Re: DateTime field with C++

[J Jorgenson]

There are two ways to handle a DateTime field.

For non-prepared statments [mysql_query()], all the data is retrieved across the network in 'STRING' format. **VERY** inefficient if you are processing many records.

At the C/C++ level for prepared statments [mysql_stmt_exec()], you can 'bind' most any database datatype you wish against most any 'C' datatype in your program, and the client library will 'coherce' the value to fit the 'C' data type (sometimes creating bad data).
**Practically** You Will want to 'bind' with either a MYSQL_TYPE_DATETIME structure or a MYSQL_TYPE_STRING.

I prefer just to use a simple string. Its close to be the same number of bytes transfered across the wire, and using 'string' math (strcmp or atoi(str+pos) against it is easy for field/value access.

The MYSQL_TYPE_DATETIME structure provides field-level access to the different date time components in numerical fashion.

-- JJorgenson --