NAME
    DBIx::AnyDBD - DBD independant class

DESCRIPTION
    This class provides application developers with an abstraction
    class a level away from DBI, that allows them to write an
    application that works on multiple database platforms. The idea
    isn't to take away the responsibility for coding different SQL
    on different platforms, but to simply provide a platform that
    uses the right class at the right time for whatever DB is
    currently in use.

SYNOPSIS
            use DBIx::AnyDBD;
            
            my $db = DBIx::AnyDBD->connect("dbi:Oracle:sid1", 
                    "user", "pass", {}, "MyClass");

            my $foo = $db->foo;
            my $blee = $db->blee;

    That doesn't really tell you much... Because you have to
    implement a bit more than that. Underneath you have to have a
    module MyClass::Oracle that has methods foo() and blee in it. If
    those methods don't exist in MyClass::Oracle, it will check in
    MyClass::Default, allowing you to implement code that doesn't
    need to be driver dependant in the same module. The foo() and
    blee() methods will recieve the DBIx::AnyDBD instance as thier
    first parameter, and any parameters you pass just go as
    parameters.

    See the example Default.pm and Sybase.pm classes in the AnyDBD
    directory for an example.

Implementation
    Underneath it's all implemented using clever use of AUTOLOAD,
    but don't fret - the AUTOLOAD overhead only occurs the first
    time you use the method, thereafter if assigns the appropriate
    method to the *{$AUTOLOAD} glob. I borrowed that code from
    Object Oriented Perl, so thanks go to Damian Conway for that.
    The subclass it uses is "$package::" . $dbh->{Driver}->{Name},
    so make sure you check with whichever driver you're using for
    what that returns, it's been tested with Oracle and Sybase
    (which use the driver names "Oracle" and "Sybase" respectively.

API
  new( ... )

            dsn => $dsn, 
            user => $user, 
            pass => $pass, 
            attr => $attr,
            package => $package

    new() is a named parameter call that connects and creates a new
    db object for your use. The named parameters are dsn, user,
    pass, attr and package. The first 4 are just the parameters
    passed to DBI->connect, and package contains the package prefix
    for your database dependant modules, for example, if package was
    "MyPackage", the AUTOLOADer would look for
    MyPackage::Oracle::func, and then MyPackage::Default::func.
    Beware that the DBD driver will be ucfirst'ed, because lower
    case package names are reserved as pragmas in perl. See the
    known DBD package mappings below.

    If attr is undefined then the default attributes are:

            AutoCommit => 0
            PrintError => 0
            RaiseError => 1

    So be aware if you don't want your application dying to either
    eval{} all db sections and catch the exception, or pass in a
    different attr parameter.

  connect($dsn, $user, $pass, $attr, $package)

    connect() is very similar to DBI->connect, taking exactly the
    same first 4 parameters. The 5th parameter is the package
    prefix, as above.

    connect() doesn't try and default attributes for you if you
    don't pass them.

  $db->get_dbh()

    This method is mainly for the DB dependant modules to use, it
    returns the underlying DBI database handle. There will probably
    have code added here to check the db is still connected, so it
    may be wise to always use this method rather than trying to
    retrieve $self->{dbh} directly.

Multiple DBD's at once
    This has been fixed in the 0.98 and higher. You can now expect
    the right thing to happen if you connect to 2 different DB's in
    the same script.

Known DBD Package Mappings
    The following are the known DBD driver name mappings, including
    ucfirst'ing them:

            DBD::Oracle => Oracle
            DBD::Sybase => Sybase
            DBD::Pg => Pg
            DBD::mysql => Mysql

    If you use this on other platforms, let me know what the
    mappings are.

LICENCE
    This module is free software, and you may distribute it under
    the same terms as Perl itself.

SUPPORT
    Commercial support for this module is available on a pay per
    incident basis from Fastnet Software Ltd. Contact
    matt@sergeant.org for further details. Alternatively join the
    DBI-Users mailing list, where I'll help you out for free!