FreeTDS Development Group

["Thompson, Bill D (London)" <bill_d_thompson AT ml.com>]

OK Guys, here goes....

I think I've reached a kind of understanding of what is happening, by some
extensive testing.

I've got a table with a single row and a single column  - char(10) - with
data '1234567890' in it...

I've written a program which will select the column 6 times and bind it in
various different ways to different host variables.
In the first three cases, all the host variables are char[21] and have been
initialised with 20 '@' characters
In the last case they are declared as DBVARYCHAR ( a structure with an int
length and a char[256] string in it )

here's some output from the Sybase version.

bindtype = NTBSTRINGBIND bindlen = 12   data = >1234567890< ind = 0
bindtype = NTBSTRINGBIND bindlen = 11   data = >1234567890< ind = 0
bindtype = NTBSTRINGBIND bindlen = 10   data = >123456789< ind = 0
bindtype = NTBSTRINGBIND bindlen = 5    data = >1234< ind = 10
bindtype = NTBSTRINGBIND bindlen = 0    data = >1234567890< ind = 0
bindtype = NTBSTRINGBIND bindlen = -1   data = >1234567890< ind = 10

bindtype = STRINGBIND bindlen = 12      data = >1234567890 < ind = 0
bindtype = STRINGBIND bindlen = 11      data = >1234567890< ind = 0
bindtype = STRINGBIND bindlen = 10      data = >123456789< ind = 0
bindtype = STRINGBIND bindlen = 5       data = >1234< ind = 10
bindtype = STRINGBIND bindlen = 0       data = >1234567890< ind = 10
bindtype = STRINGBIND bindlen = -1      data = >1234567890< ind = 10

bindtype = CHARBIND bindlen = 12        data = >1234567890  @@@@@@@@< ind =
0
bindtype = CHARBIND bindlen = 11        data = >1234567890 @@@@@@@@@< ind =
0
bindtype = CHARBIND bindlen = 10        data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< ind =
0
bindtype = CHARBIND bindlen = 5         data = >12345@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@< ind =
10
bindtype = CHARBIND bindlen = 0         data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< ind =
0
bindtype = CHARBIND bindlen = -1        data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< ind =
0

bindtype = VARYCHARBIND bindlen = 12    data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< len =
10 ind = 0
bindtype = VARYCHARBIND bindlen = 11    data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< len =
10 ind = 0
bindtype = VARYCHARBIND bindlen = 10    data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< len =
10 ind = 0
bindtype = VARYCHARBIND bindlen = 5     data = >12345@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@< len =
5 ind = 10
bindtype = VARYCHARBIND bindlen = 0     data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< len =
10 ind = 0
bindtype = VARYCHARBIND bindlen = -1    data = >1234567890@@@@@@@@@@< len =
10 ind = 0

Looking at how the indicator variables have been set shows a few things:

1) NTBSTRINGBIND and STRINGBIND are inconsistent in their handling of
bindlen = 0.
2) NTBSTRINGBIND and STRINGBIND both fail to report the truncation when
bindlen = 10
3) only CHARBIND and VARYCHARBIND seem to behave properly, as I read the
documentation.

It all makes a little more sense when you spot the N.B. in the
documentation, which states:

"only CHARBIND and VARYCHARBIND can detect truncation of character strings."

This would be better put:

"only CHARBIND and VARYCHARBIND accurately detect and report truncation of
character strings"

In the light of this, I'm not going to populate the indicator variables at
all for NTBSTRINGBIND and STRINGBIND, as there seems to be no logic to the
observable behaviour.


Bill


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lowden, James K [SMTP:LowdenJK AT bernstein.com]
> Sent: 15 June 2004 15:13
> To:   FreeTDS Development Group
> Subject:      RE: [freetds] dbbind, dbnullbind issues
> 
> > From: freetds-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > [mailto:freetds-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of 
> > Thompson, Bill D
> > 
> > I've been wrestling with the features of dbbind and 
> > dbnullbind
> ...
> > I could do several things:
> > 
> > 1) code our dblibrary funstions so that they behave as 
> > specified in the manual pages.
> > 2) attempt to reflect the actual (but inconsistent) behaviour 
> > of the Sybase implementation
> > 3) code to a different, but clearer and arguably more sensible,
> > specification.
> 
> Hi Bill, 
> 
> Can you cite an example where someone following the letter of the
> documentation would build a non-working application when linking to one of
> the vendors' libraries?  
> 
> In general, I'm sure you agree that adhering to the documents is best.
> Bug-for-bug compatibility is useful in two cases:
> 
> 1.  Following the docs doesn't actually work.  
> 2.  Binary compatibility.  
> 
> The first case is truly bad, and I don't know of any examples.  The second
> is a far-off goal; we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, IMO.  
> 
> The other kind of not-of-the-docs behavior are things that work but aren't
> documented to work, things like using varlen of -1 that you found.  I
> think it's fine to support them when it's convenient, and deny them when
> not.  Anyone who complains can fix his code or change ours.  
> 
> Is that any help?  
> 
> --jkl
> 
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