# 7. Data Access Interfaces

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Preface
Data Access Interfaces
Virtuoso .NET Data Provider
Interactive SQL Utility
Virtuoso Driver for ODBC
Virtuoso Driver for JDBC
OLE DB Provider for Virtuoso
Virtuoso In-Process Client
Unix Domain Socket Connections

## 7.6. Virtuoso In-Process Client

The in-process client is an efficient mechanism used by hosted applications to access the database functionality of the hosting Virtuoso server.

Normally applications access Virtuoso using the remote procedure call mechanism hidden behind some sort of higher-level API such as ADO.NET, ODBC, and so on. The RPC based mechanism is the only available interface for non-hosted applications. For hosted applications, when the application and the DBMS server reside in the same OS process, Virtuoso provides a mechanism based on direct in-process procedure calls.

The in-process call mechanism by itself is not exposed to the applications. It is hidden behind the same APIs as the RPC one: ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET. So in both cases applications deal with the same APIs and the application logic does not change. The application chooses which mechanism to use when it opens a database connection.

To make an in-process connection to a Virtuoso server from within an application hosted by the same server it is necessary to use a special inprocess address syntax distinguishing it from the regular network "HOST:PORT" address syntax. The In-process address has the following form:

    :in-process:PORT

Note that it begins with a colon, then specifies the "in-process" keyword, followed by another colon, and finally the port number on which the server listens for TCP connections.

This port is only used for establishing the in-process connection, after which the connection proceeds exclusively through the in-process procedure call mechanism.

The in-process connections are presently only supported by the Virtuoso ODBC driver and the ODBC-based .NET Data Provider (OpenLink.Data.VirtuosoClient). The managed .NET Data Provider (OpenLink.Data.Virtuoso) does not yet support in-process connections.

In-process ODBC connection are defined in either a DSN or a connect string directly. This is an example section of the odbc.ini file for unix/linux:

    [InProcess]
    Driver	= /opt/virtuoso/lib/virtodbc32_r.so
    Address	= :in-process:1111

To open an ADO.NET connection the in-process address should be specified in the connection string.

Here is an example of using the OpenLink.Data.VirtuosoClient adapter specifying the details on the connect string:

    VirtuosoConnection = new VirtuosoConnection ("HOST=:in-process:1111");

Every in-process connection originates from the existing connection. For instance, it might be initiated by a stored procedure called from an ISQL connection, or it can be called from an ASPX session.

In-process connections always inherit the user ID from its parent connection. There is no way to set or change the connecting user ID. Therefore the user ID and password are not specified when the in-process connection is opened.

In-process connections also limit database transactions. The autocommit mode is never in effect for in-process connections. The setting of autocommit mode is silently ignored without reporting any errors.

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