php + unixODBC + DB2 + DESCRIBE = token not valid?

Question

Code I am trying to run:

$query = "DESCRIBE TABLE TABLENAME";
$result = odbc_exec($h, $query);

The result:

PHP Warning: odbc_exec(): SQL error: [unixODBC][IBM][iSeries Access ODBC Driver][DB2 UDB]SQL0104 - Token TABLENAME was not valid. Valid tokens: INTO., SQL state 37000 in SQLExecDirect in ...

There were no other problems with SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE queries on the same connection. Is this a syntax error?

Answer 1

The iSeries flavor of DB2 does not support the SQL DESCRIBE statement. Instead, you have to query the system table:

select * from qsys2.columns where table_schema = 'my_schema' and table_name = 'my_table'

Answer 2

This statement can only be embedded in an application program. It is an executable statement that cannot be dynamically prepared. It must not be specified in Java.

From the iSeries DB2 SQL Reference.

Answer 3

To me it looks like you need to provide a way for the statement to return a value "Valid tokens: INTO" tells me that. I haven't used DESCRIBE before, but I would imagine that it returns something.

Interactive SQL doesn't allow the command so I can't really help you much further than that.

BTW, add the iSeries tag to your question. You might get a few more answers that way.

Answer 4

If you just need the column names try

select * from <TABLE> where 0 = 1

I don't know how to get the column types, indexes, keys, &c