InterBase

InterBase is a relational database management system developed by Embarcadero Technologies, the company that is also behind HTML5 Builder.

There are different technologies you can use to access InterBase from web applications developed with HTML5 Builder:

• The Database component, documented below. Requirements: PHP PDO extension.
• PHP functions, documented here. Requirements: PHP extension.

Installation

InterBase Developer Edition

To work with InterBase databases, you will need a copy of InterBase Developer Edition. For instructions on how to get and install it, check the installation notes.

PHP PDO Extension

Enable the extension by uncommenting (removing the ; at the beginning) the following line in PHP’s configuration file (php.ini):

;extension=php_pdo_firebird.dll → extension=php_pdo_firebird.dll

• For HTML5 Builder’s internal server, apply the changes to the php.ini.template file.

PHP Extension

Enable the extension by uncommenting (removing the ; at the beginning) the following line in PHP’s configuration file (php.ini):

;extension=php_interbase.dll → extension=php_interbase.dll

• HTML5 Builder’s internal server supports InterBase by default.

Configuration

Tip: You can use the Data Explorer to configure your InterBase connections the RAD way.

To use a Database component with InterBase, configure it with the following property values:

• DriverName: interbase.
• DatabaseName: This should be filled with the database server address and database file path, separated by a colon (:). For example: localhost:C:\Users\User\Desktop\database.gdb.

Then fill the rest of the mandatory properties as required. You can ignore the Host property.

Help Resources

Tutorials

• How to create a Server Mobile App with InterBase XE3 and Deploy to Android Tutorial, by Al Mannarino.

Video Tutorials

• HTML5 Builder Mobile Development & Deployment.
  • 10:50 — Writting a server mobile page connected to an InterBase database.

Documentation

• Official documentation.
• InterBase PHP Documentation.

Frequently Encountered Problems

Undefined service gds_db/tcp

Warning: ibase_pconnect(): Unable to complete network request to host "<host IP>". Failed to locate host machine. Undefined service gds_db/tcp. in […]

The error message above usually indicates that there is no entry of “gds_db 3050/tcp” in the services file on either the client or the server machine¹. To fix the issue, add the entry to the file:

• On Windows: %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\services.
• On Linux: /etc/services.

See Also

• Official website.