Oracle library for Python

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm starting a little python program that requires oracle support.
Anyone can recommend a good python library?

Answer 1

Jared, I found the test suite in the source code for cx_Oracle and upon investigating a little bit I found that you can simply use the datetime class to pass parameters to an instruction.
I built this test case to work out of the box for you to test. Regarding the python script, just paste it in a file and run it from the command line. I know I could have written a smaller example (the biggest part of the code are comments, error handlers and input parameters checks) but I'm a passionate developer... :)
My locale date format is dd/mm/yyyy and as this script worked ok here I think issues regarding the date format are taken care. I still have to verify if there's some kind of performance penalty using the class (I will try with bulk inserts to check). From a developer view I find this method clearer to use and less code to write.
First the objects to be created in the database.
create sequence dat_test_seq;
create table dat_test_tab (c_id number, c_date date);
create or replace procedure dat_test_prc (p_date in dat_test_tab.c_date%type)
is
begin
insert into dat_test_tab (c_id, c_date) values (dat_test_seq.nextval, p_date);
commit;
end dat_test_prc;
/Now the Python script:
#! /usr/bin/env python
# -- coding: utf-8 --
import cx_Oracle as ora
from optparse import OptionParser
import locale
import datetime as dt
# check the local settings.-
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
dateformat = locale.nl_langinfo(locale.D_FMT)
# a little cosmetic work to output the expected date format
dateformat = dateformat.replace('%', '')
dateformat = dateformat.replace('d', 'dd')
dateformat = dateformat.replace('m', 'mm')
dateformat = dateformat.replace('y', 'yyyy')
# these are the options the script accepts
parser = OptionParser(description="Testing dates as input parameters in oracle using cx_Oracle.")
parser.add_option("-u", "--ora-usr", dest="usr", help="User")
parser.add_option("-p", "--ora-pwd", dest="pwd", help="Password")
parser.add_option("-d", "--ora-dbn", dest="dbn", help="Database")
parser.add_option("-t", "--ex-date", dest="dat", help="Date to be imported, format model: "+dateformat)
(options, args) = parser.parse_args()
for option in vars(options):
    if getattr(options, option)==None:
       parser.error("Wrong number of parameters.")
# we work with the date input parameter to cast a date.-
lexp = dateformat.split('/')
lrea = options.dat.split('/')
try:
  dia = int(lrea[lexp.index('dd')])
  mes = int(lrea[lexp.index('mm')])
  ano = int(lrea[lexp.index('yyyy')])
except IndexError, errmsg:
print "The format delimiter is wrong. Error message: ",errmsg
sys.exit(1)
# We initiate the class passing our values.
try:
  dat = dt.date(ano,mes,dia)
except TypeError, errmsg:
    print "Wrong Input parameters for date. Error message: ",errmsg
    sys.exit(2)
# Let's try the database connection
try:
con = ora.connect(options.usr, options.pwd, options.dbn)
con.module = "%prog"
except ora.DatabaseError, errmsg:
print "Connection error. Error message: ",errmsg
sys.exit(3)
cur = con.cursor()
# we execute the procedure, we're passing the date parameter as a python datetime class
try:
    cur.callproc("DAT_TEST_PRC", [dat])
except ora.DatabaseError, errmsg:
print "Execution error. Error message: ",errmsg
sys.exit(5)
# let's see what's in the table:
try:
    cur.execute('SELECT * FROM DAT_TEST_TAB')
    row = cur.fetchall()
    print row
except ora.DatabaseError, errmsg:
print "Execution error. Error message: ",errmsg
sys.exit(6)
# We're done, let's go
con.close()
print "Database connection close."
print "Script ends"Suggestions, criticism and more tips to share are always welcome.