best database API for PHP

jrahma

Hi,

I have used PDO with PHP but I wanted to ask about your experience? which database API your recommend when using PHP and MySQL?

Thanks,
Jassim

NogDog

I've been using PDO regularly at work for over two years (with PostgreSQL in my case), and am perfectly fine with it. The only thing I'm thinking about possibly doing differently is increasing the use of stored procedure in the DBMS itself, so that I can move more of the SQL out of the application code and onto the database itself -- but I'd still be using PDO to call the SP's.

dalecosp

I'm lazy, so I simply converted mysql to mysqli in general work ... fairly trivial.

If it's so large as to be modular, I pretty much cook my own DB class ... also using mysqli_.

traq

I use MySQLi (for mysql, anyway, of course). The advantages to PDO are a bit overstated, imo. In the end, however, it's just personal preference.

NogDog

As far as PDO vs. MySQLi, the only significant difference I see is the ability to (in theory) change to a different DBMS without changing your application code, other than your DSN string (which hopefully you only have to change in one place). In practice, you often have to tweak your SQL, too, unless you're very careful to only use features/functions common to most flavors of SQL. Both allow use in a OOP context, and both support prepared statements. If you're 99.9% sure you'll only ever be using MySQL with your app, then I think it's truly down to personal preference (unless for some reason one has a performance advantage over the other -- but when we're talking DB stuff, it's usually the database and query designs that your main performance issues).

johanafm

NogDog;11035389 wrote:
As far as PDO vs. MySQLi, the only significant difference I see is the ability to

When using a mysql database, the one feature that decides the issue for me between pdo and mysqli is named parameters. PDO has them, mysqli doesn't.

NogDog;11035389 wrote:
(unless for some reason one has a performance advantage over the other

I once ran some profiling tests on pdo and mysqli. There is about 0-7% difference with the advantage (sometimes) going to mysqli, depending on what you are doing, and sometimes how you are doing it. But while 7% may seem significant, I came to the conclusion that it isn't. Iirc, using the best mysqli performance vs the worst PDO pefromance (in terms of using slow implementation code for PDO and best possible for mysqli - while the actual SQL queries remaining the same) 1k such queries over 15 minutes would end up taking 2 seconds longer with PDO, out of a total of 900 seconds (15 minutes), or a 2 permille waste. Spending my time writing efficient code and efficient queries will yield a whole lote more. Which takes me back to: named parameters please.

NogDog

Forgot about the named parameter thing -- definitely a significant +1 for PDO in that regard. 🙂