FreeTDS Development Group

["Mark Stantz" <stantz AT panix.com>]

        Greetings, all.

        I'm trying to use FreeTDS and DBD::Sybase to access an MS SQL 
Server 7 database from my Solaris box.  I am able to connect to the remote 
database, but can't seem to actually access any table data, because I can't
seem to get a working statement handle (yes, I am calling $sth->execute 
before calling $sth->fetch_array.)  I was wondering if anyone on this list 
has seen a problem like mine before.

        I've built freetds-0.51 using:
                ./configure --prefix=$HOME/TDS --with-tdsver=7.0
                gmake
                gmake install

        No problems during the build.  I had to use gmake rather than make
to avoid the 'fatal: relocation error...symbol g_tds_err_handler' problem.
Because of this, I also used 'gmake' when building DBD::Sybase.  (Building
it with 'make' doesn't seem to change or help anything, either.)

        DBD::Sybase was built using:
                setenv SYBASE $HOME/TDS
                setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH $SYBASE/lib 
                perl Makefile.PL
                gmake
                gmake install

        No problems.  DBD::Sybase warns that the -lcs, -ltcl and -lcomn 
libraries aren't found, but adds that this is probably harmless.  Other
than this, there are no warnings or errors in any of my builds.

        My interfaces file entry (indented with tabs, not spaces) for the 
server in question looks like this:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
intersection
        query tcp tds5.0 147.11.57.32 1433
        master tcp tds5.0 147.11.57.32 1433
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        For some reason, if I try 'tds7.0' rather than 'tds5.0' I cannot 
connect to the database.  Since I apparently must use 'tds5.0', I tried
rebuilding FreeTDS using '--with-tdsver=5.0', but this didn't help.

        The script I'm using to connect to the database looks like this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
require DBI;
require DBD::Sybase;

$ENV{'SYBASE'} = $ENV{'HOME'} . "/TDS";

print "Connecting...\n";
&connect("dbi:Sybase:server=intersection;database=hris", 
         "sa", "<censored>");

sub connect {
  my($dsn, $user, $pass) = @_;
  my($dbh, $sth);
  my($query) = <<EOF;
select * from hris_phone_list
EOF


  $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, $user, $pass);
  if (!defined $dbh) {
    print "Connect failed:\n$DBI::errstr\n";
  } else {
    $sth = $dbh->prepare($query);
    if (!defined $sth) {
      print "Error calling \$dbh->prepare:\n$DBI::errstr\n";
      $dbh->disconnect;
      return;
    }

    $sth->execute;
    print "$DBI::errstr\n"; # Be sure $sth->execute isn't complaining.

    while (@data = $sth->fetchrow_array) {
      foreach (@data) {
        print "$_ ";
      }
      print "\n";
    }

    $sth->finish;
    $dbh->disconnect;
  }
}

        I know that I'm connecting to the database successfully, because 
if I deliberately corrupt either the username or password in the &connect 
call, I get a connection failure message from DBI->connect.  However, when 
I connect successfully, no matter what my query is (legal or illegal SQL), 
I get the error message: "no statement executing at /folk/mstantz/tdstest 
line 36."  Line 36 is the $sth->fetchrow_array call.  I am used to seeing 
this error message only when I forget to call $sth->execute before 
$sth->fetchrow_array, but that's not the case here.  $sth->execute seems 
to be failing silently, as $DBI::errstr is empty after it's called.

        Additional information: Solaris 7, perl 5.6.0, DBI 1.14.

        So...am I missing something here?  Any advice anyone can provide 
would be very much appreciated.  I am beginning to suspect the problem may
lie on the server side...which would be unfortunate, since I am NT-
illiterate.

        Thanks for taking the time to read and consider this.

        Mark Stantz
        stantz AT panix.com
        mstantz AT windriver.com