In this post, I’ll cover how to create a simple C/C++ program that interacts with MySQL using the C API (and Connector/C). I discussed in a previous post how to install the C Connector (both SkySQL and MySQL’s), so please refer to that if you are looking for more specifics on that.

So once you have that set up, then there are just a few more things you need to have in order – at least this was the case in my environment.

1. Create a program (this one simply connects to the server and retrieves the server version):

#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <mysql.h>

MYSQL *conn;
int version = 1;

int main ( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
    conn = mysql_init ( NULL );
    mysql_real_connect ( conn, "localhost", "root",
            "password", "test", 3308, NULL, 0 );
        version = mysql_get_server_version( conn ); …

I’m writing a post on how to create your first C/C++ program for MySQL (using Windows, and from the command line). A prerequisite for that is to have a C Connector, such as MySQL Connector/C or SkySQL C Connector, so the program can communicate with mysqld.

I didn’t want that post to be too scattered, so I decided to split it into two, more focused posts. That said, this first post will focus on the Connector, and the next post will actually cover the program itself.

Installing and using Connector/C with MySQL is quite simple, so I wanted to show how easy it is. I also wanted to show examples with both SkySQL C Connector with MariaDB (which also works with MySQL) and Connector/C with MySQL, since both are widely used. I also wanted to show some common errors one might encounter and their resolutions, so hopefully this will help anyone who might have issues …