earl_the_perl has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi Monks,

I've been attempting to get a mod_perl program to utilize the DBD:CSV module. Here is the handler code 
use strict;
use Apache::Constants qw(:common);
use Apache::Request;
use DBI;
use CGI::Carp;

sub handler {
   my $r=Apache::Request->new(shift);
   carp("calling DBI:CSV connect");
   DBI->trace( 2, 'dbitrace.log' );
   my $dbh1 = DBI->connect("DBI:CSV:f_dir=/local/tmp") or die carp("$D
+BI::errstr $!")
   carp("after DBI:CSV connect");

....some other stuff....

   return OK;
}

[download]
My error log prints the debug statement "calling DBI:CSV connect" and then that's it. I never see the second debug message. Firefox just shows a blank screen. The DBI tracelog shows these two messages:
-> DBI->connect(DBI:CSV:f_dir=/local/tmp, , ****)
-> DBI->install_driver(CSV) for dynixptx perl=5.006001 pid=15252 ruid=
+50195 euid=50195

[download]
and that's it. I can successfully connect to an Oracle db with the same code with the oracle specific changes to the connect line.
Any ideas?
ETP

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: DBD::CSV not connecting
by shenme (Priest) on Sep 24, 2004 at 22:02 UTC
    Since the _form_ of the connect() looks good to me (but not a DBD::CSV user) could there be a problem with the referenced directory? Does it exist? Do you have write/create privileges therein, while running from mod_perl? Something to look for until the Coder Super Valiant's arrive.
[reply]
      The same thought hit me about halfway through troubleshooting this. Yep the user apache runs as does have read and write permissions on the directory. The directory exists as well.
[reply]
Re: DBD::CSV not connecting
by jZed (Prior) on Sep 25, 2004 at 17:37 UTC
    DBD::CSV works fine for me with mod_perl. Here's an example script which will print "MAKING NEW CONNECTION..." on the first run and then "RE-USING EXISTING CONNECTION" on all the following runs: 

    #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
use strict;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
my $dbh = My::DB->connect();
print "ok!" if $dbh->{RaiseError} == 1
           and $dbh->{f_dir} eq '/foo/bar';

package My::DB;
use strict;
use DBI;
sub connect {
    if (defined $My::DB::conn) {
        eval {$My::DB::conn->ping};
        print "RE-USING EXISTING CONNECTION ...<p>" if !$@;
        return $My::DB::conn if !$@;
    }
    print "MAKING NEW CONNECTION ...<p>";
    $My::DB::conn = DBI->connect(
        'DBI:CSV(RaiseError=1):f_dir=/foo/bar'
    );
    return $My::DB::conn;
}
1;

    [download]

    Note, that it doesn't make any difference if the f_dir directory "/foo/bar" exists - no checking for existence of the f_dir is done at connection time, only when you attempt to access or create a table.

    If the script above doesn't work for you, make sure that you are using the latest versions of DBD::CSV and DBD::File (which is found in the latest distribution of DBI).

[reply]
[d/l]
      Thank you jZed. I took your connect statement directly and still encountered the same error. The dbitrace was still hanging on the statement

      -> DBI->install_driver(CSV) for dynixptx perl=5.006001 pid=25729 ruid=50195 euid=50195

      I then did a find for the CSV.pm file itself inside the DBD folder and it wasn't there. The module management is not very good here and they are challenged managing modules built for a variety flavors of Solaris, Sequent and Windows. Modules that exist in some environments are missing in others. That's were the fun begins!!

      I would expect DBD to error out when it cannot find the CSV.pm file though, wouldn't you?
      Thanks ETP
[reply]
        If I rename ...site/lib/DBD/CSV.pm, the script above does error out with "install_driver(CSV) failed: Can't locate DBD/CSV.pm in @INC..." as it should. If you're not getting that error message, then perhaps you have a CSV.pm somewhere else in your @INC, or else you haven't turned RaiseError on for the connect, or have some other bug in your error reporting strategy.
[reply]
Re: DBD::CSV not connecting
by jdalbec (Deacon) on Sep 25, 2004 at 04:00 UTC
    I think you may want croak() rather than die carp(). Also that line appears to be missing a semicolon at the end.
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]

Back to Seekers of Perl Wisdom