[DB-SIG] Re: db module wrapper

[Stuart Bishop]

On 25/08/2004, at 1:20 AM, Randall Smith wrote:

> M.-A. Lemburg wrote:
>> Jonathan M. Franz wrote:
>>> Note to Marc: the clarifications as to the descriptor fields and 
>>> their meanings we discussed on the python list a long time ago was a 
>>> big help - but those clarifications are still outstanding in the 
>>> spec itself.  Should I submit a doc patch?
>> Yes, please.
>>>> I'm mainly programming to API 2.  Config files are used to adapt 
>>>> modules that do not completely comply.  In theory, a module that is 
>>>> API2 compliant needs no config.
>>>
>>>
>>> We're pretty much at the same point.  A word of warning - watch out 
>>> for assumed behaviors.  For example, some modules return the number 
>>> of rows affected by an execute as the return value of the execute; 
>>> Others do not.  The standard just states that return values are 
>>> undefined - hence the ambiguity and different behavior.
>> It says "Return values are not defined". You should use .rowcount to
>> access the number of affected rows. The reason is that getting this
>> information from the database can be an expensive operation; hence
>> you don't want to do this for every single call to .execute().
> Unless someone suggests otherwise, the wrapper's execute method will 
> return None.

If you haven't already, you may want to use the DB-API 2.0 test
suite at http://zen.freezope.org/Software/DBAPI20TestSuite/ . It
should happily tell you when your code is broken or when the
drivers are.

I think there is definitely a need for your work - it is the sort
of thing a lot of us have wanted to do, but never gotten around to
actually doing. Your limited scope (Just DB-API 2.0) is excellent -
a project that can actually be completed and used as a foundation
for wackier projects. There is also some support to get this sort
of thing into Python core (if for no other reason than to counter
the false idea that "Python doesn't do databases" which many people
get after seeing no reference to them in the reference manual).

I'm happy enough to help out if you need extra hands - give me a
ping if you set up a dev mailing list or sourceforge project.

--  Stuart Bishop <stuart at stuartbishop.net>
http://www.stuartbishop.net/