Using ResultSetMetaData Objects to List All Fields

This section describes how to call the res.getMetaData method to obtain the ResultSetMetaData object, which can be used to list all fields in the result set.

The ResultSet object returned by a SELECT statement also contains column (field) names, lengths and types. You can use res.getMetaData() to retrieve them into a ResultSetMetaData object, which offers the following methods to allow to get different information:

The tutorial program below shows a good example of how to use ResultSetMetaData:

/* ListResultFields.java
 - Copyright (c) 2015, HerongYang.com, All Rights Reserved.
 */
import java.sql.*;
public class ListResultFields {
  public static void main(String [] args) {
    Connection con = null;
    try {

// Obtaining a connection to SQL Server
      con = DriverManager.getConnection(
          "jdbc:sqlserver://localhost\\SQLEXPRESS;"
        + "user=sa;password=HerongY@ng;"
        + "database=AdventureWorks2014");

// Getting result meta data
      Statement sta = con.createStatement(); 
      ResultSet res = sta.executeQuery(
        "SELECT * FROM  sys.objects"
        + " WHERE type_desc='USER_TABLE'");
 
      ResultSetMetaData rmd = res.getMetaData();
      System.out.println("Result set columns:");
      for (int i=1; i<=rmd.getColumnCount(); i++) {
        String name = rmd.getColumnName(i);
        String type = rmd.getColumnTypeName(i);
        int size = rmd.getPrecision(i);
        System.out.println("   "+name+", "+type+", "+size);
      }

      con.close();        
    } catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

Run this Java program, you will see a list columns (fields) of the system view, sys.objects:

Result set columns:
   name, nvarchar, 128
   object_id, int, 10
   principal_id, int, 10
   schema_id, int, 10
   parent_object_id, int, 10
   type, char, 2
   type_desc, nvarchar, 60
   create_date, datetime, 23
   modify_date, datetime, 23
   is_ms_shipped, bit, 1
   is_published, bit, 1
   is_schema_published, bit, 1

Last update: 2015.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) Introduction

 JDK (Java SE) Installation

 Installing and Running Java DB - Derby

 Derby (Java DB) JDBC Driver

 Derby (Java DB) JDBC DataSource Objects

 Java DB (Derby) - DML Statements

 Java DB (Derby) - ResultSet Objects of Queries

 Java DB (Derby) - PreparedStatement

 MySQL Installation on Windows

 MySQL JDBC Driver (MySQL Connector/J)

 MySQL - PreparedStatement

 MySQL - Reference Implementation of JdbcRowSet

 MySQL - JBDC CallableStatement

 MySQL CLOB (Character Large Object) - TEXT

 MySQL BLOB (Binary Large Object) - BLOB

 Oracle Express Edition Installation on Windows

 Oracle JDBC Drivers

 Oracle - Reference Implementation of JdbcRowSet

 Oracle - PreparedStatement

 Oracle - JBDC CallableStatement

 Oracle CLOB (Character Large Object) - TEXT

 Oracle BLOB (Binary Large Object) - BLOB

 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

 Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server - sqljdbc42.jar

Microsoft JDBC Driver - Query Statements and Result Sets

 Commonly Used JDBC Class Methods

 Calling createStatement() and executeQuery

 Receiving ResultSet Objects from executeQuery

 Closing ResultSet Objects - res.close()

 Looping through ResultSet with res.next()

 Retrieving Field Values using res.get*() Methods

Using ResultSetMetaData Objects to List All Fields

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DatabaseMetaData Object

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DDL Statements

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DML Statements

 SQL Server - PreparedStatement

 SQL Server CLOB (Character Large Object) - TEXT

 SQL Server BLOB (Binary Large Object) - BLOB

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - Flat Text Files

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - MS Access

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - MS SQL Server

 Summary of JDBC Drivers and Database Servers

 Additional Tutorial Notes to Be Added

 Outdated Tutorials

 References

 PDF Printing Version