What is your favorite cross-platform solution to access multiple different databases (MySQL, Oracle...) in C/C++?

Question

I am writing a simple C++ application which might be installed on Linux or Windows, and which will connect to a database. I want my application to be compatible at least with Oracle and MySQL (or PostgreSQL).

Which C or C++ library would you recommend to handle the database queries: I am open to any library, whether it's very thin (just execute SQL queries) or very fat (a whole object persistence layer, clustering, etc.).

One library per answer, please. A little description (pros & cons) would be great. Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Seriously? Data Providers.

Nothing beats customizing your data calls for each database. Generic solutions tend to have too many compromises IMO.

Answer 2

This is exactly what ODBC was designed for. Yes, it was designed by Microsoft, but there are implementations on just about every platform and for just about every database product now.

Answer 3

I enjoy using SOCI, it's very C++ like. When it comes to performance with respect to Oracle database, it's comparable with native OCI. It provides backend to some RDBMS:

• Oracle
• PostgreSQL
• MySQL

And some more in the CVS repository.

It's fairly simple to use, the documentation is thorough and rationale is pretty clear. It supports connection pooling, has nice extensible way of converting between datatypes.

Answer 4

I use SQLAPI++ and it's a great product. You can try it for free, it's simple to get started and their support is fantastic.

http://www.sqlapi.com/

Answer 5

I really liked QtSql

• It has the advantage of being well designed and cross platform.
• Disadvantage is that you have to pay for the license if your application is not open source.

You don't have to use a QT GUI, but if you need a GUI library too it's wonderful.
If your application is commercial and you don't need the rest of the QT library, I would use something else.