Tim Bunce wrote: > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2004 at 03:53:16PM -0800, Dean Arnold wrote: > > I don't think ODBC provides any clear guidance. > > It defines 2 distinct descriptor elements: > > > > COLUMN_SIZE: the size in bytes > > DISPLAY_SIZE: the size in characters > > > > And PRECISION is only defined wrt numerics; > > otherwise, the column descriptors only return OCTET_LENGTH > > (aka byte length). > > I've dug around in my books and "SQL-99 Complete, Really" says > that SQLDescribeCol (which is the relevant function here) uses > SQL_DESC_OCTET_LENGTH for the 'Columnsize' of char types.
SQLColAttribute <http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/odbc/htm/odch21bpr_10.asp?frame=no> is an extensible alternative to SQLDescribeCol. Because DBI's statement handle attributes are extensible, isn't SQLColAttribute the more relevant function here? If so, why not encourage a DBD to support as much SQL_DESC_* attributes as it can? Steffen
