MDAC 2.5 SDK - ODBC Programmer's Reference
Chapter 17: Programming Considerations

New Features

The following new functionality has been introduced in ODBC 3.x. An ODBC 3.x application working with an ODBC 2.x driver will not be able to use this functionality. The ODBC 3.x Driver Manager does not map these features when working with an ODBC 2.x driver.

• Functions that take a descriptor handle as an argument: SQLSetDescField, SQLGetDescField, SQLSetDescRec, SQLGetDescRec, and SQLCopyDesc.
  
  
• The functions SQLSetEnvAttr and SQLGetEnvAttr.
  
  
• The use of SQLAllocHandle to allocate a descriptor handle. (The use of SQLAllocHandle to allocate environment, connection, and statement handles is duplicated, not new, functionality.)
  
  
• The use of SQLGetConnectAttr to get the SQL_ATTR_AUTO_IPD connection attributes. (The use of SQLSetConnectAttr to set, and SQLGetConnectAttr to get, other connection attributes is duplicated, not new, functionality.)
  
  
• The use of SQLSetStmtAttr to set, and SQLGetStmtAttr to get, the following statement attributes. (The use of SQLSetStmtAttr to set, and SQLGetStmtAttr to get, other statement attributes is duplicated, not new, functionality.)

  SQL_ATTR_APP_ROW_DESC
  SQL_ATTR_APP_PARAM_DESC
  SQL_ATTR_ENABLE_AUTO_IPD
  SQL_ATTR_FETCH_BOOKMARK_PTR
  SQL_ATTR_BIND_OFFSET
  SQL_ATTR_METADATA_ID
  SQL_ATTR_PARAM_BIND_OFFSET_PTR
  SQL_ATTR_PARAM_BIND_TYPE
  SQL_ATTR_PARAM_OPERATION_PTR
  SQL_DESC_PARAM_STATUS_PTR
  SQL_ATTR_PARAMS_PROCESSED_PTR
  SQL_ATTR_PARAMSET_SIZE
  SQL_ATTR_ROW_BIND_OFFSET_PTR
  SQL_ATTR_ROW_OPERATION_PTR
  SQL_ATTR_ROW_ARRAY_SIZE

• The use of SQLGetStmtAttr to get the following statement attributes. (The use of SQLGetStmtAttr to get other statement attributes is duplicated functionality, not new functionality.)

  SQL_ATTR_IMP_ROW_DESC
  SQL_ATTR_IMP_PARAM_DESC

• Use of the interval C data type, the interval SQL data types, the BIGINT C data types, and the SQL_C_NUMERIC data structure.
  
  
• Row-wise binding of parameters.
  
  
• Offset-based bookmark fetches, such as calling SQLFetchScroll with a FetchOrientation argument of SQL_FETCH_BOOKMARK and specifying an offset other than 0.
  
  
• SQLFetch returning the row status array, number of rows fetched, fetching multiple rows, intermixing calls with SQLFetchScroll, and intermixing calls with SQLBulkOperations or SQLSetPos. For more information, see the next section, "Block Cursors, Scrollable Cursors, and Backward Compatibility for ODBC 3.x Applications."
  
  
• Named parameters.
  
  
• Any of the ODBC 3.x–specific SQLGetInfo options. (If an ODBC 3.x application working with an ODBC 2.x driver calls the SQL_XXX_CURSOR_ATTRIBUTES1 information types, which have replaced several ODBC 2.x information types, some of the information might be reliable, but some might be unreliable. For more information, see SQLGetInfo.)
  
  
• Bind offsets.
  
  
• Updating, refreshing, and deleting by bookmarks (through a call to SQLBulkOperations).
  
  
• Calling SQLBulkOperations or SQLSetPos in the S5 state.
  
  
• The ROW_NUMBER and COLUMN_NUMBER fields in the diagnostic record (which have to be retrieved by the replacement functions SQLGetDiagField or SQLGetDiagRec).
  
  
• Approximate row counts.
  
  
• Warning information (SQL_ROW_SUCCESS_WITH_INFO from SQLFetchScroll).
  
  
• Variable-length bookmarks.
  
  
• Extended error information for arrays of parameters.
  
  
• All of the new columns in the result sets returned by the catalog functions.
  
  
• Use of SQLDescribeCol and SQLColAttribute on column 0.
  
  
• Use of any ODBC 3.x–specific column attributes in a call to SQLColAttribute.
  
  
• Use of multiple environment handles.