How to use Oracle database for populating a list in a form

Question

In using the MySQL Database, here is the default query in populating lists:

$db = JFactory::getDbo(); 
$query = $db->getQuery(true); 
$query->select(array('name', 'email', 'username')) 
   ->from($db->quoteName('#__my_users')) 
   ->where($db->quoteName('user_id').'=42'); 
$db->setQuery($query); 
$row = $db->loadRow(); 

How can I configure which database I want to use? I need to get data from a different database which in my case, Oracle.

Answer 1

There is a file called configuration.php in root directory. Open that file, find:-

public $dbtype = 'mysqli';

change that value to:

 public $dbtype = 'oracle';

this will change database driver, list of drivers files can be found in:-

libraries/joomla/database/driver folder,

For more info see this article. Hope this helps.

Update - If you want to use only in some section then, instead of getting instance of database like

$db = JFactory::getDbo();

try :-

$db = JDatabaseDriver::getInstance($options);

where

$options = array('driver' => 'driver_name', 'host' => 'host', 'user' => 'user', 'password' => 'password', 'database' => 'db_name', 'prefix' => 'prefix');

Answer 2

Joomla Docs is a nice documentation site ;-)

Connecting to an external database https://docs.joomla.org/How_to_connect_to_an_external_database

<?php
$option = array(); //prevent problems

$option['driver']   = 'mysql';            // Database driver name
$option['host']     = 'db.myhost.com';    // Database host name
$option['user']     = 'fredbloggs';       // User for database authentication
$option['password'] = 's9(39s£h[%dkFd';   // Password for database authentication
$option['database'] = 'bigdatabase';      // Database name
$option['prefix']   = 'abc_';             // Database prefix (may be empty)

$db = JDatabaseDriver::getInstance( $option );
?>