Transact-SQL Syntax ConventionsReturns the base data type and other information about a sql_variant value.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY ( expression , property ) expression
Is an expression of type sql_variant.
property
Contains the name of the sql_variant property for which information is to be provided. property is varchar(128), and can be any one of the following values:
| Value | Description | Base type of sql_variant returned |
|---|---|---|
| BaseType | [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] data type, such as: bigint binary char date datetime datetime2 datetimeoffset decimal float int money nchar numeric nvarchar real smalldatetime smallint smallmoney time tinyint uniqueidentifier varbinary varchar |
sysname NULL = Input is not valid. |
| Precision | Number of digits of the numeric base data type: datetime = 23 smalldatetime = 16 float = 53 real = 24 decimal (p,s) and numeric (p,s) = p money = 19 smallmoney = 10 bigint = 19 int = 10 smallint = 5 tinyint = 3 bit = 1 All other types = 0 |
int NULL = Input is not valid. |
| Scale | Number of digits to the right of the decimal point of the numeric base data type: decimal (p,s) and numeric (p,s) = s money and smallmoney = 4 datetime = 3 all other types = 0 |
int NULL = Input is not valid. |
| TotalBytes | Number of bytes required to hold both the metadata and data of the value. This information would be useful in checking the maximum side of data in a sql_variant column. If the value is larger than 900, index creation fails. | int NULL = Input is not valid. |
| Collation | Represents the collation of the particular sql_variant value. | sysname NULL = Input is not valid. |
| MaxLength | Maximum data type length, in bytes. For example, MaxLength of nvarchar(50) is 100, MaxLength of int is 4. | int NULL = Input is not valid. |
sql_variant
The following example retrieves SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY information about the colA value 46279.1 where colB =1689, given that tableA has colA that is of type sql_variant and colB.
CREATE TABLE tableA(colA sql_variant, colB int)
INSERT INTO tableA values ( cast (46279.1 as decimal(8,2)), 1689)
SELECT SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY(colA,'BaseType') AS 'Base Type',
SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY(colA,'Precision') AS 'Precision',
SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY(colA,'Scale') AS 'Scale'
FROM tableA
WHERE colB = 1689 Here is the result set. Note that each of these three values is a sql_variant.
Base Type Precision Scale
--------- --------- -----
decimal 8 2
(1 row(s) affected) The following example retrieves SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY information about a variable named @v1.
DECLARE @v1 sql_variant;
SET @v1 = 'ABC';
SELECT @v1;
SELECT SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY(@v1, 'BaseType');
SELECT SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY(@v1, 'MaxLength');