Get columns name

[_Flaviu]

Yes, I know that, but the question is, how can I know the columns name for the following SELECT (programmatically):

SELECT * FROM table1, table 2 WHERE table1.id = table2.id;

?

[Victor Nijegorodov]

I'd just do it the same way as for a single table: - obtain column names for table1; - obtain column names for table2; - ...

[_Flaviu]

So, you are saying that I need to do a static analyze on SELECT text and see what columns I have, if I enumerate the columns in the SELECT statement, then I have it, if I don't (I have '*') then I have to query the tables names / columns name and will find them. I thought there is a SQL trick to find the columns name in any circumstances.

[Victor Nijegorodov]

I'd implement such a "trick" in a stored procedure that gets a query as an argument, then creates the temporary View, uses

SELECT [TABLE_NAME]
,[COLUMN_NAME]
FROM [INFORMATION_SCHEMA].[COLUMNS]
where TABLE_NAME =

to return the recordset with the tables/columns names, then delete the temp view. PS: this should work with SQL Server 2008 and above.

[_Flaviu]

Sound good ! Because this solution should be cross server platform, it is available on the other SQL servers, like Oracle, Informix, MySQL, and so on ?

[Victor Nijegorodov]

You have to test it yourself! Just check out the links I gave you [here](https://www.codeproject.com/Messages/5808300/Re-Get-columns-name)

[Lost User]

If you load your query into a DataTable, you can get the column names from meta data. [datatable - How do I get column names to print in this C# program? - Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2557937/how-do-i-get-column-names-to-print-in-this-c-sharp-program)

It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

[Victor Nijegorodov]

AFAIK, the OP develops in C++. However, I may be wrong.

[Lost User]

[Data Access Using ADO.NET (C++/CLI) | Microsoft Docs](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/dotnet/data-access-using-adonet-cpp-cli?view=msvc-160)

It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

[Victor Nijegorodov]

But it is managed C++/CLI. :sigh: It has nothing to do with the native C++. :-O

[Lost User]

Yeah, but ... [Using ADO.NET in MFC Projects](https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/4735/Using-ADO-NET-in-MFC-Projects) (And it's a "database" forum) Before ADO.NET there was ADO, and MFC did ADO.

It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

[Victor Nijegorodov]

Interesting idea. Thank you! BTW, I used ADO in my big VS2010 project (C++/MFC with ADO with SQL Server) from 2009 to 2015, of course without any mixture with managed code! ;)

[Mycroft Holmes]

Try this select * from table1 where 1=1 this should return an empty datatable with all the columns. Simply iterate the columns to get their names.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - RAH I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP

[mverbeke]

Try: SELECT [name]. [column_id] AS [Ordinal] FROM sys.columns WHERE [object_id] = OBJECT_ID('MyTable') ORDER BY [column_id]; That will get the column names and ordinal position.

[Richard Deeming]

I suggest you read the documentation:

sys.columns (Transact-SQL) - SQL Server | Microsoft Docs[^]:

Column IDs might not be sequential.

If a column has ever been dropped from the table, you will end up with gaps in the column ID sequence. To get a true ordinal position, you'd need to use the ROW_NUMBER windowing function - for example:

SELECT [name], ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY [column_id]) As [Ordinal]
FROM sys.columns
WHERE [object_id] = OBJECT_ID('MyTable')
ORDER BY [column_id]

---

"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer