Some of those functions need to use the database, and to do so you have to explicitly tell the function to load the Code Igniter framework and database class.

Its pretty simple when you know how, but it took quite a while to work it out.

function get_user_full_name($userId) {
 
    //the database functions can not be called from within the helper
    //so we have to explicitly load the functions we need in to an object
    //that I will call ci. then we use that to access the regular stuff.
    $ci=& get_instance();
    $ci->load->database();
 
    //select the required fields from the database
    $ci->db->select('firstName, lastName');
 
    //tell the db class the criteria
    $ci->db->where('userId', $userId);
 
    //supply the table name and get the data
    $query = $ci->db->get('user');
 
    //ensure that there is something in the variable - in case of no match
    $fullName = "";
 
    foreach($query->result() as $row):
 
        //get the full name by concatinating the first and last names
        $fullName = $row->firstName . " " . $row->lastName;
 
    endforeach;
 
    // return the full name;
    return $fullName;
 
}

It is only now that I realise quite how powerful this is!

The great thing about it is that you do not have to edit your data-load function if you add a new field to the database. Because the jQuery function loops through all the fields in the JSON data, it will automatically insert the values in to the correct fields, providing those fields are named the same as the html form controls.

Here is the code again for those who dont want to check back.

$.getJSON("/yourJson.js, function(myJson){
	$.each(myJson.rows, function(i,item) {
		 for (prop in item) {
		 	 $('#' + prop).val(item[prop]);
		 }
	});
});

This is actually quite simple to do, as long as you know what to look for. The ODBC manager that you are able to access from within Windows is not going to work for you, but it turns out that Microsoft provide a 32 bit manager that will.

To use this manager, run the following command:

c:\windows\syswow64\odbcad32.exe

Please note that it is not good enough to just type odbcad32.exe, as there is another file in the path with the same file name (great work MS!). However, once you have opened this application up, it works in the exact same way as if you were running XP.