Using the SQL DESCRIPTOR Keywords

Specify INTO SQL DESCRIPTOR to create a new system-descriptor structure and store the description of a prepared statement list in that structure.

Use the USING SQL DESCRIPTOR clause to store the description of a prepared statement list in a previously allocated system-descriptor area. Executing the DESCRIBE INPUT . . . USING SQL DESCRIPTOR statement updates an existing system-descriptor area in the following ways:
  • It allocates memory for the DATA field for each item descriptor, based on the TYPE and LENGTH information.
  • It sets the COUNT field in the system-descriptor area to the number of values in the statement list. An error results if COUNT is greater than the number of item descriptors in the system-descriptor area.
  • It sets the TYPE, LENGTH, NAME, SCALE, PRECISION, and NULLABLE fields in the system-descriptor area.

For columns of opaque data types, the DESCRIBE INPUT statement sets the EXTYPEID, EXTYPENAME, EXTYPELENGTH, EXTYPEOWNERLENGTH, and EXTYPEOWNERNAME fields of the item descriptor.

After a DESCRIBE INPUT statement executes, the SCALE and PRECISION fields contain the scale and precision of the column, respectively. If SCALE and PRECISION are set in the SET DESCRIPTOR statement, and TYPE is set to DECIMAL or MONEY, the LENGTH field is modified to adjust for the decimal scale and precision. If TYPE is not set to DECIMAL or MONEY, the values for SCALE and PRECISION are not set, and LENGTH is unaffected.

You must modify the system-descriptor-area information with the SET DESCRIPTOR statement to specify the address in memory that is to receive the described value. You can change the data type to another compatible type. This causes data conversion to take place when the data values are fetched.

You can also use the system-descriptor area in other statements that support a USING SQL DESCRIPTOR clause, such as EXECUTE, FETCH, OPEN, and PUT.

The following examples show the use of a system descriptor in a DESCRIBE statement. In the first example, the system descriptor is a quoted string; in the second example, it is an embedded variable name. 
main()
{
. . .
EXEC SQL allocate descriptor 'desc1' with max 3;
EXEC SQL prepare curs1 FROM 'select * from tab';
EXEC SQL describe curs1 using sql descriptor 'desc1';
}
EXEC SQL describe curs1 using sql descriptor :desc1var;

A system-descriptor area conforms to the X/Open standards.