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Natively Connect to Azure Table Data in PHP


The CData ODBC driver for Azure Table enables you to create PHP applications with connectivity to Azure Table data. Leverage the native support for ODBC in PHP.

Drop the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Table into your LAMP or WAMP stack to build Azure Table-connected Web applications. This article shows how to use PHP's ODBC built-in functions to connect to Azure Table data, execute queries, and output the results.

Configure a DSN

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Specify your AccessKey and your Account to connect. Set the Account property to the Storage Account Name and set AccessKey to one of the Access Keys. Either the Primary or Secondary Access Keys can be used. To obtain these values, navigate to the Storage Accounts blade in the Azure portal. You can obtain the access key by selecting your account and clicking Access Keys in the Settings section.

Establish a Connection

Open the connection to Azure Table by calling the odbc_connect or odbc_pconnect methods. To close connections, use odbc_close or odbc_close_all.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC AzureTables Source","user","password");

Connections opened with odbc_connect are closed when the script ends. Connections opened with the odbc_pconnect method are still open after the script ends. This enables other scripts to share that connection when they connect with the same credentials. By sharing connections among your scripts, you can save system resources, and queries execute faster.

$conn = odbc_pconnect("CData ODBC AzureTables Source","user","password"); ... odbc_close($conn); //persistent connection must be closed explicitly

Create Prepared Statements

Create prepared statements and parameterized queries with the odbc_prepare function.

$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM NorthwindProducts WHERE ShipCity = ?");

Execute Queries

Execute prepared statements with odbc_execute.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC AzureTables Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM NorthwindProducts WHERE ShipCity = ?"); $success = odbc_execute($query, array('New York'));

Execute nonparameterized queries with odbc_exec.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC AzureTables Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT Name, Price FROM NorthwindProducts");

Process Results

Access a row in the result set as an array with the odbc_fetch_array function.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC Azure Table data Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT Name, Price FROM NorthwindProducts"); while($row = odbc_fetch_array($query)){ echo $row["Name"] . "\n"; }

Display the result set in an HTML table with the odbc_result_all function.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC Azure Table data Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM NorthwindProducts WHERE ShipCity = ?"); $success = odbc_execute($query, array('New York')); if($success) odbc_result_all($query);

More Example Queries

You will find complete information on the driver's supported SQL in the help documentation. The code examples above are Azure Table-specific adaptations of the PHP community documentation for all ODBC functions.

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Azure Storage Icon Azure ODBC Driver

The Azure Table ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Azure Table data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Azure Table Storage like you would a database - read, write, and update data through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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