How to pull only column names from a SELECT query without running it

Question

How to pull only column names from a SELECT statement without executing it? It seems there is getMetaData() in Java to pull the column names while sql is being prepared and before it gets executed. I need to get the columns whether we run the sql or not.

Answer 1

Maybe something like this is what you are looking for or at least will give you some ideas.
        public static DataSet MaterializeDataSet(string _connectionString, string _sqlSelect, bool _returnProviderSpecificTypes, bool _includeSchema, bool _fillTable)
            DataSet ds = null;
            using (OracleConnection _oraconn = new OracleConnection(_connectionString))
                try
                    _oraconn.Open();
                    using (OracleCommand cmd = new OracleCommand(_sqlSelect, _oraconn))
                        cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
                        using (OracleDataAdapter da = new OracleDataAdapter(cmd))
                            da.ReturnProviderSpecificTypes = _returnProviderSpecificTypes;
                            //da.MissingSchemaAction = MissingSchemaAction.AddWithKey;
                            if (_includeSchema == true)
                                ds = new DataSet("SCHEMASUPPLIED");
                                da.FillSchema(ds, SchemaType.Source);
                                if (_fillTable == true)
                                    da.Fill(ds.Tables[0]);
                            else
                                ds = new DataSet("SCHEMANOTSUPPLIED");
                                if (_fillTable == true)
                                    da.Fill(ds);
                            ds.Tables[0].TableName = "Table";
                        }//using da
                    } //using cmd
                catch (OracleException _oraEx)
                    throw (_oraEx); // Actually rethrow
                catch (System.Exception _sysEx)
                    throw (_sysEx); // Actually rethrow
                finally
                    if (_oraconn.State == ConnectionState.Broken || _oraconn.State == ConnectionState.Open)
                        _oraconn.Close();
            }//using oraconn
            if (ds != null)
                if (ds.Tables != null && ds.Tables[0] != null)
                    return ds;
                else
                    return null;
            else
                return null;
        }r,
dennis