SQLServer date / timestamp problems ?

Question

Hi,
I am having trouble reading a timestamp field from sql server. Java 1.3/SQLServer 7 SP1, ODBC:JDBC bridge
We can access other datatypes OK but get the error
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver]Restricted data type attribute violation
when we try to read a timestamp or datetime value, using getTimestamp or getDate.
Can anyone explain this error ?
java.sql.Date myDate;
java.sql.Timestamp myTimestamp;
java.util.Calendar cal = java.util.Calendar.getInstance();
java.util.TimeZone tz = java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT");
String d;
try{
myTimestamp = r.getTimestamp("fldDate", cal);
System.out.println("Got timestamp");
System.out.println("timestamp is "+myTimestamp.toString() );
catch( SQLException e) {
System.out.println("Timestamp failed"+e);
try{
myDate = r.getDate("fldDate");
d=myDate.toString();
System.out.println("Date :"+d);
catch( SQLException e) {
System.out.println("Date failed"+e);

Answer 1

You can fix your problem with SQLServer timestamps simply making a minor change.
SQLServer timestamps are, in fact Binary big integers. So, for example if you have a Country table and you select it as:
Select
     [CountryID],
     [Name],
     user_name([InsertUser]) AS InsertUser,
     [InsertDate],
     user_name([ModifyUser]) AS ModifyUser,
     [ModifyDate],
     ts
From     Country
Order By [CountryID]
Then you will get a problem because Java timestamp are Dates types. To fix the problem, just add a Convert function, like this:
Select
     [CountryID],
     [Name],
     user_name([InsertUser]) AS InsertUser,
     [InsertDate],
     user_name([ModifyUser]) AS ModifyUser,
     [ModifyDate],
     Convert(bigint, [ts]) AS ts
From     Country
Order By [CountryID]
And finally, from your Java code, read this column as a BigInt.
RDC