Metadata - Date and Time and Schema Rowsets in SQL Server Native Client
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
This topic provides information about COLUMNS rowset and PROCEDURE_PARAMETERS rowset. This information relates to the OLE DB date and time enhancements introduced in SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x).
COLUMNS Rowset
The following column values are returned for date/time types:
| Column Type | DATA_TYPE | COLUMN_FLAGS, DBCOLUMFLAGS_SS_ISVARIABLESCALE | DATETIME_PRECISION |
|---|---|---|---|
| date | DBTYPE_DBDATE | Clear | 0 |
| time | DBTYPE_DBTIME2 | Set | 0..7 |
| smalldatetime | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP | Clear | 0 |
| datetime | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP | Clear | 3 |
| datetime2 | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP | Set | 0..7 |
| datetimeoffset | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMPOFFSET | Set | 0..7 |
In COLUMN_FLAGS, DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISFIXEDLENGTH is always true for date/time types and the following flags are always false:
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_CACHEDEFERRED
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISBOOKMARK
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISCHAPTER
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISLONG
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISROWID
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISROWVER
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_MAYDEFER
The remaining flags (DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISNULLABLE, DBCOLUMNFLAGS_MAYBENULL, DBCOLUMNFLAGS_WRITE, and DBCOLUMNFLAGS_WRITEUNKNOWN) might be set, depending on how the column is defined.
A new flag, DBCOLUMNFLAGS_SS_ISVARIABLESCALE, is provided in COLUMN_FLAGS to allow an application to determine the server type of columns where DATA_TYPE is DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP. DATETIME_PRECISION must also be used to identify the server type.
DBCOLUMNFLAGS_SS_ISVARIABLESCALE is only valid when connected to a SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) or later server. DBCOLUMNFLAGS_SS_ISFIXEDSCALE is undefined when connected to down-level servers.
PROCEDURE_PARAMETERS Rowset
DATA_TYPE contains the same values as the COLUMNS schema rowset and TYPE_NAME contains the server type.
A new column, SS_DATETIME_PRECISION, has been added to return the precision of the type as in the DATETIME_PRECISION column, similar to the COLUMNS rowset.
PROVIDER_TYPES Rowset
The following rows are returned for date/time types:
| Type -> Column |
date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TYPE_NAME | date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
| DATA_TYPE | DBTYPE_DBDATE | DBTYPE_DBTIME2 | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP | DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMPOFFSET |
| COLUMN_SIZE | 10 | 16 | 16 | 23 | 27 | 34 |
| LITERAL_PREFIX | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' |
| LITERAL_SUFFIX | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' |
| CREATE_PARAMS | NULL | scale | NULL | NULL | scale | scale |
| IS_NULLABLE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE |
| CASE_SENSITIVE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE |
| SEARCHABLE | DB_SEARCHABLE | DB_SEARCHABLE | DB_SEARCHABLE | DB_SEARCHABLE | DB_SEARCHABLE | DB_SEARCHABLE |
| UNSIGNED_ATTRIBUTE | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| FIXED_PREC_SCALE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE |
| AUTO_UNIQUE_VALUE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE |
| LOCAL_TYPE_NAME | date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
| MINIMUM_SCALE | NULL | 0 | NULL | NULL | 0 | 0 |
| MAXIMUM_SCALE | NULL | 7 | NULL | NULL | 7 | 7 |
| GUID | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| TYPELIB | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| VERSION | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| IS_LONG | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE | VARIANT_FALSE |
| BEST_MATCH | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE unless one of the following is true: Is client connected to a down-level server. The data type compatibility connection property specifies a compatibility level that equals 80. |
VARIANT_TRUE unless one of the following is true: Is client connected to a down-level server. The data type compatibility connection property specifies a compatibility level that equals 80. |
VARIANT_TRUE |
| IS_FIXEDLENGTH | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE | VARIANT_TRUE |
OLE DB only defines MINIMUM_SCALE and MAXIMUM_SCALE for numeric and decimal types, so SQL Server Native Client's use of these columns for time, datetime2 and datetimeoffset is non-standard.