How is this function suppose to work - clarification needed

Question

How is this function suppose to work - clarification needed

Igor Korot 56

Hi, ALL,

In https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/odbc/reference/syntax/sqlstatistics-function?view=sql-server-ver17#comments at the end of this section. there is a following sentence.

[quote]

If the row in the result set corresponds to a table, the driver sets TYPE to SQL_TABLE_STAT and sets NON_UNIQUE, INDEX_QUALIFIER, INDEX_NAME, ORDINAL_POSITION, COLUMN_NAME, and ASC_OR_DESC to NULL

[/quote]

Can someone please explain what that means?

This API is for retrieving the info about indices, so no table info should be available.

What am I missing?

Thank you.

Viorel 127.3K Reputation points

2025-08-08T14:37:24.92+00:00

I think that the function returns several rows. One of the rows will contain information about the table. Other rows will describe the indexes associated with the table. (The name of the table is specified in TableName parameter). The TYPE column identifies the kind of row — table or index. The columns that do not have sense for tables will be NULL.
Igor Korot 56 Reputation points

2025-08-08T16:51:01.16+00:00

@Viorel ,

It would be nice if this was mentioned somewhere in the docs.

I was very confused when I called this and got the empty record while the table have 1 FK-based index...

Thank you.
Viorel 127.3K Reputation points

2025-08-08T21:42:50.17+00:00

Feedback can be provided by pressing the “Was this page helpful? No” button.

For complex contribution: https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/sql-docs.
Erland Sommarskog 137.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-09T08:33:18.16+00:00

If you can share a sample program that calls the function and prints what it returns together with commands to compile and link it, I can run it and then try to explain what I see.
Prashanth Are 0 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-05T04:56:48.1233333+00:00

Hi,

we are checking in to see if this issue has been resolved. Please let us know if you still need any help. If you have any further questions, feel free to respond in this same thread.

Thanks,

Prashanth

Your answer

Viorel 127.3K Reputation points

2025-08-08T14:37:24.92+00:00

I think that the function returns several rows. One of the rows will contain information about the table. Other rows will describe the indexes associated with the table. (The name of the table is specified in TableName parameter). The TYPE column identifies the kind of row — table or index. The columns that do not have sense for tables will be NULL.
Igor Korot 56 Reputation points

2025-08-08T16:51:01.16+00:00

@Viorel ,

It would be nice if this was mentioned somewhere in the docs.

I was very confused when I called this and got the empty record while the table have 1 FK-based index...

Thank you.
Viorel 127.3K Reputation points

2025-08-08T21:42:50.17+00:00

Feedback can be provided by pressing the “Was this page helpful? No” button.

For complex contribution: https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/sql-docs.
Erland Sommarskog 137.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-09T08:33:18.16+00:00

If you can share a sample program that calls the function and prints what it returns together with commands to compile and link it, I can run it and then try to explain what I see.
Prashanth Are 0 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-05T04:56:48.1233333+00:00

Hi,

we are checking in to see if this issue has been resolved. Please let us know if you still need any help. If you have any further questions, feel free to respond in this same thread.

Thanks,

Prashanth