Windows XP, WAMP, PHP 5.3, MS SQL 2008, CI, NO ODBC! [solved]

[eluser]imorris[/eluser]
We've struggled mightly with how to setup a CI connection to MS SQL 2008 (without ODBC) and we finally have it figured out. There are no step-by-step instructions available on the internet on how to set it all up so I've decided to put them here.

1 - SQLSRV20.EXE (Google it and download from MS) is a self extracting zip that gives you access to the necessary .dll. Run SQLSRV20.EXE and note the extraction folder. Copy the extracted file php_sqlsrv_53_ts_vc6.dll to C:\wamp\bin\php\php5.3.0\ext

2 - Edit your PHP.ini file to include the extension php_sqlsrv_53_ts_vc6.dll. For example:
extension = php_sqlsrv_53_ts_vc6.dll

3 - The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client is required for a successful database connection. Install this file from Microsoft: sqlncli.msi (Another Google and download)

4 - Restart All of your WAMP services.

5 - Extract and copy the three files from: http://www.phrenzy.org/code/sqlsrv-1.1.tar.gz

6 - Paste them into your project under {Project_Name}/system/database/drivers/sqlsrv. If the sqlsrv directory doesn't exist, then create it.

7 - Configure your {Project_Name}/system/application/config/database to look as follows:
$db['default']['hostname'] = "servername";
$db['default']['username'] = "username";
$db['default']['password'] = "password";
$db['default']['database'] = "databasename";
$db['default']['dbdriver'] = "sqlsrv";
$db['default']['dbprefix'] = "";
$db['default']['pconnect'] = TRUE;
$db['default']['db_debug'] = TRUE;
$db['default']['cache_on'] = FALSE;
$db['default']['cachedir'] = "";
$db['default']['char_set'] = "utf8";
$db['default']['dbcollat'] = "utf8_general_ci";

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Credit for three Code Igniter driver files goes to these sites:

http://www.kaweb.co.uk/blog/mssql-server...deigniter/
http://www.phrenzy.org/code/sqlsrv-1.1.tar.gz (We actually used this page's files)