/****************************************************************************
**
** Documentation for sql driver programming.
**
** Copyright (C) 1992-2008 Trolltech ASA. All rights reserved.
**
** This file is part of the Qt GUI Toolkit.
** EDITIONS: FREE, PROFESSIONAL, ENTERPRISE
**
** This file is provided AS IS with NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE
** WARRANTY OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
**
****************************************************************************/

/*!
    \page sql-driver.html
    \title SQL Database Drivers
    \ingroup architecture
    \brief How to configure and install QtSql drivers for supported databases.

    The QtSql module uses driver \l{How to Create Qt
    Plugins}{plugins} to communicate with the different database
    APIs. Since Qt's SQL Module API is database-independent, all
    database-specific code is contained within these drivers. Several
    drivers are supplied with Qt and other drivers can be added. The
    driver source code is supplied and can be used as a model for
    \l{#development}{writing your own drivers}.

    \tableofcontents

    \section1 Supported Databases

    The table below lists the drivers included with Qt. Due to
    license incompatibilities with the GPL, not all of the plugins
    are provided with the Qt Open Source Edition.

    \table
    \header \o Driver name \o DBMS
    \row \o \link #QDB2 QDB2\endlink \o IBM DB2 (version 7.1 and above)
    \row \o \link #QIBASE QIBASE\endlink \o Borland InterBase
    \row \o \link #QMYSQL QMYSQL\endlink \o MySQL
    \row \o \link #QOCI QOCI\endlink \o Oracle Call Interface Driver
    \row \o \link #QODBC QODBC\endlink
         \o Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) - Microsoft SQL Server and other
            ODBC-compliant databases
    \row \o \link #QPSQL QPSQL\endlink \o PostgreSQL (versions 7.3 and above)
    \row \o \link #QSQLITE2 QSQLITE2\endlink \o SQLite version 2
    \row \o \link #QSQLITE QSQLITE\endlink \o SQLite version 3
    \row \o \link #QTDS QTDS\endlink \o Sybase Adaptive Server
    \endtable

    \bold{Note:} To build a driver plugin you need to have the appropriate
    client library for your Database Management System (DBMS). This provides
    access to the API exposed by the DBMS, and is typically shipped with it.
    Most installation programs also allow you to install "development
    libraries", and these are what you need. These libraries are responsible
    for the low-level communication with the DBMS.

    \target building
    \section1 Building the Drivers Using Configure

    On Unix and Mac OS X, the Qt \c configure script tries to
    automatically detect the available client libraries on your
    machine. Run \c{configure -help} to see what drivers can be
    built. You should get an output similar to this:

    \code
        -no-sql-<driver> ... Disable SQL <driver> entirely.
        -qt-sql-<driver> ... Enable a SQL <driver> in the Qt Library, by default
                             none are turned on.
        -plugin-sql-<driver> Enable SQL <driver> as a plugin to be linked to
                             at run time.

                             Possible values for <driver>:
                             [ db2 ibase mysql oci odbc psql sqlite sqlite2 tds ]
    \endcode

    The \c configure script cannot detect the neccessary libraries
    and include files if they are not in the standard paths, so it
    may be necessary to specify these paths using the \c -I and \c -L
    command-line options. For example, if your MySQL include files
    are installed in \c /usr/local/mysql (or in \c{C:\mysql\include}
    on Windows), then pass the following parameter to configure: \c
    -I/usr/local/mysql (or \c{-I C:\mysql\include} for Windows).

    On Windows the \c -I parameter doesn't accept spaces in
    filenames, so use the 8.3 name instead; for example, use
    \c{C:\progra~1\mysql} instead of \c{C:\Program Files\mysql}.

    Use the \c{-qt-sql-<driver>} parameter to build the database driver
    statically into your Qt library or \c{-plugin-sql-<driver>} to build
    the driver as a plugin. Look at the sections that follow for
    additional information about required libraries.

    \target buildingmanually
    \section1 Building the Plugins Manually

    \target QMYSQL
    \section2 QMYSQL for MySQL 4 and higher

    \section3 QMYSQL Stored Procedure Support

    MySQL 5 introduces stored procedure support at the SQL level, but no
    API to control IN, OUT and INOUT parameters. Therefore, parameters
    have to be set and read using SQL commands instead of QSqlQuery::bindValue().

    Example stored procedure:

    \code
    create procedure qtestproc (OUT param1 INT, OUT param2 INT)
    BEGIN
        set param1 = 42;
        set param2 = 43;
    END
    \endcode

    Source code to access the OUT values:

    \code
        QSqlQuery q;
        q.exec("call qtestproc (@outval1, @outval2)");
        q.exec("select @outval1, @outval2");
        q.next();
        qDebug() << q.value(0) << q.value(1); // outputs "42" and "43"
    \endcode

    \bold{Note:} \c{@outval1} and \c{@outval2} are variables local to the current
    connection and will not be affected by queries sent from another host
    or connection.

    \section3 Embedded MySQL Server

    The MySQL embedded server is a drop-in replacement for the normal
    client library. With the embedded MySQL server, a MySQL server is
    not required to use MySQL functionality.

    To use the embedded MySQL server, simply link the Qt plugin
    to \c libmysqld instead of libmysqlclient. This can be done by replacing
    \c -lmysqlclient_r by \c -lmysqld in the \c qmake command in the section below.

    Please refer to the MySQL documentation, chapter "libmysqld, the Embedded
    MySQL Server Library" for more information about the MySQL embedded server.

    \section3 How to Build the QMYSQL Plugin on Unix and Mac OS X

    You need the MySQL header files and as well as the shared library
    \c{libmysqlclient.so}. Depending on your Linux distribution you may
    need to install a package which is usually called "mysql-devel".

    Tell \l qmake where to find the MySQL header files and shared
    libraries (here it is assumed that MySQL is installed in
    \c{/usr/local}) and run \c{make}:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/mysql
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=/usr/local/include" "LIBS+=-L/usr/local/lib -lmysqlclient_r" mysql.pro
        make
    \endcode

    After installing Qt, as described in the \l{Installing Qt/X11} document,
    you also need to install the plugin in the standard location:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/mysql
        make install
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the QMYSQL Plugin on Windows

    You need to get the MySQL installation files. Run \c SETUP.EXE and
    choose "Custom Install". Install the "Libs & Include Files" Module.
    Build the plugin as follows (here it is assumed that MySQL is
    installed in \c{C:\MySQL}):

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\mysql
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=C:\MySQL\include" "LIBS+=C:\MySQL\lib\opt\libmysql.lib" mysql.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    If you are not using a Microsoft compiler, replace \c nmake with \c
    make in the line above.

    \target QOCI
    \section2 QOCI for the Oracle Call Interface (OCI)

    \section3 General Information about the OCI plugin

    The Qt OCI plugin supports Oracle 9i, 10g and higher. After
    connecting to the Oracle server, the plugin will auto-detect the
    database version and enable features accordingly.

    \section3 OCI User Authentication

    The Qt OCI plugin supports authentication using
    external credentials (OCI_CRED_EXT). Usually, this means that the database
    server will use the user authentication provided by the operating system
    instead of its own authentication mechanism.

    Leave the username and password empty when opening a connection with
    QSqlDatabase to use the external credentials authentication.

    \section3 OCI BLOB/LOB Support

    Binary Large Objects (BLOBs) can be read and written, but be aware
    that this process may require a lot of memory. You should use a forward
    only query to select LOB fields (see QSqlQuery::setForwardOnly()).

    Inserting BLOBs should be done using either a prepared query where the
    BLOBs are bound to placeholders or QSqlTableModel, which uses a prepared
    query to do this internally.

    \section3 How to Build the OCI Plugin on Unix and Mac OS X

    For Oracle 10g, all you need is the "Instant Client Package - Basic" and
    "Instant Client Package - SDK". For Oracle prior to 10g, you require
    the standard Oracle client and the SDK packages.

    Oracle library files required to build the driver:

    \list
    \i \c libclntsh.so (all versions)
    \i \c libwtc9.so (only Oracle 9)
    \endlist

    Tell \c qmake where to find the Oracle header files and shared
    libraries and run make:

    For Oracle version 9:
    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/oci
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/public $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/demo" "LIBS+=-L$ORACLE_HOME/lib -lclntsh -lwtc9" oci.pro
        make
    \endcode

    For Oracle version 10, we assume that you installed the RPM packages of the
    Instant Client Package SDK (you need to adjust the version number accordingly):
    \code
        cd $QTDIR/plugins/src/sqldrivers/oci
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=/usr/include/oracle/10.1.0.3/client/" "LIBS+=-L/usr/lib/oracle/10.1.0.3/client/lib" oci.pro
        make
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the OCI Plugin on Windows

    Choosing the option "Programmer" in the Oracle Client Installer from
    the Oracle Client Installation CD is sufficient to build the plugin.

    Build the plugin as follows (here it is assumed that Oracle Client is
    installed in \c{C:\oracle}):

    \code
        set INCLUDE=%INCLUDE%;c:\oracle\oci\include
        set LIB=%LIB%;c:\oracle\oci\lib\msvc
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\oci
        qmake -o Makefile oci.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    If you are not using a Microsoft compiler, replace \c nmake with \c
    make in the line above.

    When you run your application you will also need to add the \c oci.dll
    path to your \c PATH environment variable:

    \code
        set PATH=%PATH%;c:\oracle\bin
    \endcode

    \target QODBC
    \section2 QODBC for Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

    \section3 General Information about the ODBC plugin

    ODBC is a general interface that allows you to connect to multiple
    DBMSs using a common interface. The QODBC driver allows you to connect
    to an ODBC driver manager and access the available data sources. Note
    that you also need to install and configure ODBC drivers for the ODBC
    driver manager that is installed on your system. The QODBC plugin
    then allows you to use these data sources in your Qt applications.

    \bold{Note:} You should use native drivers in preference to the ODBC
    driver where they are available. ODBC support can be used as a fallback
    for compliant databases if no native drivers are available.

    On Windows an ODBC driver manager should be installed by default.
    For Unix systems there are some implementations which must be
    installed first. Note that every client that uses your application is
    required to have an ODBC driver manager installed, otherwise the
    QODBC plugin will not work.

    Be aware that when connecting to an ODBC datasource you must pass in
    the name of the ODBC datasource to the QSqlDatabase::setDatabaseName()
    function rather than the actual database name.

    The QODBC Plugin needs an ODBC compliant driver manager version 2.0 or
    later to work. Some ODBC drivers claim to be version 2.0 compliant,
    but do not offer all the necessary functionality. The QODBC plugin
    therefore checks whether the data source can be used after a
    connection has been established and refuses to work if the check
    fails. If you don't like this behavior, you can remove the \c{#define
    ODBC_CHECK_DRIVER} line from the file \c{qsql_odbc.cpp}. Do this at
    your own risk!

    If you experience very slow access of the ODBC datasource, make sure
    that ODBC call tracing is turned off in the ODBC datasource manager.

    \section3 ODBC Stored Procedure Support

    With Microsoft SQL Server the result set returned by a stored 
    procedure that uses the return statement, or returns multiple result
    sets, will be accessible only if you set the query's forward only 
    mode to \e forward using \l QSqlQuery::setForwardOnly(). 

    \code
    \\ STORED_PROC uses the return statement or returns multiple result sets
    QSqlQuery query;
    query.setForwardOnly(true);
    query.exec("{call STORED_PROC}");
    \endcode

    \bold{Note:} The value returned by the stored procedure's return statement
    is discarded. If the stored procedure returns multiple result sets only
    the first will be accessible.

    \section3 ODBC Unicode Support

    The QODBC Plugin will use the Unicode API if UNICODE is defined. On
    Windows NT based systems, this is the default. Note that the ODBC
    driver and the DBMS must also support Unicode.

    For the Oracle 9 ODBC driver (Windows), it is neccessary to check
    "SQL_WCHAR support" in the ODBC driver manager otherwise Oracle
    will convert all Unicode strings to local 8-bit.

    \section3 How to Build the ODBC Plugin on Unix and Mac OS X

    It is recommended that you use unixODBC. You can find the latest
    version and ODBC drivers at \l http://www.unixodbc.org.
    You need the unixODBC header files and shared libraries.

    Tell \c qmake where to find the unixODBC header files and shared
    libraries (here it is assumed that unixODBC is installed in
    \c{/usr/local/unixODBC}) and run \c{make}:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/odbc
        qmake "INCLUDEPATH+=/usr/local/unixODBC/include" "LIBS+=-L/usr/local/unixODBC/lib -lodbc"
        make
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the ODBC Plugin on Windows

    The ODBC header and include files should already be installed in the
    right directories. You just have to build the plugin as follows:

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\odbc
        qmake -o Makefile odbc.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    If you are not using a Microsoft compiler, replace \c nmake with \c
    make in the line above.

    \target QPSQL
    \section2 QPSQL for PostgreSQL (Version 7.3 and Above)

    \section3 General Information about the QPSQL driver

    The QPSQL driver supports version 7.3 and higher of PostgreSQL.

    For more information about PostgreSQL visit \l http://www.postgresql.org.

    \section3 QPSQL Unicode Support

    The QPSQL driver automatically detects whether the PostgreSQL
    database you are connecting to supports Unicode or not. Unicode is
    automatically used if the server supports it. Note that the driver
    only supports the UTF-8 encoding. If your database uses any other
    encoding, the server must be compiled with Unicode conversion
    support.

    Unicode support was introduced in PostgreSQL version 7.1 and it will
    only work if both the server and the client library have been compiled
    with multibyte support. More information about how to set up a
    multibyte enabled PostgreSQL server can be found in the PostgreSQL
    Administrator Guide, Chapter 5.

    \section3 QPSQL BLOB Support

    Binary Large Objects are supported through the \c BYTEA field type in
    PostgreSQL server versions >= 7.1.

    \section3 How to Build the QPSQL Plugin on Unix and Mac OS X

    You need the PostgreSQL client library and headers installed.

    To make \c qmake find the PostgreSQL header files and shared
    libraries, run \c qmake the following way (assuming that the
    PostgreSQL client is installed in \c{/usr}):

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/psql
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=/usr/include/pgsql" "LIBS+=-L/usr/lib -lpq" psql.pro
        make
    \endcode

    After installing Qt, as described in the \l{Installing Qt/X11} document,
    you also need to install the plugin in the standard location:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/psql
        make install
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the QPSQL Plugin on Windows

    Install the PostgreSQL developer libraries. Assuming that PostgreSQL
    was installed in \c{C:\psql}, build the plugin as follows:

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\psql
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=C:\psql\include" "LIBS+=C:\psql\lib\ms\libpq.lib" psql.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    \target QTDS
    \section2 QTDS for Sybase Adaptive Server
    \section3 General Information about QTDS

    It is not possible to set the port with QSqlDatabase::setPort() due to limitations in the 
    Sybase client library. Refer to the Sybase documentation for information on how to set up
    a Sybase client configuration file to enable connections to databases on non-default ports. 

    \section3 How to Build the QDTS Plugin on Unix and Mac OS X

    Under Unix, two libraries are available which support the TDS protocol:

    \list
    \i FreeTDS, a free implementation of the TDS protocol
      (\l{http://www.freetds.org}). Note that FreeTDS is not yet stable,
      so some functionality may not work as expected.

    \i Sybase Open Client, available from \l{http://www.sybase.com}.
      Note for Linux users: Get the Open Client RPM from
      \l{http://linux.sybase.com}.
    \endlist

    Regardless of which library you use, the shared object file
    \c{libsybdb.so} is needed. Set the \c SYBASE environment variable to
    point to the directory where you installed the client library and
    execute \c{qmake}:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/tds
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH=$SYBASE/include" "LIBS=-L$SYBASE/lib -lsybdb"
        make
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the QDTS Plugin on Windows

    You can either use the DB-Library supplied by Microsoft or the Sybase
    Open Client (\l{http://www.sybase.com}). You must include \c
    NTWDBLIB.LIB to build the plugin:

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\tds
        qmake -o Makefile "LIBS+=NTWDBLIB.LIB" tds.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    By default the Microsoft library is used on Windows, if you want to
    force the use of the Sybase Open Client, you must define \c
    Q_USE_SYBASE in \c{%QTDIR%\src\sql\drivers\tds\qsql_tds.cpp}. If you
    are not using a Microsoft compiler, replace \c nmake with \c make in
    the line above.

    \target QDB2
    \section2 QDB2 for IBM DB2 (Version 7.1 and Above)

    \section3 General Information about QDB2

    The Qt DB2 plugin makes it possible to access IBM DB2 databases. It
    has been tested with IBM DB2 v7.1 and 7.2. You must install the IBM
    DB2 development client library, which contains the header and library
    files necessary for compiling the QDB2 plugin.

    The QDB2 driver supports prepared queries, reading/writing of Unicode
    strings and reading/writing of BLOBs.

    We suggest using a forward-only query when calling stored procedures
    in DB2 (see QSqlQuery::setForwardOnly()).

    \section3 How to Build the QDB2 Plugin on Unix and Mac OS X

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/db2
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=$DB2DIR/include" "LIBS+=-L$DB2DIR/lib -ldb2"
        make
    \endcode

    After installing Qt, as described in the \l{Installing Qt/X11} document,
    you also need to install the plugin in the standard location:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/db2
        make install
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the QDB2 Plugin on Windows

    The DB2 header and include files should already be installed in the
    right directories. You just have to build the plugin as follows:

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\db2
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=<DB2 home>/sqllib/include" "LIBS+=<DB2 home>/sqllib/lib/db2cli.lib"
        nmake
    \endcode

    If you are not using a Microsoft compiler, replace \c nmake
    with \c make in the line above.

    \target QSQLITE2
    \section2 QSQLITE2 for SQLite Version 2

    The Qt SQLite 2 plugin is offered for compatibility. Whenever
    possible, use the \l{#QSQLITE}{version 3 plugin} instead. The
    build instructions for version 3 apply to version 2 as well.

    \target QSQLITE
    \section2 QSQLITE for SQLite (Version 3 and Above)

    \section3 General Information about QSQLITE

    The Qt SQLite plugin makes it possible to access SQLite
    databases. SQLite is an in-process database, which means that it
    is not necessary to have a database server. SQLite operates on a
    single file, which must be set as the database name when opening
    a connection. If the file does not exist, SQLite will try to
    create it. SQLite also supports in-memory databases, simply pass
    ":memory:" as the database name.

    SQLite has some restrictions regarding multiple users and
    multiple transactions. If you try to read/write on a resource from different
    transactions, your application might freeze until one transaction commits
    or rolls back. The Qt SQLite driver will retry to write to a locked resource
    until it runs into a timeout (see \c{QSQLITE_BUSY_TIMEOUT}
    at QSqlDatabase::setConnectOptions()).

    SQLite doesn't have a type-system like other databases, so Qt
    will interpret fields as strings.

    The driver is locked for updates while a select is executed. This
    may cause problems when using QSqlTableModel because Qt's item views
    fetch data as needed (with QSqlQuery::fetchMore() in the case of
    QSqlTableModel).

    You can find information about SQLite on \l{http://www.sqlite.org}.

    \section3 How to Build the QSQLITE Plugin

    SQLite version 3 is included as a third-party library within Qt.
    It can be built by passing the following parameters to the
    configure script: \c{-plugin-sql-sqlite} (build as a plugin) or
    \c{-qt-sql-sqlite} (linked directly into the Qt library).

    If you don't want to use the SQLite library included with Qt, you
    can build it manually (replace \c $SQLITE by the directory where
    SQLite resides):

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/sqlite
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=$SQLITE/include" "LIBS+=-L$SQLITE/lib -lsqlite"
        make
    \endcode

    After installing Qt, as described in the \l{Installing Qt/X11} document,
    you also need to install the plugin in the standard location:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/sqlite
        make install
    \endcode

    On Windows:

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\sqlite
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=C:\SQLITE\INCLUDE" "LIBS+=C:\SQLITE\LIB\SQLITE3.LIB" sqlite.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    \section3 QSQLITE File Format Compatibility

    SQLite minor releases sometimes break file format forward compatibility.
    For example, SQLite 3.3 can read database files created with SQLite 3.2,
    but databases created with SQLite 3.3 cannot be read by SQLite 3.2.
    Please refer to the SQLite documentation and change logs for information about
    file format compatibility between versions.

    Qt minor releases usually follow the SQLite minor releases, while Qt patch releases
    follow SQLite patch releases. Patch releases are therefore both backward and forward
    compatible.

    To force SQLite to use a specific file format, it is neccessary to build and
    ship your own database plugin with your own SQLite library as illustrated above.
    Some versions of SQLite can be forced to write a specific file format by setting
    the \c{SQLITE_DEFAULT_FILE_FORMAT} define when building SQLite.

    \target QIBASE
    \section2 QIBASE for Borland InterBase

    \section3 General Information about QIBASE

    The Qt InterBase plugin makes it possible to access the InterBase and
    Firebird databases. InterBase can either be used as a client/server or
    without a server in which case it operates on local files. The
    database file must exist before a connection can be established.

    Note that InterBase requires you to specify the full path to the
    database file, no matter whether it is stored locally or on another
    server.

    \code
        db.setHostName("MyServer");
        db.setDatabaseName("C:\\test.gdb");
    \endcode

    You need the InterBase/Firebird development headers and libraries
    to build this plugin.

    Due to license incompatibilities with the GPL, users of the Qt Open Source
    Edition are not allowed to link this plugin to the commercial editions of
    InterBase. Please use Firebird or the free edition of InterBase.

    \section3 QIBASE Unicode Support and Text Encoding

    By default the driver connects to the database using UNICODE_FSS. This can 
    be overridden by setting the ISC_DPB_LC_CTYPE parameter with
    QSqlDatabase::setConnectOptions() before opening the connection.

    \code
       // connect to database using the Latin-1 character set 
       db.setConnectOptions("ISC_DPB_LC_CTYPE=Latin1");
       db.open();
    \endcode

    If Qt doesn't support the given text encoding the driver will issue a
    warning message and connect to the database using UNICODE_FSS. 

    Note that if the text encoding set when connecting to the database is
    not the same as in the database, problems with transliteration might arise.

    \section3 QIBASE Stored procedures

    InterBase/Firebird return OUT values as result set, so when calling stored
    procedure, only IN values need to be bound via QSqlQuery::bindValue(). The
    RETURN/OUT values can be retrieved via QSqlQuery::value(). Example:

    \code
    QSqlQuery q;
    q.exec("execute procedure my_procedure");
    q.next();
    qDebug() << q.value(0); // outputs the first RETURN/OUT value
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the QIBASE Plugin on Unix and Mac OS X

    The following assumes InterBase or Firebird is installed in
    \c{/opt/interbase}:

    If you are using InterBase:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/ibase
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=/opt/interbase/include" "LIBS+=-L/opt/interbase/lib" ibase.pro
        make
    \endcode

    If you are using Firebird, the Firebird library has to be set explicitly:

    \code
        cd $QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers/ibase
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=/opt/interbase/include" "LIBS+=-L/opt/interbase/lib -lfbclient" ibase.pro
        make
    \endcode

    \section3 How to Build the QIBASE Plugin on Windows

    The following assumes InterBase or Firebird is installed in
    \c{C:\interbase}:

    If you are using InterBase:

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\ibase
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=C:\interbase\include" ibase.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    If you are using Firebird, the Firebird library has to be set explicitely:

    \code
        cd %QTDIR%\src\plugins\sqldrivers\ibase
        qmake -o Makefile "INCLUDEPATH+=C:\interbase\include" "LIBS+=-lfbclient" ibase.pro
        nmake
    \endcode

    If you are not using a Microsoft compiler, replace \c nmake
    with \c make in the line above.

    Note that \c{C:\interbase\bin} must be in the \c PATH.

    \target troubleshooting
    \section1 Troubleshooting

    You should always use client libraries that have been compiled with
    the same compiler as you are using for your project. If you cannot get
    a source distibution to compile the client libraries yourself, you
    must make sure that the pre-compiled library is compatible with
    your compiler, otherwise you will get a lot of "undefined symbols"
    errors. Some compilers have tools to convert libraries, e.g. Borland
    ships the tool \c{COFF2OMF.EXE} to convert libraries that have been
    generated with Microsoft Visual C++.

    If the compilation of a plugin succeeds but it cannot be loaded,
    make sure that the following requirements are met:

    \list
    \i Ensure that you are using a shared Qt library; you cannot use the
        plugins with a static build.
    \i Ensure that the plugin is in the correct directory. You can use
        QApplication::libraryPaths() to determine where Qt looks for plugins.
    \i Ensure that the client libraries of the DBMS are available on the
        system. On Unix, run the command \c{ldd} and pass the name of the
        plugin as parameter, for example \c{ldd libqsqlmysql.so}. You will
        get a warning if any of the client libraries couldn't be found.
        On Windows, you can use Visual Studio's dependency walker.
    \i Compile Qt with \c{QT_DEBUG_COMPONENT} defined to get very verbose
        debug output when loading plugins.
    \endlist

    If you are experiencing problems with loading plugins, and see output
    like this

    \code
        QSqlDatabase: QMYSQL driver not loaded
        QSqlDatabase: available drivers: QMYSQL
    \endcode

    the problem is probably that the plugin had the wrong build key. For
    debugging purposes, remove the corresponding entry in the
    \c $HOME/.qt/qt_plugins_(qtversion).rc file.

    The next time you try to load this plugin, it will give you a more detailed
    error message.

    \target development
    \section1 How to Write Your Own Database Driver

    QSqlDatabase is responsible for loading and managing database driver
    plugins. When a database is added (see QSqlDatabase::addDatabase()),
    the appropriate driver plugin is loaded (using QSqlDriverPlugin).
    QSqlDatabase relies on the driver plugin to provide interfaces for
    QSqlDriver and QSqlResult.

    QSqlDriver is an abstract base class which defines the functionality
    of a SQL database driver. This includes functions such as
    QSqlDriver::open() and QSqlDriver::close(). QSqlDriver is responsible
    for connecting to a database, establish the proper environment, etc.
    In addition, QSqlDriver can create QSqlQuery objects appropriate for
    the particular database API. QSqlDatabase forwards many of its
    function calls directly to QSqlDriver which provides the concrete
    implementation.

    QSqlResult is an abstract base class which defines the functionality
    of a SQL database query. This includes statements such as \c{SELECT},
    \c{UPDATE}, and \c{ALTER} \c{TABLE}. QSqlResult contains functions
    such as QSqlResult::next() and QSqlResult::value(). QSqlResult is
    responsible for sending queries to the database, returning result
    data, etc. QSqlQuery forwards many of its function calls directly to
    QSqlResult which provides the concrete implementation.

    QSqlDriver and QSqlResult are closely connected. When implementing a
    Qt SQL driver, both of these classes must to be subclassed and the
    abstract virtual methods in each class must be implemented.

    To implement a Qt SQL driver as a plugin (so that it is
    recognized and loaded by the Qt library at runtime), the driver
    must use the Q_EXPORT_PLUGIN2() macro. Read \l{How to Create Qt
    Plugins} for more information on this. You can also check out how
    this is done in the SQL plugins that are provided with Qt in
    \c{QTDIR/src/plugins/sqldrivers} and \c{QTDIR/src/sql/drivers}.

    The following code can be used as a skeleton for a SQL driver:

    \quotefromfile snippets/sqldatabase/sqldatabase.cpp
    \skipto class XyzResult
    \printuntil };
    \printline class XyzDriver
    \printuntil };
*/
