Getting Started with PUDL for MySQL Server

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Comparison of creating a PUDL object vs PHP's mysqli and PDO.

NOTE: The PUDL MySQLi interface supports MySQL Server, MariaDB, and Percona Server

PUDL

PUDL is designed to be standardized and simplified across all of its method parameters. By keeping everything in a key-value pair, configurations are easier to manage and pass between methods. This also allows for additional optional parameters to be configured, such as persistent connections. Additionally, PUDL is standardized for all database types, simply changing the 'type' parameter is all that is required to switch from one type of database server to another.

NOTE: internally, PUDL uses PHP's MySQLi driver for 'mysql' type connections, but the internal complexities are abstracted away so you don't need to think about them

require_once('pudl/pudl.php');

$db = pudl::instance([
	'type'			=> 'mysql',
	'server'		=> 'localhost',
	'database'		=> 'DatabaseName',
	'username'		=> 'AwesomeGuy9001',
	'password'		=> 'SuperDuperSecretSauce',
	//'persistent'	=> true,				// optional persistent connection
	//'timeout'		=> $timeout,			// optional connection timeout
]);

MySQLi

MySQLi connections are built in three stages instead of one. First, create the object instance. Then set the connection properties. Lastly, execute the connection. Without inline commenting or looking at documentation, it can be hard to tell which parameter is which value, especially when server, username, and database may all have overlaps.

$db = mysqli_init();

// set connection options here, such as connection timeout
// $db->options(MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT,	$timeout);

// persistent connections require modification to the server string

$db->real_connect(
	'localhost',							// server
	'AwesomeGuy9001',						// username
	'SuperDuperSecretSauce',				// password
	'DatabaseName'							// database
);

PDO

PDO is a parameter mess by comparison. First there is a database implementation specific string, followed by two more strings for individual values, followed by a key-value pair array for additional parameters. PDO has gone the route of using all three types of configuration method parameters all at once for the same method.

$server		= 'localhost';
$database	= 'DatabaseName';

$db = new PDO(
	"mysql:host=$server;dbname=$database",	// complicated DSN
	'AwesomeGuy9001',						// username
	'SuperDuperSecretSauce',				// password
	[
	//	PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT	=> true,	// optional persistent connection
	//	PDO::ATTR_TIMEOUT		=> $timeout	// optional connection timeout
	]
);