Chapter 6. ecpg - Embedded SQL in C

Table of Contents
6.1. Why Embedded SQL?
6.2. The Concept
6.3. How To Use ecpg
6.3.1. Preprocessor
6.3.2. Library
6.3.3. Error handling
6.4. Limitations
6.5. Porting From Other RDBMS Packages
6.6. For the Developer
6.6.1. The Preprocessor
6.6.2. A Complete Example
6.6.3. The Library

This describes the embedded SQL package for PostgreSQL. It works with C and C++. It was written by Linus Tolke () and Michael Meskes (). The package is installed with the PostgreSQL distribution, and carries a similar license.

6.1. Why Embedded SQL?

Embedded SQL has advantages over other methods for handling SQL queries. It takes care of the tedious passing of information to and from variables in your C or C++ program. Many RDBMS packages support this embedded language.

There is an ANSI standard describing how the embedded language should work. ecpg was designed to match this standard as much as possible. It is possible to port embedded SQL programs written for other RDBMS to PostgreSQL.