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Q247758: INFO: No Padding of Parameters Done by SQL Driver Prior Ver 3.7x

Article: Q247758
Product(s): Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
Version(s): 2.5,2.6,3.7
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbODBC kbGrpDSVCDB kbGrpDSMDAC kbDSupport kbMDAC250 kbMDAC260 kbmdac270
Last Modified: 23-AUG-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server, version 3.7 
- Microsoft Data Access Components versions 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 
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SUMMARY
=======

SQLBindParameter() in the SQL Server ODBC driver version 3.7x behave differently
from previous releases of the driver. With SQL Server ODBC drivers prior to
version 3.7x, parameter values specified with SQLBindParameter() are not padded
with spaces even when the SQL data type is SQL_CHAR.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Behavior of SQL Server ODBC driver version 3.7.x
------------------------------------------------

SQLBindParameter() with SQL data type of "SQL_CHAR":

When you bind a parameter with SQLBindParameter() and the column size specified
is greater than the actual length of the parameter value, the value is padded
with spaces if the SQL data type is SQL_CHAR.

This causes a query like "select * from table1 where field1 like 'F%' " to return
"No Data Found" even though there are matching values in the table. This is
because the LIKE clause value is padded with as many spaces to match the column
size specified.

SQLBindParameter() with SQL data type of "SQL_VARCHAR":

No padding is done as expected and correct results are obtained.

Behavior of older drivers (prior to 3.7x)
-----------------------------------------

No padding is done in either case (SQL_CHAR or SQL_VARCHAR). So, the earlier
query example gives the matching results irrespective of SQL data type being
SQL_CHAR or SQL_VARCHAR with SQL Server ODBC driver version 3.6x and lower.

Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kbODBC kbGrpDSVCDB kbGrpDSMDAC kbDSupport kbMDAC250 kbMDAC260 kbmdac270 
Technology        : kbSQLServSearch kbAudDeveloper kbODBCSearch kbMDACSearch kbMDAC250 kbMDAC260 kbODBCSQLServ370 kbMDAC270
Version           : :2.5,2.6,3.7
Issue type        : kbinfo

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