Natively Connect to MongoDB Data in PHP



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

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

About MongoDB Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from MongoDB has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

MongoDB's flexibility means that it can be used as a transactional, operational, or analytical database. That means CData customers use our solutions to integrate their business data with MongoDB or integrate their MongoDB data with their data warehouse (or both). Customers also leverage our live connectivity options to analyze and report on MongoDB directly from their preferred tools, like Power BI and Tableau.

For more details on MongoDB use case and how CData enhances your MongoDB experience, check out our blog post: The Top 10 Real-World MongoDB Use Cases You Should Know in 2024.


Getting Started


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.

Set the Server, Database, User, and Password connection properties to connect to MongoDB. To access MongoDB collections as tables you can use automatic schema discovery or write your own schema definitions. Schemas are defined in .rsd files, which have a simple format. You can also execute free-form queries that are not tied to the schema.

Establish a Connection

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

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC MongoDB 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.

$conn = odbc_pconnect("CData ODBC MongoDB Source","user","password"); ... odbc_close($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 restaurants WHERE Name = ?");

Execute Queries

Execute prepared statements with odbc_execute.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC MongoDB Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM restaurants WHERE Name = ?"); $success = odbc_execute($query, array('Morris Park Bake Shop'));

Execute nonparameterized queries with odbc_exec.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC MongoDB Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT borough, cuisine FROM restaurants");

Process Results

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

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC MongoDB data Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT borough, cuisine FROM restaurants"); while($row = odbc_fetch_array($query)){ echo $row["borough"] . "\n"; }

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

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC MongoDB data Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM restaurants WHERE Name = ?"); $success = odbc_execute($query, array('Morris Park Bake Shop')); 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 MongoDB-specific adaptations of the PHP community documentation for all ODBC functions.

Ready to get started?

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Learn more:

MongoDB Icon MongoDB ODBC Driver

The MongoDB ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live MongoDB document databases, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access MongoDB like you would a database - read, write, and update through a standard ODBC Driver interface.