circumstances.)
+</p><pre class="screen">
+oid=1, datname=template1, size=4324580
+oid=11510, datname=template0, size=4243460
+oid=11511, datname=postgres, size=4324580
+oid=313780, datname=testdb, size=8183012
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Structure host variables <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">absorb</span>”</span> as many columns
+ as the structure as fields. Additional columns can be assigned
+ to other host variables. For example, the above program could
+ also be restructured like this, with the <code class="varname">size</code>
+ variable outside the structure:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ typedef struct
+ {
+ int oid;
+ char datname[65];
+ } dbinfo_t;
+
+ dbinfo_t dbval;
+ long long int size;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ memset(&amp;dbval, 0, sizeof(dbinfo_t));
+
+ EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT oid, datname, pg_database_size(oid) AS size FROM pg_database;
+ EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+ /* when end of result set reached, break out of while loop */
+ EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+ while (1)
+ {
+ /* Fetch multiple columns into one structure. */
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :dbval, :size;
+
+ /* Print members of the structure. */
+ printf("oid=%d, datname=%s, size=%lld\n", dbval.oid, dbval.datname, size);
+ }
+
+ EXEC SQL CLOSE cur1;
+</pre><p>
+ </p></div><div class="sect4" id="id-1.7.5.10.7.8.5"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.3.3. Typedefs</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ Use the <code class="literal">typedef</code> keyword to map new types to already
+ existing types.
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ typedef char mychartype[40];
+ typedef long serial_t;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+</pre><p>
+ Note that you could also use:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL TYPE serial_t IS long;
+</pre><p>
+ This declaration does not need to be part of a declare section.
+ </p></div><div class="sect4" id="id-1.7.5.10.7.8.6"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">36.4.4.3.4. Pointers</h5></div></div></div><p>
+ You can declare pointers to the most common types. Note however
+ that you cannot use pointers as target variables of queries
+ without auto-allocation. See <a class="xref" href="ecpg-descriptors.html" title="36.7. Using Descriptor Areas">Section 36.7</a>
+ for more information on auto-allocation.
+ </p><p>
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ int *intp;
+ char **charp;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+</pre><p>
+ </p></div></div></div><div class="sect2" id="ECPG-VARIABLES-NONPRIMITIVE-SQL"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">36.4.5. Handling Nonprimitive SQL Data Types</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ This section contains information on how to handle nonscalar and
+ user-defined SQL-level data types in ECPG applications. Note that
+ this is distinct from the handling of host variables of
+ nonprimitive types, described in the previous section.
+ </p><div class="sect3" id="id-1.7.5.10.8.3"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">36.4.5.1. Arrays</h4></div></div></div><p>
+ Multi-dimensional SQL-level arrays are not directly supported in ECPG.
+ One-dimensional SQL-level arrays can be mapped into C array host
+ variables and vice-versa. However, when creating a statement ecpg does
+ not know the types of the columns, so that it cannot check if a C array
+ is input into a corresponding SQL-level array. When processing the
+ output of an SQL statement, ecpg has the necessary information and thus
+ checks if both are arrays.
+ </p><p>
+ If a query accesses <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> of an array
+ separately, then this avoids the use of arrays in ECPG. Then, a
+ host variable with a type that can be mapped to the element type
+ should be used. For example, if a column type is array of
+ <code class="type">integer</code>, a host variable of type <code class="type">int</code>
+ can be used. Also if the element type is <code class="type">varchar</code>
+ or <code class="type">text</code>, a host variable of type <code class="type">char[]</code>
+ or <code class="type">VARCHAR[]</code> can be used.
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example. Assume the following table:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE TABLE t3 (
+ ii integer[]
+);
+
+testdb=&gt; SELECT * FROM t3;
+ ii
+-------------
+ {1,2,3,4,5}
+(1 row)
+</pre><p>
+
+ The following example program retrieves the 4th element of the
+ array and stores it into a host variable of
+ type <code class="type">int</code>:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+int ii;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT ii[4] FROM t3;
+EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+while (1)
+{
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :ii ;
+ printf("ii=%d\n", ii);
+}
+
+EXEC SQL CLOSE cur1;
+</pre><p>
+
+ This example shows the following result:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+ii=4
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ To map multiple array elements to the multiple elements in an
+ array type host variables each element of array column and each
+ element of the host variable array have to be managed separately,
+ for example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+int ii_a[8];
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT ii[1], ii[2], ii[3], ii[4] FROM t3;
+EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+while (1)
+{
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :ii_a[0], :ii_a[1], :ii_a[2], :ii_a[3];
+ ...
+}
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Note again that
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+int ii_a[8];
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT ii FROM t3;
+EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+while (1)
+{
+ /* WRONG */
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :ii_a;
+ ...
+}
+</pre><p>
+ would not work correctly in this case, because you cannot map an
+ array type column to an array host variable directly.
+ </p><p>
+ Another workaround is to store arrays in their external string
+ representation in host variables of type <code class="type">char[]</code>
+ or <code class="type">VARCHAR[]</code>. For more details about this
+ representation, see <a class="xref" href="arrays.html#ARRAYS-INPUT" title="8.15.2. Array Value Input">Section 8.15.2</a>. Note that
+ this means that the array cannot be accessed naturally as an
+ array in the host program (without further processing that parses
+ the text representation).
+ </p></div><div class="sect3" id="id-1.7.5.10.8.4"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">36.4.5.2. Composite Types</h4></div></div></div><p>
+ Composite types are not directly supported in ECPG, but an easy workaround is possible.
+ The
+ available workarounds are similar to the ones described for
+ arrays above: Either access each attribute separately or use the
+ external string representation.
+ </p><p>
+ For the following examples, assume the following type and table:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE TYPE comp_t AS (intval integer, textval varchar(32));
+CREATE TABLE t4 (compval comp_t);
+INSERT INTO t4 VALUES ( (256, 'PostgreSQL') );
+</pre><p>
+
+ The most obvious solution is to access each attribute separately.
+ The following program retrieves data from the example table by
+ selecting each attribute of the type <code class="type">comp_t</code>
+ separately:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+int intval;
+varchar textval[33];
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+/* Put each element of the composite type column in the SELECT list. */
+EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT (compval).intval, (compval).textval FROM t4;
+EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+while (1)
+{
+ /* Fetch each element of the composite type column into host variables. */
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :intval, :textval;
+
+ printf("intval=%d, textval=%s\n", intval, textval.arr);
+}
+
+EXEC SQL CLOSE cur1;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ To enhance this example, the host variables to store values in
+ the <code class="command">FETCH</code> command can be gathered into one
+ structure. For more details about the host variable in the
+ structure form, see <a class="xref" href="ecpg-variables.html#ECPG-VARIABLES-STRUCT" title="36.4.4.3.2. Structures">Section 36.4.4.3.2</a>.
+ To switch to the structure, the example can be modified as below.
+ The two host variables, <code class="varname">intval</code>
+ and <code class="varname">textval</code>, become members of
+ the <code class="structname">comp_t</code> structure, and the structure
+ is specified on the <code class="command">FETCH</code> command.
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+typedef struct
+{
+ int intval;
+ varchar textval[33];
+} comp_t;
+
+comp_t compval;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+/* Put each element of the composite type column in the SELECT list. */
+EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT (compval).intval, (compval).textval FROM t4;
+EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+while (1)
+{
+ /* Put all values in the SELECT list into one structure. */
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :compval;
+
+ printf("intval=%d, textval=%s\n", compval.intval, compval.textval.arr);
+}
+
+EXEC SQL CLOSE cur1;
+</pre><p>
+
+ Although a structure is used in the <code class="command">FETCH</code>
+ command, the attribute names in the <code class="command">SELECT</code>
+ clause are specified one by one. This can be enhanced by using
+ a <code class="literal">*</code> to ask for all attributes of the composite
+ type value.
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+...
+EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT (compval).* FROM t4;
+EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+while (1)
+{
+ /* Put all values in the SELECT list into one structure. */
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :compval;
+
+ printf("intval=%d, textval=%s\n", compval.intval, compval.textval.arr);
+}
+...
+</pre><p>
+ This way, composite types can be mapped into structures almost
+ seamlessly, even though ECPG does not understand the composite
+ type itself.
+ </p><p>
+ Finally, it is also possible to store composite type values in
+ their external string representation in host variables of
+ type <code class="type">char[]</code> or <code class="type">VARCHAR[]</code>. But that
+ way, it is not easily possible to access the fields of the value
+ from the host program.
+ </p></div><div class="sect3" id="id-1.7.5.10.8.5"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">36.4.5.3. User-Defined Base Types</h4></div></div></div><p>
+ New user-defined base types are not directly supported by ECPG.
+ You can use the external string representation and host variables
+ of type <code class="type">char[]</code> or <code class="type">VARCHAR[]</code>, and this
+ solution is indeed appropriate and sufficient for many types.
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example using the data type <code class="type">complex</code> from
+ the example in <a class="xref" href="xtypes.html" title="38.13. User-Defined Types">Section 38.13</a>. The external string
+ representation of that type is <code class="literal">(%f,%f)</code>,
+ which is defined in the
+ functions <code class="function">complex_in()</code>
+ and <code class="function">complex_out()</code> functions
+ in <a class="xref" href="xtypes.html" title="38.13. User-Defined Types">Section 38.13</a>. The following example inserts the
+ complex type values <code class="literal">(1,1)</code>
+ and <code class="literal">(3,3)</code> into the
+ columns <code class="literal">a</code> and <code class="literal">b</code>, and select
+ them from the table after that.
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+ varchar a[64];
+ varchar b[64];
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+ EXEC SQL INSERT INTO test_complex VALUES ('(1,1)', '(3,3)');
+
+ EXEC SQL DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT a, b FROM test_complex;
+ EXEC SQL OPEN cur1;
+
+ EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND DO BREAK;
+
+ while (1)
+ {
+ EXEC SQL FETCH FROM cur1 INTO :a, :b;
+ printf("a=%s, b=%s\n", a.arr, b.arr);
+ }
+
+ EXEC SQL CLOSE cur1;
+</pre><p>
+
+ This example shows following result:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+a=(1,1), b=(3,3)
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Another workaround is avoiding the direct use of the user-defined
+ types in ECPG and instead create a function or cast that converts
+ between the user-defined type and a primitive type that ECPG can
+ handle. Note, however, that type casts, especially implicit
+ ones, should be introduced into the type system very carefully.
+ </p><p>
+ For example,
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE FUNCTION create_complex(r double, i double) RETURNS complex
+LANGUAGE SQL
+IMMUTABLE
+AS $$ SELECT $1 * complex '(1,0')' + $2 * complex '(0,1)' $$;
+</pre><p>
+ After this definition, the following
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+double a, b, c, d;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
+
+a = 1;
+b = 2;
+c = 3;
+d = 4;
+
+EXEC SQL INSERT INTO test_complex VALUES (create_complex(:a, :b), create_complex(:c, :d));
+</pre><p>
+ has the same effect as
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL INSERT INTO test_complex VALUES ('(1,2)', '(3,4)');
+</pre><p>
+ </p></div></div><div class="sect2" id="ECPG-INDICATORS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">36.4.6. Indicators</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ The examples above do not handle null values. In fact, the
+ retrieval examples will raise an error if they fetch a null value
+ from the database. To be able to pass null values to the database
+ or retrieve null values from the database, you need to append a
+ second host variable specification to each host variable that
+ contains data. This second host variable is called the
+ <em class="firstterm">indicator</em> and contains a flag that tells
+ whether the datum is null, in which case the value of the real
+ host variable is ignored. Here is an example that handles the
+ retrieval of null values correctly:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
+VARCHAR val;
+int val_ind;
+EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION:
+
+ ...
+
+EXEC SQL SELECT b INTO :val :val_ind FROM test1;
+</pre><p>
+ The indicator variable <code class="varname">val_ind</code> will be zero if
+ the value was not null, and it will be negative if the value was
+ null. (See <a class="xref" href="ecpg-oracle-compat.html" title="36.16. Oracle Compatibility Mode">Section 36.16</a> to enable
+ Oracle-specific behavior.)
+ </p><p>
+ The indicator has another function: if the indicator value is
+ positive, it means that the value is not null, but it was
+ truncated when it was stored in the host variable.
+ </p><p>
+ If the argument <code class="literal">-r no_indicator</code> is passed to
+ the preprocessor <code class="command">ecpg</code>, it works in
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">no-indicator</span>”</span> mode. In no-indicator mode, if no
+ indicator variable is specified, null values are signaled (on
+ input and output) for character string types as empty string and
+ for integer types as the lowest possible value for type (for
+ example, <code class="symbol">INT_MIN</code> for <code class="type">int</code>).
+ </p></div></div><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navfooter"><hr></hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ecpg-commands.html" title="36.3. Running SQL Commands">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="ecpg.html" title="Chapter 36. ECPG — Embedded SQL in C">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ecpg-dynamic.html" title="36.5. Dynamic SQL">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">36.3. Running SQL Commands </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 14.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 36.5. Dynamic SQL</td></tr></table></div></body></html> \ No newline at end of file