sub DB_xxx
   {
    my ($dbUser, $dbPass, $db, $autoCommit) = @_;
    my $dbh;

    # logon to DB
    unless( $dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:Oracle:' . ($$db || ''), $$dbUser, $$dbPass,
                                {AutoCommit => $$autoCommit}) )
      {

      croak "Error connecting to database $DBI::errstr \n";

      }
                 
    return $dbh;

   }