Using DB-Library Functions

Using DB-Library for C or for Visual Basic, applications can access and manipulate information contained within SQL Server databases. A wealth of functions exist to facilitate this communication and data manipulation. The functionality of the DB-Library falls into the following categories:

• Core functions perform fundamental operations such as:
  1. Connect to Microsoft SQL Server.
  2. Put Transact-SQL statements into a buffer and send them to SQL Server.
  3. Process any results returned from SQL Server, one statement at a time and one row at a time. You can put the results into program variables, where your application can manipulate them.
  4. Handle DB-Library errors and SQL Server messages.
  5. Disconnect from SQL Server.

  Microsoft SQL Server provides several mechanisms for implementing the preceding steps. You can use SQL Server functions to search for SQL Servers either locally or over the network; to resolve SQL Server names, irrespective of the client platform; to bind the results of SQL Server queries to program variables; and to interpret and effectively handle errors and messages originating from transactions with SQL Server.

• Cursor functions can be used to exploit and administer cursor functionality (manipulate rows).
• Stored procedure functions allow you to access stored procedures.
• Text and image functions can be used to manipulate text and image data types.
• Browse functions can be used to retrieve information about data, column, and table structures.
• Bulk copy functions can be used to perform bulk copy operations.

For detailed information about DB-Library for C functions or DB-Library for Visual Basic functions, see the Microsoft SQL Server Programmer's Toolkit documentation in the "Database and Messaging Services" section of the Platform SDK.