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=head1 Driver and Database Characteristics

In this appendix we hope to give you a flavour of the functionality and
quirks of the different DBI drivers and their databases.

The line between the functionality and quirks of a given driver and the
functionality and quirks of its corresponding database is rather blurred.
In some cases the database has functionality that the driver can't or
doesn't access, in others the driver may emulate functionality that the
database doesn't support, like placeholders. So when you see the terms
driver or database below, take them with a pinch of salt.

Our primary goals are to:

=over 4

=item provide a simple overview of each driver and database.

=item help you initially select a suitable DBI driver and database
for your new applications.

=item help you identify potential issues if you need to port an
existing application from one driver and database combination to
another.

=back

We don't attempt to describe the drivers and database in detail here,
we're only interested in the key features that are most commonly used
or relevant to our goals.  And for those features we're just providing
an outline guide. Sometimes little more than signposts. Consult the
database documentation for full details.

With the cooperation of the driver authors we have produced descriptions
for the following drivers and databases:

=over 4

=item DBD::ADO - Microsoft 'Active Data Objects' Middleware

=item DBD::CSV - General 'Comma Seperated Value' ASCII files

=item DBD::DB2 - IBM DB2

=item DBD::Empress - Empress

=item DBD::FreeTDS - For Sybase and SQLServer

=item DBD::Illustra - Illustra

=item DBD::Informix - Informix

=item DBD::Ingres - Ingres

=item DBD::mysql & DBD::mSQL - MySQL and mSQL lightweight databases

=item DBD::ODBC - For any ODBC data source

=item DBD::Oracle - Oracle

=item DBD::Pg - Postgresql

=item DBD::SearchServer - Fulcrum Search Server

=item DBD::Sybase - Sybase

=item DBD::XBase - For XBase files ( dBase I<etc.> )

=back

For each of these drivers we've tried to cover the same range of topics
in the same order. The topics include:

=over 4

=item Supported databases and versions along with driver version and author

=item How to connect

=item Supported Data Types, their ranges and functionality

=item Variations in SQL dialect and default behaviours

=item Advanced database features

=item How to access database metadata

=item Driver capabilities and conformance

=back

Reading straight through is not for the faint hearted. We recommend
dipping in on an I<as-needed> basis.