Getting column names from a cursor using ODBC module?

[dananrg@yahoo.com]

Is there any way to retrieve column names from a cursor using the ODBC
module? Or must I, in advance, create a dictionary of column position
and column names for a particular table before I can access column
values by column names? I'd prefer sticking with the ODBC module for
now because it comes standard in Python.

I'm using Python 2.4 at the moment.

Thanks.

[John Machin]

Re: Getting column names from a cursor using ODBC module?

On Jun 21, 11:58 pm, dana...@yahoo.c om wrote:

Is there any way to retrieve column names from a cursor using the ODBC
module? Or must I, in advance, create a dictionary of column position
and column names for a particular table before I can access column
values by column names? I'd prefer sticking with the ODBC module for
now because it comes standard in Python.
>
I'm using Python 2.4 at the moment.
>
Thanks.

[John Machin]

Re: Getting column names from a cursor using ODBC module?

On Jun 21, 11:58 pm, dana...@yahoo.c om wrote:

Is there any way to retrieve column names from a cursor using the ODBC
module? Or must I, in advance, create a dictionary of column position
and column names for a particular table before I can access column
values by column names? I'd prefer sticking with the ODBC module for
now because it comes standard in Python.
>
I'm using Python 2.4 at the moment.
>

Do you mean the odbc module? If so, it doesn't come standard in
Python; it's part of the win32 package.

I haven't used it for years -- my preference on Windows these days
would be mxODBC if the client would pay the licence fee, otherwise
pyodbc. Sorry I'm not answering your question ... perhaps you should
be asking a different question :)

Cheers,
John

[John Machin]

Re: Getting column names from a cursor using ODBC module?

On Jun 22, 12:19 am, John Machin <sjmac...@lexic on.netwrote:

On Jun 21, 11:58 pm, dana...@yahoo.c om wrote:
>

Is there any way to retrieve column names from a cursor using the ODBC
module? Or must I, in advance, create a dictionary of column position
and column names for a particular table before I can access column
values by column names? I'd prefer sticking with the ODBC module for
now because it comes standard in Python.

>

I'm using Python 2.4 at the moment.

>
Do you mean the odbc module? If so, it doesn't come standard in
Python; it's part of the win32 package.
>
I haven't used it for years -- my preference on Windows these days
would be mxODBC if the client would pay the licence fee, otherwise
pyodbc. Sorry I'm not answering your question ... perhaps you should
be asking a different question :)
>
Cheers,
John

But to help you answer your question: if the module that you are using
supports the 2.0 version of the database API (see http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0249/),
then it will support the cursor.descript ion attribute, which gives you
not only the name but the type and 5 other bits of info about each
column. If it doesn't, I'd suggest moving on.

HTH,
John

[Chris]

Re: Getting column names from a cursor using ODBC module?

On Jun 21, 3:58 pm, dana...@yahoo.c om wrote:

Is there any way to retrieve column names from a cursor using the ODBC
module? Or must I, in advance, create a dictionary of column position
and column names for a particular table before I can access column
values by column names? I'd prefer sticking with the ODBC module for
now because it comes standard in Python.
>
I'm using Python 2.4 at the moment.
>
Thanks.

You should be able to do

column_names = [d[0] for d in cursor.descript ion]

[dananrg@yahoo.com]

Re: Getting column names from a cursor using ODBC module?

Thanks Chris and John. Chris, this worked perfectly with the ODBC
module that ships with Python Win32:

column_names = [d[0] for d in cursor.descript ion]

John, I've never heard of pyodbc but I'll have to look into it.

Thanks again.

Dana