1. Initially, as has been said: use your operating system to confirm that the file does exist in the directories specified in @INC
2. write more by way of explanation of what you've done subsequent to downloading the module, otherwise a lot of well meaning monks'll be telling you stuff you may already know. Which is a waste of everyone's time :)

--

OK.
ODBC is in the directories specified in @INC.
PPM did'nt download and install DBI so I downloaded DBI.zip from www.activestate.com After unzipping it I read the readme which said:

"To install this ActiveState PPM package, run the following command
in the current directory:

    ppm install DBI.ppd
[download]

This I did and it replied with

writing c:\BIN\perl\site\lib\auto\DBI\.packlist
[download]

And that was it. I get the error that I wrote about before when I try to run the script.


Tell you what. Could someone direct me to a site that offers tutorials on how to use Perl to access a database. Preferably an MS Access database

Thank you..

Tell you what. I'll actually address the problem you're describing, rather than blowing you off. and as for DBI tutorials, you're soaking in them!

You're only getting half of what you need. DBI is the "Database Interface" half. The part I think you're missing (based on the error messages you report, and the process you've described) is the DBD -- "Database Driver". Look on PPM or CPAN for DBI::ODBC.

See, much like ODBC, DBI only describes a common set of methods for accessing data stores. You need download the drivers which actually implement those methods. As always, CPAN has your hookup
Once you've got that installed, you can use

$dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:ODBC:DSN', 'user', 'password') || die ("Can't
+ connect to database : ",$DBI::errstr);
[download]

to connect to your database. You may need to alter the dbi:ODBC:DSN portion depending on how your database is set up.
Also note the $DBI::errstr; when debugging database problems, this variable is your best friend -- it'll report database errors, not perl errors, like $! and $@ do.
once the connection's made and the $dbh is live, you can start preparing SQL :

    $sql = $dbh->prepare ("SELECT field FROM table") or die ("Unable t
+o prepare statement: ",$DBI::errstr);
[download]

Again, notice the die. If this statement dies, there's typically a problem with the statement's syntax, or the database handle ($dbh) is undefined.

This is where the fun happens :

    $sql->execute()or die ("Unable to execute get_servertime : ",$DBI:
+:errstr);
[download]

This will set the SQL gnomes scurrying, and stores the result of the statement in $sql.

Now that the results are in, how to read them? It depends. There's several methods of doing so, and each one is detailed in the documentation. My most often used one is

    @l_row = $sql->fetchrow_array;
[download]

, but there's other methods of doing so. There's a nice hash method which'll store the field names as the hash keys, so you can manipulate$row{fieldname} if that's clearer than working with array elements.

When everything's done and said,

$dbh->disconnect
[download]

to close the database. For further information, see Programming the Perl DBI, and of course, DBI's own POD, which has a synopsis of how to connect and read to a database.

OK?

Some straight questions now

When I download the ODBC from CPAN and I then have to unzip the file, do I have to extract these files to the sam edirectory as my Perl source code?

If I don't then does it matter where I save it (I have a sneaking suspicion that it does)

I have already downloaded the ODBC and it is where it is supposed to be but I still get that error that it can't locate it:

---


 Can't locate DBD/ODBC.pm in @INC

Did you unzip and untar the package, and do the installation procedure outlined in the INSTALL file? ( typically perl Makefile.PL; make; make install?

When you say the file is where it is supposed to be, there must be a ODBC.pm file in the DBD subdirectory of one of the @INC directories. Are you sure that's correct?

Philosophy can be made out of anything. Or less -- Jerry A. Fodor

What is your OS? you downloaded a zip file? or was it a tar.gz file? For linux, etc. you use tar -xvzf filename to open the file.
Then you should do this:



perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
[download]


in that order. If you are on Windows, I guess use the ppm system. I am not familiar enough with windows perl to help with that.

What does this little button do . .<Click>; "USER HAS SIGNED OFF FOR THE DAY"