On Sat 24 Apr 2004 21:38, "Dean Arnold" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'm finding I frequently need to convert the DBI type metadata
> from a result set into a string representation (either for display purposes,
> or to generate additional queries).
>
> Is there a need/desire to add a new $sth metadata item
> TYPE_STRING that would contain that info, eg,
>
> $sth->{TYPE}->[0] == SQL_INTEGER => $sth->{TYPE_STRING}->[0] = 'INTEGER'
> $sth->{TYPE}->[0] == SQL_DECIMAL,
> $sth->{PRECISION}->[0] == 10,
> $sth->{SCALE}->[0] == 2 => $sth->{TYPE_STRING}->[0] = 'DECIMAL(10,2)'
>
> etc.
>
> This appears to be one of those things that could have a default
> implemention at the DBI layer, but overridden by the driver. This is a bit
> more convenient than reconstructing things from type_info(), esp. since
> precision/scale would already be supplied.
>
> Since I've coded this translation about a dozen times
> now, I could probably whip up a patch to DBI for the default.
> (Probably based on type_info(), if driver provides it, else just
> a best guess)
>
> Opinions ? Have I overlooked something like this thats already in the DBI ?
1. I like it, and I would use it
2. If used to (re)create tables, it would be nice to be able to customize the
words used in advance, so no changes would be needed afterwords
DECIMAL => NUMBER => NUMERIC => INT2 => BLARGHY => ...
CHAR => VARCHAR => STRING => HUMBERDREW_4 => ...
DOUBLE => FLOAT => NUMBER => FLURBLE32 => ...
DATE => TIME => DATETIME => TIMESTAMP => FIRAGO =>
I've seen too many to be able to stop fantasize about what database designers
come up with in the future. If I could pass such a table on connect, or assign
it to a dbh just after, I could use centralized tables. The keys to such table
could be the current set of SQL_... types, but with fallback enablement for
generic types (double/float => numeric) optional
--
H.Merijn Brand Amsterdam Perl Mongers (http://amsterdam.pm.org/)
using perl-5.6.1, 5.8.0 & 633 on HP-UX 10.20 & 11.00, AIX 4.2, AIX 4.3,
WinNT 4, Win2K pro & WinCE 2.11 often with Tk800.024 &/| DBD-Unify
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/authors/id/H/HM/HMBRAND/
