1.4.2 Connecting to a Database

Connecting to a database is really very easy. The code below will connect to a MySQL database named 'test'.

import web, web.database
connection = web.database.connect("mysql", database="test")

Below is a description of the full range of parameters the connect() function can take (Obviously not all of the database support all of the parameters):

connect( type,[database,][user,][password,][host,][port,][socket])

type: The type of database to conncet to. Can currently be 'mysql', 'gadfly' or 'odbc'.
database: The database name to connect to.
user: The username to connect with.
password: The password to use.
host: The host to connect to if the database is running on a remote server.
port: The port to connect to if the database is running on a remote server.
socket: The socket to connect to if the database is running locally and requires a socket.
dir: The directory containing the database.
startup: Whether to connect to Gadfly in the special startup mode for creating tables. Can be True or False. Left blank is the same as startup=False.

Here are some examples:

Connect to the unpassworded MySQL database MyDatabase on a local server connected through a socket /tmp/mysqld.sock. Another common socket file used is /tmp/mysql.sock.

connection = web.database.connect(
    type="mysql", 
    database="MyDatabase",
    socket="/tmp/mysqld.sock"
)

Connect to a the database MyDatabase as username with password password. The MySQL server is runing remotely at mysql.example.com on port 3336:

connection = web.database.connect(
    type="mysql",
    database="MyDatabase",
    host="mysql.example.com",
    port="3336",
    user="username",
    password="password"
)

Connect to the Gadfly database TestDB in the directory C:/TestDirectory

connection = web.database.connect(
    type="gadfly",
    database="TestDB",
    dir=r"C:/TestDirectory"
)

Connect to the database TestODBCDatabase through an ODBC driver. The database could be an MS Access database on Windows for example.

connection = web.database.connect(
    type="odbc",
    database="TestODBCDatabase"
)

See About this document... for information on suggesting changes.