Question

I have a Linux server Debian 6, with Apache 2.2 and PHP 5.4 installed.
I need to connect my application with a MS SQL Server 2008.

My application is using Zend Framework 1.11 and charset UTF-8 (I’ll have users from all places in the world and they will put data in their own language).

FRIST, I tried to use Microsoft SQL Server ODBC driver for Linux.
It says is only for Red Hat, but I follow these instructions to install:

http://www.codesynthesis.com/~boris/blog/2011/12/02/microsoft-sql-server-odbc-driver-linux/

I could connect and make some selects on it, but I couldn’t insert data on it. I got a problem on binding parameters on pdo statements.

Insert data like the following didn’t work:

$stmt = $conn->prepare("insert into mar_regions (name) values (:name)");
$resp = $stmt->execute(array(':name' => $param));

But if I used like the this, it works:

$stmt = $conn->prepare("insert into mar_regions (name) values ('".$param."')");
$resp = $stmt->execute();

So I gave up from this driver, because my application no ZF 1.11 will not work if this.

SECOND, I try to use PDO Driver for FreeTDS. This one works ok and I could use on my ZF 1.11 application.

But then, I got one more problem: charsets.
I configure my freeTDS.conf to use UTF-8, change my tables to use NVARCHAR insted of VARCHAR and could insert utf-8 data like this:

$stmt = $dbh->prepare("insert into mar_teste (name) values (N'ンから初・配信 € зеленый банан ÀÀÀÀáááááá')");
$resp = $stmt->execute();

But, on my ZF 1.11, I can’t pass this ‘N’ attribute on querys! So my application still didn’t work.

As you can see I tried everything.

So my question is: How to connect from linux, using ZF 1.11 charset UTF-8, on MS SQL Server 2008?

Answer 1

The answer for my question is: Use freeTDS!
Theres a parameter for charset on it:

[MyDSN]
    host = <<ip>>
    port = <<port>>
    # use 8.0 for newer versions of SQLSERVER
        tds version = 8.0
        # text size don't need to be such a high value, its just an example
        text size = 4294967295
        client charset = UTF-8

On Zend Framework, configure your connection like this:

;; BANCO DE DADOS LINUX
database.adapter                = PDO_MSSQL
database.params.pdoType         = dblib

database.params.host            = MyDSN
database.params.dbname          = <<dbname>>
database.params.username        = <<username>>
database.params.password        = <<passwd>>
database.params.driver_options.charset = UTF-8

database.isDefaultTableAdapter  = true

It solves the problem! 😉