There are two types of format results: regular row format results and compute row format results.
Format result sets do not contain fetchable data, but rather indicate the availability of format information for the regular row and compute row result sets with which they are associated.
All format information for a command is returned before any data. That is, the row format and compute format result sets for a command precede the regular row and compute row result sets that the command generates.
Format information is primarily of use in gateway applications, which need to repackage Adaptive Server results before sending them on to a foreign client.
A gateway application typically processes a format result set one column at a time, retrieving format information for the column by calling ct_describe and ct_compute_info and sending the format information through Server-Library routines.
A connection receives format results only if its CS_EXPOSE_FMTS property is set to CS_TRUE.
