#
# Run this Tcl script to generate the sqlite.html file.
#
set rcsid {$Id: c_interface.tcl,v 1.5 2000/06/21 13:59:14 drh Exp $}

puts {<html>
<head>
  <title>The C language interface to the SQLite library</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=white>
<h1 align=center>
The C language interface to the SQLite library
</h1>}
puts "<p align=center>
(This page was last modified on [lrange $rcsid 3 4] GMT)
</p>"

puts {
<p>The SQLite library is designed to be very easy to use from
a C or C++ program.  This document gives an overview of the C/C++
programming interface.</p>

<h2>The API</h2>

<p>The interface to the SQLite library consists of 4 functions,
one opaque data structure, and some constants used as return
values from sqlite_exec():</p>

<blockquote><pre>
typedef struct sqlite sqlite;

sqlite *sqlite_open(const char *filename, int mode, char **errmsg);

void sqlite_close(sqlite*);

int sqlite_exec(
  sqlite*,
  char *sql,
  int (*)(void*,int,char**,char**),
  void*,
  char **errmsg
);

int sqlite_complete(const char *sql);

#define SQLITE_OK        0    /* Successful result */
#define SQLITE_INTERNAL  1    /* An internal logic error in SQLite */
#define SQLITE_ERROR     2    /* SQL error or missing database */
#define SQLITE_PERM      3    /* Access permission denied */
#define SQLITE_ABORT     4    /* Callback routine requested an abort */
#define SQLITE_BUSY      5    /* One or more database files are locked */
#define SQLITE_NOMEM     6    /* A malloc() failed */
#define SQLITE_READONLY  7    /* Attempt to write a readonly database */
</pre></blockquote>

<p>All of the above definitions are included in the "sqlite.h"
header file that comes in the source tree.</p>

<h2>Opening a database</h2>

<p>Use the <b>sqlite_open()</b> function to open an existing SQLite
database or to create a new SQLite database.  The first argument
is the database name.  The second argument is a constant 0666 to
open the database for reading and writing and 0444 to open the
database read only.  The third argument is a pointer to a string
pointer.  If the third argument is not NULL and an error occurs
while trying to open the database, then an error message will be
written to memory obtained from malloc() and *errmsg will be made
to point to this error message.  The calling function is responsible
for freeing the memory when it has finished with it.</p>

<p>An SQLite database is just a directory containing a collection of
GDBM files.  There is one GDBM file for each table and index in the
database.  All GDBM files end with the ".tbl" suffix.  Every SQLite
database also contains a special database table named <b>sqlite_master</b>
stored in its own GDBM file.  This special table records the database
schema.</p>

<p>To create a new SQLite database, all you have to do is call
<b>sqlite_open()</b> with the first parameter set to the name of
an empty directory and the second parameter set to 0666.</p>

<p>The return value of the <b>sqlite_open()</b> function is a
pointer to an opaque <b>sqlite</b> structure.  This pointer will
be the first argument to all subsequent SQLite function calls that
deal with the same database.  NULL is returned if the open fails
for any reason.</p>

<h2>Closing the database</h2>

<p>To close an SQLite database, call the <b>sqlite_close()</b>
function passing it the sqlite structure pointer that was obtained
from a prior call to <b>sqlite_open</b>.

<h2>Executing SQL statements</h2>

<p>The <b>sqlite_exec()</b> function is used to process SQL statements
and queries.  This function requires 5 parameters as follows:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>A pointer to the sqlite structure obtained from a prior call
       to <b>sqlite_open()</b>.</p></li>
<li><p>A null-terminated string containing the text of one or more
       SQL statements and/or queries to be processed.</p></li>
<li><p>A pointer to a callback function which is invoked once for each
       row in the result of a query.  This argument may be NULL, in which
       case no callbacks will ever be invoked.</p></li>
<li><p>A pointer that is forwarded to become the first argument
       to the callback function.</p></li>
<li><p>A pointer to an error string.  Error messages are written to space
       obtained from malloc() and the error string is made to point to
       the malloced space.  The calling function is responsible for freeing
       this space when it has finished with it.
       This argument may be NULL, in which case error messages are not
       reported back to the calling function.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>
The callback function is used to receive the results of a query.  A
prototype for the callback function is as follows:</p>

<blockquote><pre>
int Callback(void *pArg, int argc, char **argv, char **columnNames){
  return 0;
}
</pre></blockquote>

<p>The first argument to the callback is just a copy of the fourth argument
to <b>sqlite_exec()</b>  This parameter can be used to pass arbitrary
information through to the callback function from client code.
The second argument is the number columns in the query result.
The third argument is an array of pointers to strings where each string
is a single column of the result for that record.  Note that the
callback function reports a NULL value in the database as a NULL pointer,
which is very different from an empty string.  If the i-th parameter
is an empty string, we will get:</p>
<blockquote><pre>
argv[i][0] == 0
</pre></blockquote>
<p>But if the i-th parameter is NULL we will get:</p>
<blockquote><pre>
argv[i] == 0
</pre></blockquote>
<p>The names of the columns are contained in the fourth argument.</p>

<p>The callback function should normally return 0.  If the callback
function returns non-zero, the query is immediately aborted and 
<b>sqlite_exec()</b> will return SQLITE_ABORT.</p>

<p>The <b>sqlite_exec()</b> function returns an integer to indicate
success or failure of the operation.  The following are possible
return values:</p>

<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt>SQLITE_OK</dt>
<dd><p>This value is returned if everything worked and there were no errors.
</p></dd>
<dt>SQLITE_INTERNAL</dt>
<dd><p>This value indicates that an internal consistency check within
the SQLite library failed.  This can only happen if there is a bug in
the SQLite library.  If you ever get an SQLITE_INTERNAL reply from
an <b>sqlite_exec()</b> call, please report the problem on the SQLite
mailing list.
</p></dd>
<dt>SQLITE_ERROR</dt>
<dd><p>This return value indicates that there was an error in the SQL
that was passed into the <b>sqlite_exec()</b>.
</p></dd>
<dt>SQLITE_PERM</dt>
<dd><p>This return value says that the access permissions on one of the
GDBM files is such that the file cannot be opened.
</p></dd>
<dt>SQLITE_ABORT</dt>
<dd><p>This value is returned if the callback function returns non-zero.
</p></dd>
<dt>SQLITE_BUSY</dt>
<dd><p>This return code indicates that one of the underlying GDBM files
is locked because it is currently being accessed by another thread or
process.  GDBM allows mutiple readers of the same file, but only one
writer.  So multiple processes can query an SQLite database at once.
But only a single process can write to an SQLite database at one time.
If an attempt is made to write to an SQLite database that another
process is currently reading, the write is not performed and 
<b>sqlite_exec()</b> returns SQLITE_BUSY.  Similarly, an attempt to read
an SQLite database that is currently being written by another process
will return SQLITE_BUSY.  In both cases, the write or query attempt
can be retried after the other process finishes.</p>
<p>Note that locking is done at the file level.  One process can
write to table ABC (for example) while another process simultaneously
reads from a different table XYZ.  But you cannot have two processes reading
and writing table ABC at the same time.
</p></dd>
<dt>SQLITE_NOMEM</dt>
<dd><p>This value is returned if a call to <b>malloc()</b> fails.
</p></dd>
<dt>SQLITE_READONLY</dt>
<dd><p>This return code indicates that an attempt was made to write to
a database file that was originally opened for reading only.  This can
happen if the callback from a query attempts to update the table
being queried.
</p></dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>

<h2>Testing for a complete SQL statement</h2>

<p>The last interface routine to SQLite is a convenience function used
to test whether or not a string forms a complete SQL statement.
If the <b>sqlite_complete()</b> function returns true when its input
is a string, then the argument forms a complete SQL statement.
There are no guarantees that the syntax of that statement is correct,
but we at least know the statement is complete.  If <b>sqlite_complete()</b>
returns false, then more text is required to complete the SQL statement.</p>

<p>For the purpose of the <b>sqlite_complete()</b> function, an SQL
statement is complete if it ends in a semicolon.</p>

<p>The <b>sqlite</b> command-line utility uses the <b>sqlite_complete()</b>
function to know when it needs to call <b>sqlite_exec()</b>.  After each
line of input is received, <b>sqlite</b> calls <b>sqlite_complete()</b>
on all input in its buffer.  If <b>sqlite_complete()</b> returns true, 
then <b>sqlite_exec()</b> is called and the input buffer is reset.  If
<b>sqlite_complete()</b> returns false, then the prompt is changed to
the continuation prompt and another line of text is read and added to
the input buffer.</p>

<h2>Usage Examples</h2>

<p>For examples of how the SQLite C/C++ interface can be used,
refer to the source code for the <b>sqlite</b> program in the
file <b>src/shell.c</b> of the source tree.
Additional information about sqlite is available at
<a href="sqlite.html">sqlite.html</a>.
See also the sources to the Tcl interface for SQLite in
the source file <b>src/tclsqlite.c</b>.</p>
}

puts {
<p><hr /></p>
<p><a href="index.html"><img src="/goback.jpg" border=0 />
Back to the SQLite Home Page</a>
</p>

</body></html>}
