PHP application development for IBM Database servers

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is an interpreted programming language that is widely used for developing web applications. PHP is a popular language for web development because it is easy to learn, focuses on practical solutions, and supports the most commonly required functionality in web applications.

PHP is a modular language that enables you to customize the available functionality through the use of extensions. These extensions can simplify tasks such as reading, writing, and manipulating XML, creating SOAP clients and servers, and encrypting communications between server and browser. The most popular extensions for PHP, however, provide read and write access to databases so that you can easily create a dynamic database-driven website.

IBM® provides the following PHP extensions for accessing IBM Database servers:

ibm_db2

A procedural application programming interface (API) that, in addition to the normal create, read, update, and write database operations, also offers extensive access to the database metadata. You can compile the ibm_db2 extension with either PHP 4 or PHP 5.

pdo_ibm

A driver for the PHP Data Objects (PDO) extension that offers access to IBM Database servers through the standard object-oriented database interface that is introduced in PHP 5.1.

The most recent versions of the ibm_db2 and pdo_ibm extensions are also available from the PHP Extension Community Library (PECL) at http://pecl.php.net/.