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Connecting to your Database

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There are two ways to connect to a database:

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Automatically Connecting

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The "auto connect" feature will load and instantiate the database class with every page load. -To enable "auto connecting", add the word database to the core array, as indicated in the following file:

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application/config/autoload.php

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Manually Connecting

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If only some of your pages require database connectivity you can manually connect to your database by adding this -line of code in any function where it is needed, or in your class constructor to make the database -available globally in that class.

- -$this->load->database(); - -

If the above function does not contain any information in the first parameter it will connect -to the group specified in your database config file. For most people, this is the preferred method of use.

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The first parameter of this function can optionally be used to specify a particular database group -from your config file, or you can even submit connection values for a database that is not specified in your config file. -Examples:

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To choose a specific group from your config file you can do this:

- -$this->load->database('group_name'); - -

Where group_name is the name of the connection group from your config file.

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To connect manually to a desired database you can pass an array of values:

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$config['hostname'] = "localhost";

-$config['username'] = "myusername";

-$config['password'] = "mypassword";

-$config['database'] = "mydatabase";

-$config['dbdriver'] = "mysql";

-$config['dbprefix'] = "";

-$config['pconnect'] = FALSE;

-$config['db_debug'] = TRUE;

-$config['active_r'] = TRUE;

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-$this->load->database($config);

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For information on each of these values please see the configuration page. - -

Or you can submit your database values as a Data Source Name. DSNs must have this prototype: - -$dsn = 'dbdriver://username:password@hostname/database'; - -$this->load->database('$dsn'); - -

Note that if you use a DSN you will not be able to specify some of the default values like you can if you use a connection array.

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Connecting to Multiple Databases

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If you need to connect to more than one database simultaneously you can do so as follows:

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$DB1 = $this->load->database('group_one', TRUE);

-$DB2 = $this->load->database('group_two', TRUE);
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Note: Change the words "group_one" and "group_two" to the specific group names you are connecting to (or -you can pass the connection values as indicated above).

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By setting the second parameter to TRUE (boolean) the function will return the database object.

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When you connect this way, you will use your object name to issue commands rather than the syntax used throughout this guide. In other words, rather than issuing commands with:

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$this->db->query();
$this->db->result();
etc...

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You will instead use:

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$DB1->query();
$DB1->result();
etc...

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Code Igniter User Guide Version 1.4.1

Connecting to your Database

Automatically Connecting

Manually Connecting

Connecting to Multiple Databases