RPostgreSQL dbConnect using connection string

Question

Using the RPostgreSQL package, is there a way to connect to a remote PostgreSQL instance other than hardcoding the credentials into the dbConnect method?

As far as I can tell, this is the only way to do it:

dbConnect(drv, host='some.com', port='5432', dbname='some-db', user='usr', password='secrecy')

Certainly there's a way to use a connection string or something?

Edit: I mean referencing some file (separate from the source code) or environment variable that contains the connection string. Sort of like .pgpass in my home directory, or DATABASE_URL on heroku. Just some way to avoid having DB credentials in the source code.

Have a look at the docs for RPostgres - I think I documented what you need there — hadley
– hadley, Commented Apr 3, 2015 at 2:42
Thanks @hadley. I've looked through these docs cran.r-project.org/web/packages/RPostgreSQL/RPostgreSQL.pdf, but I didn't see any means of connecting using something that doesn't have the credentials right in the source code. Can you point me to such a thing? — yalestar
– yalestar, Commented Apr 3, 2015 at 16:24
RPostgres, not RPostgreSQL: github.com/rstats-db/RPostgres/blob/master/R/… — hadley
– hadley, Commented Apr 3, 2015 at 19:26

Hong Ooi · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-02 21:47:52Z

1

On Windows at least, in an interactive session you can prompt the user for a name and password with winDialogString.

user <- winDialogString("Enter your username", "")
pwd <- winDialogString("Enter your password", "")
dbConnect(..., user=user, password=pwd)

But what does a connection string do that a function call doesn't? Either way, you still have to hardcode your credentials somewhere.

You can also store the credentials in a file somewhere, and read them in using the usual methods (readLines, scan, read.table etc).

### assuming dbcreds.txt contains the single line "username    password"
cred <- strsplit(readLines("dbcreds.txt"), "[[:blank:]]+")[[1]]
user <- cred[1]
pwd <- cred[2]
dbConnect(..., user=user, pass=pwd)

edited Apr 2, 2015 at 21:47

answered Apr 2, 2015 at 18:13

Hong Ooi

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2 Comments

yalestar Over a year ago

You're right about the hardcoded connection string. I guess I meant referencing some file (separate from the source code) or environment variable that contains the connection string. Sort of like .pgpass in my home directory, or DATABASE_URL on heroku.

yalestar Over a year ago

I may in fact go with something like your solution: prompt the user for input.

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