odbc_describe_binary_as_varbinary [database]

Controls how the SQL Anywhere ODBC driver describes BINARY columns.

Allowed values

On, Off

Default

Off

Remarks

This option allows you to choose whether you want all BINARY and VARBINARY columns to be described to your application as BINARY or VARBINARY. By default, the SQL Anywhere ODBC driver describes both BINARY and VARBINARY columns as SQL_BINARY. When this option is set to On, the ODBC driver describes BINARY and VARBINARY columns as SQL_VARBINARY. Regardless of the setting of this option, it is not possible to distinguish between BINARY and VARBINARY columns.

It may be useful to turn this option On if you are using Delphi applications where BINARY columns are always zero-padded, but VARBINARY columns are not. You can improve performance in Delphi by setting this option to On so that all columns are treated as variable length data types.

See also