Professional SQL Server™ 2005 Programming

A.6. Metadata Functions

The metadata functions provide information about the database and database objects. They are:

• COL_LENGTH

• COL_NAME

• COLUMNPROPERTY

• DATABASEPROPERTY

• DATABASEPROPERTYEX

• DB_ID

• DB_NAME

• FILE_ID

• FILE_NAME

• FILEGROUP_ID

• FILEGROUP_NAME

• FILEGROUPPROPERTY

• FILEPROPERTY

• FULLTEXTCATALOGPROPERTY

• FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY

• INDEX_COL

• INDEXKEY_PROPERTY

• INDEXPROPERTY

• OBJECT_ID

• OBJECT_NAME

• OBJECTPROPERTY

• OBJECTPROPERTYEX

• SCHEMA_ID

• SCHEMA_NAME

• SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY

• TYPE_ID

• TYPE_NAME

• TYPEPROPERTY

A.6.1. COL_LENGTH

The COL_LENGTH function returns the defined length of a column. The syntax is as follows:

COL_LENGTH('<table>', '<column>')

The column parameter specifies the name of the column for which the length is to be determined. The table parameter specifies the name of the table that contains that column.

A.6.2. COL_NAME

The COL_NAME function takes a table ID number and a column ID number and returns the name of the database column. The syntax is as follows:

COL_NAME(<table_id>, <column_id>)

The column_id parameter specifies the ID number of the column. The table_id parameter specifies the ID number of the table that contains that column.

A.6.3. COLUMNPROPERTY

The COLUMNPROPERTY function returns data about a column or procedure parameter. The syntax is as follows:

COLUMNPROPERTY(<id>, <column>, <property>)

The id parameter specifies the ID of the table/procedure. The column parameter specifies the name of the column/parameter. The property parameter specifies the data that should be returned for the column ...