Merge pull request #460 from deeky666/DBAL-593

[DBAL-593] Add more documentation about vendors and platforms

docs/en/reference/introduction.rst

@@ -13,6 +13,16 @@ existing native or self-made APIs. For example, the DBAL ships with
 a driver for Oracle databases that uses the oci8 extension under
 the hood.
 
+The following database vendors are currently supported:
+
+- MySQL
+- Oracle
+- Microsoft SQL Server
+- PostgreSQL
+- SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere
+- SQLite
+- Drizzle
+
 The Doctrine 2 database layer can be used independently of the
 object-relational mapper. In order to use the DBAL all you need is
 the ``Doctrine\Common`` and ``Doctrine\DBAL`` namespaces. Once you
@@ -23,9 +33,9 @@ to be able to autoload the classes:
 
     <?php
     use Doctrine\Common\ClassLoader;
-    
+
     require '/path/to/doctrine/lib/Doctrine/Common/ClassLoader.php';
-    
+
     $classLoader = new ClassLoader('Doctrine', '/path/to/doctrine');
     $classLoader->register();
 

docs/en/reference/platforms.rst

@@ -20,6 +20,62 @@ Each database driver has a platform associated with it by default.
 Several drivers also share the same platform, for example PDO\_OCI
 and OCI8 share the ``OraclePlatform``.
 
+Doctrine provides abstraction for different versions of platforms
+if necessary to represent their specific features and dialects.
+For example has Microsoft added support for sequences in their 2012
+version. Therefore Doctrine offers a separate platform class for this
+extending the previous 2008 version. The 2008 version adds support
+for additional data types which in turn don't exist in the previous
+2005 version and so on.
+A list of available platform classes that can be used for each vendor
+can be found as follows:
+
+MySQL
+^^^^^
+
+-  ``MySqlPlatform`` for version 5.0 and above.
+
+Oracle
+^^^^^^
+
+-  ``OraclePlatform`` for all versions.
+
+Microsoft SQL Server
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+-  ``SQLServerPlatform`` for version 2000 and above.
+-  ``SQLServer2005Platform`` for version 2005 and above.
+-  ``SQLServer2008Platform`` for version 2008 and above.
+-  ``SQLServer2012Platform`` for version 2012 and above.
+
+PostgreSQL
+^^^^^^^^^^
+
+-  ``PostgreSqlPlatform`` for all versions.
+
+SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+-  ``SQLAnywherePlatform`` for version 10 and above.
+-  ``SQLAnywhere11Platform`` for version 11 and above.
+-  ``SQLAnywhere12Platform`` for version 12 and above.
+-  ``SQLAnywhere16Platform`` for version 16 and above.
+
+SQLite
+^^^^^^
+
+-  ``SqlitePlatform`` for all versions.
+
+Drizzle
+^^^^^^
+
+-  ``DrizzlePlatform`` for all versions.
+
+It is highly encouraged to use the platform class that matches your
+database vendor and version best. Otherwise it is not guaranteed
+that the compatibility in terms of SQL dialect and feature support
+between Doctrine DBAL and the database server will always be given.
+
 If you want to overwrite parts of your platform you can do so when
 creating a connection. There is a ``platform`` option you can pass
 an instance of the platform you want the connection to use: