Enhanced Date and Time Type Behavior with Previous SQL Server Versions (ODBC)
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
This topic describes the expected behavior when a client application that uses enhanced date and time features communicates with a version of SQL Server earlier than SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x), and when a client application using Microsoft Data Access Components, Windows Data Access Components, or a version of SQL Server Native Client earlier than SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) sends commands to a server that supports enhanced date and time features.
Down-Level Client Behavior
Client applications that were compiled using a version of SQL Server Native Client prior to SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) see the new date/time types as nvarchar columns. The column contents are the literal representations, as described in "Data Formats: Strings and Literals" section of Data Type Support for ODBC Date and Time Improvements. The column size is the maximum literal length for the fractional seconds precision specified for the column.
Catalog APIs will return metadata consistent with the down-level data type code returned to the client (for example, nvarchar) and the associated down-level representation (for example, the appropriate literal format). However, the data type name returned will be the real SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) type name.
Statement metadata returned by SQLDescribeCol, SQLDescribeParam, SQGetDescField, and SQLColAttribute will return metadata that is consistent with the down-level type in all respects, including the type name. An example of such a down-level type is nvarchar.
When a down-level client application runs against a SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) (or later) server on which schema changes to date/time types have been made, the expected behavior is as follows:
| SQL Server 2005 type | SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) (or later) Type | ODBC client type | Result conversion (SQL to C) | Parameter conversion (C to SQL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Datetime | Date | SQL_C_TYPE_DATE | OK | OK (1) |
| SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | Time fields set to zero. | OK (2) Fails if time field is non-zero. Works with SQL Server 2005 (9.x). |
||
| Time(0) | SQL_C_TYPE_TIME | OK | OK (1) | |
| SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | Date fields set to current date. | OK (2) Date ignored. Fails if fractional seconds are non-zero. Works with SQL Server 2005 (9.x). |
||
| Time(7) | SQL_C_TIME | Fails - invalid time literal. | OK (1) | |
| SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | Fails - invalid time literal. | OK (1) | ||
| Datetime2(3) | SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | OK | OK (1) | |
| Datetime2(7) | SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | OK | Value will be rounded to 1/300th second by client conversion. | |
| Smalldatetime | Date | SQL_C_TYPE_DATE | OK | OK |
| SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | Time fields set to zero. | OK (2) Fails if time field is non-zero. Works with SQL Server 2005 (9.x). |
||
| Time(0) | SQL_C_TYPE_TIME | OK | OK | |
| SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | Date fields set to current date. | OK (2) Date ignored. Fails if fractional seconds non-zero. Works with SQL Server 2005 (9.x). |
||
| Datetime2(0) | SQL_C_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | OK | OK |
Key to Symbols
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | If it worked with SQL Server 2005 (9.x) it should continue to work with a more recent version of SQL Server. |
| 2 | An application that worked with SQL Server 2005 (9.x) could fail with a more recent version of SQL Server. |
Note that only common schema changes have been considered. The following are common changes:
Using a new type where logically an application requires only a date or time value. However, the application was forced to use datetime or smalldatetime due to the lack of separate date and time types.
Using a new type to gain additional fractional seconds precision or accuracy.
Switching to datetime2 because this is the preferred date and time datatype.
Column Metadata Returned by SQLColumns, SQLProcedureColumns, and SQLSpecialColumns
The following column values are returned for date/time types:
| Column Type | date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DATA_TYPE | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | SQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR |
| TYPE_NAME | date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
| COLUMN_SIZE | 10 | 8,10..16 | 16 | 23 | 19, 21..27 | 26, 28..34 |
| BUFFER_LENGTH | 20 | 16, 20..32 | 16 | 16 | 38, 42..54 | 52, 56..68 |
| DECIMAL_DIGITS | NULL | NULL | 0 | 3 | NULL | NULL |
| SQL_DATA_TYPE | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_DATETIME | SQL_DATETIME | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR |
| SQL_DATETIME_SUB | NULL | NULL | SQL_CODE_TIMESTAMP | SQL_CODE_TIMESTAMP | NULL | NULL |
| CHAR_OCTET_LENGTH | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| SS_DATA_TYPE | 0 | 0 | 111 | 111 | 0 | 0 |
SQLSpecialColumns does not return SQL_DATA_TYPE, SQL_DATETIME_SUB, CHAR_OCTET_LENGTH, or SS_DATA_TYPE.
Data Type Metadata Returned by SQLGetTypeInfo
The following column values are returned for date/time types:
| Column Type | date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TYPE_NAME | date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
| DATA_TYPE | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | SQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR |
| COLUMN_SIZE | 10 | 16 | 16 | 23 | 27 | 34 |
| LITERAL_PREFIX | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' |
| LITERAL_SUFFIX | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' |
| CREATE_PARAMS | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| NULLABLE | SQL_NULLABLE | SQL_NULLABLE | SQL_NULLABLE | SQL_NULLABLE | SQL_NULLABLE | SQL_NULLABLE |
| CASE_SENSITIVE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE |
| SEARCHABLE | SQL_PRED_SEARCHABLE | SQL_PRED_SEARCHABLE | SQL_PRED_SEARCHABLE | SQL_PRED_SEARCHABLE | SQL_PRED_SEARCHABLE | SQL_PRED_SEARCHABLE |
| UNSIGNED_ATTRIBUTE | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| FXED_PREC_SCALE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE | SQL_FALSE |
| AUTO_UNIQUE_VALUE | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| LOCAL_TYPE_NAME | date | time | smalldatetime | datetime | datetime2 | datetimeoffset |
| MINIMUM_SCALE | NULL | NULL | 0 | 3 | NULL | NULL |
| MAXIMUM_SCALE | NULL | NULL | 0 | 3 | NULL | NULL |
| SQL_DATA_TYPE | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_DATETIME | SQL_DATETIME | SQL_WVARCHAR | SQL_WVARCHAR |
| SQL_DATETIME_SUB | NULL | NULL | SQL_CODE_TIMESTAMP | SQL_CODE_TIMESTAMP | NULL | NULL |
| NUM_PREC_RADIX | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| INTERVAL_PRECISION | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL |
| USERTYPE | 0 | 0 | 12 | 22 | 0 | 0 |
Down-Level Server Behavior
When connected to a server instance of an earlier version that SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x), any attempt to use the new server types or associated metadata codes and descriptor fields will result in SQL_ERROR being returned. A diagnostic record will be generated with SQLSTATE HY004 and the message "Invalid SQL data type for server version on connection", or with 07006 and "Restricted data type attribute violation".
See Also
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