<refpurpose>dynamically prepare and execute a statement</refpurpose>
   </refnamediv>

   <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE <replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable>
</synopsis>
   </refsynopsisdiv>

   <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>

    <para>
     <command>EXECUTE IMMEDIATE</command> immediately prepares and
     executes a dynamically specified SQL statement, without
     retrieving result rows.
    </para>
   </refsect1>

   <refsect1>
    <title>Parameters</title>

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry id="ecpg-sql-execute-immediate-string">
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        A literal string or a host variable containing the SQL
        statement to be executed.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </refsect1>

   <refsect1>
    <title>Notes</title>

    <para>
     In typical usage, the <replaceable>string</replaceable> is a host
     variable reference to a string containing a dynamically-constructed
     SQL statement.  The case of a literal string is not very useful;
     you might as well just write the SQL statement directly, without
     the extra typing of <command>EXECUTE IMMEDIATE</command>.
    </para>

    <para>
     If you do use a literal string, keep in mind that any double quotes
     you might wish to include in the SQL statement must be written as
     octal escapes (<literal>\042</literal>) not the usual C
     idiom <literal>\"</literal>.  This is because the string is inside
     an <literal>EXEC SQL</literal> section, so the ECPG lexer parses it
     according to SQL rules not C rules.  Any embedded backslashes will
     later be handled according to C rules; but <literal>\"</literal>
     causes an immediate syntax error because it is seen as ending the
     literal.
    </para>
   </refsect1>

   <refsect1>
    <title>Examples</title>

    <para>
     Here is an example that executes an <command>INSERT</command>
     statement using <command>EXECUTE IMMEDIATE</command> and a host
     variable named <varname>command</varname>:
<programlisting>
sprintf(command, "INSERT INTO test (name, amount, letter) VALUES ('db: ''r1''', 1, 'f')");
EXEC SQL EXECUTE IMMEDIATE :command;
</programlisting>
    </para>
   </refsect1>

   <refsect1>
    <title>Compatibility</title>

    <para>
     <command>EXECUTE IMMEDIATE</command> is specified in the SQL standard.
    </para>
   </refsect1>
  </refentry>

  <refentry id="ecpg-sql-get-descriptor">
   <refnamediv>
    <refname>GET DESCRIPTOR</refname>
    <refpurpose>get information from an SQL descriptor area</refpurpose>
   </refnamediv>

   <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
GET DESCRIPTOR <replaceable class="parameter">descriptor_name</replaceable> <replaceable class="parameter">:cvariable</replaceable> = <replaceable class="parameter">descriptor_header_item</replaceable> [, ... ]
GET DESCRIPTOR <replaceable class="parameter">descriptor_name</replaceable> VALUE <replaceable class="parameter">column_number</replaceable> <replaceable class="parameter">:cvariable</replaceable> = <replaceable class="parameter">descriptor_item</replaceable> [, ... ]
</synopsis>
   </refsynopsisdiv>

   <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>

    <para>
     <command>GET DESCRIPTOR</command> retrieves information about a
     query result set from an SQL descriptor area and stores it into
     host variables.  A descriptor area is typically populated
     using <command>FETCH</command> or <command>SELECT</command>
     before using this command to transfer the information into host
     language variables.
    </para>

    <para>
     This command has two forms: The first form retrieves
     descriptor <quote>header</quote> items, which apply to the result
     set in its entirety.  One example is the row count.  The second
     form, which requires the column number as additional parameter,
     retrieves information about a particular column.