You may want to use prepared queries with C++ connector:
sql::Connection *con;
sql::PreparedStatement *prep_stmt
// ...
prep_stmt = con->prepareStatement("INSERT INTO test(id, label) VALUES (?, ?)");
prep_stmt->setInt(1, 1);
prep_stmt->setString(2, "a");
prep_stmt->execute();
prep_stmt->setInt(1, 2);
prep_stmt->setString(2, "b");
prep_stmt->execute();
delete prep_stmt;
delete con;
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/connector-cpp-examples-prepared-statements.html
Also, yes, mysql_real_*
are part of C connector's API, and it is the only difference.