Differences

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--- v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:metacolumns [2016/03/16 03:06] – mnewnham
+++ v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:metacolumns [2016/03/17 00:16] – mnewnham
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<- v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:metatypes|MetaTypes ^ v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:start_lesson|Start Of Lesson ^ v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:metatables|MetaTables ->
+<- v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:metatypes|MetaTypes ^ v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:start_lesson|Start Of Lesson ^ v5:userguide:learn_dictionary:other_metafunctions|Other MetaFunctions ->
 ~~NOTOC~~
 ====== MetaColumns ======
-The metaColumns method returns an array of [[v5:dictionary:adoFieldObject|adoFieldObject]] object that represents the attributes of the columns of a specified table.
+The metaColumns method returns an array of [[v5:dictionary:adoFieldObject|adoFieldObject]] objects that represent the attributes of the columns of a specified table.
 <code php>
 $m = $db->metaColumns('my_table');
@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 For example, in the example above, the actname field is of a type **//VARCHAR//** . If we pass this to ''metaType()'', it returns the value **C**
+===== Extended Attributes =====
+Some drivers return an extended set of attributes that represent DBMS specific functionality. For example, the IBM DB2 driver returns the normal 3 attributes above plus the following 3:
+  [not_null] =>
+  [scale] =>
+  [primary_key] =>
+If you are writing portable applications you should not rely on these attributes to be available across all databases.
 ===== metaColumnNames =====
-This method returns just the column names from the table.
+This method [[v5:dictionary:metacolumnnames|metaColumnNames()]] returns just the column names from the table.
+<code php>
+$ar = $db->metaColumnNames('test');
+print_r($ar);
+/*
+ * Returns:
+COLUMN_1=>column_1,
+COLUMN_2=>column_2,
+COLUMN_3=>column_3
+*/
+</code>