Check for column name in a SqlDataReader object

Question

How do I check to see if a column exists in a SqlDataReader object? In my data access layer, I have create a method that builds the same object for multiple stored procedures calls. One of the stored procedures has an additional column that is not used by the other stored procedures. I want to modified the method to accommodate for every scenario.

My application is written in C#.

Answer 1

It's much better to use this boolean function:

r.GetSchemaTable().Columns.Contains(field)

One call - no exceptions. It might throw exceptions internally, but I don't think so.

NOTE: In the comments below, we figured this out... the correct code is actually this:

public static bool HasColumn(DbDataReader Reader, string ColumnName) { 
    foreach (DataRow row in Reader.GetSchemaTable().Rows) { 
        if (row["ColumnName"].ToString() == ColumnName) 
            return true; 
    } //Still here? Column not found. 
    return false; 
}

Answer 2

Here is a one liner linq version of the accepted answer:

Enumerable.Range(0, reader.FieldCount).Any(i => reader.GetName(i) == "COLUMN_NAME_GOES_HERE")

Answer 3

How about

if (dr.GetSchemaTable().Columns.Contains("accounttype"))
   do something
else
   do something

It probably would not be as efficient in a loop

Answer 4

My data access class needs to be backward compatible, so I might be trying to access a column in a release where it doesn't exist in the database yet. We have some rather large data sets being returned so I'm not a big fan of an extension method that has to iterate the DataReader column collection for each property.

I have a utility class that creates a private list of columns and then has a generic method that attempts to resolve a value based on a column name and output parameter type.

private List<string> _lstString;

public void GetValueByParameter<T>(IDataReader dr, string parameterName, out T returnValue)
{
    returnValue = default(T);

    if (!_lstString.Contains(parameterName))
    {
        Logger.Instance.LogVerbose(this, "missing parameter: " + parameterName);
        return;
    }

    try
    {
        if (dr[parameterName] != null && [parameterName] != DBNull.Value)
            returnValue = (T)dr[parameterName];
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Logger.Instance.LogException(this, ex);
    }
}

/// <summary>
/// Reset the global list of columns to reflect the fields in the IDataReader
/// </summary>
/// <param name="dr">The IDataReader being acted upon</param>
/// <param name="NextResult">Advances IDataReader to next result</param>
public void ResetSchemaTable(IDataReader dr, bool nextResult)
{
    if (nextResult)
        dr.NextResult();

    _lstString = new List<string>();

    using (DataTable dataTableSchema = dr.GetSchemaTable())
    {
        if (dataTableSchema != null)
        {
            foreach (DataRow row in dataTableSchema.Rows)
            {
                _lstString.Add(row[dataTableSchema.Columns["ColumnName"]].ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}

Then I can just call my code like so

using (var dr = ExecuteReader(databaseCommand))
{
    int? outInt;
    string outString;

    Utility.ResetSchemaTable(dr, false);        
    while (dr.Read())
    {
        Utility.GetValueByParameter(dr, "SomeColumn", out outInt);
        if (outInt.HasValue) myIntField = outInt.Value;
    }

    Utility.ResetSchemaTable(dr, true);
    while (dr.Read())
    {
        Utility.GetValueByParameter(dr, "AnotherColumn", out outString);
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(outString)) myIntField = outString;
    }
}

Answer 5

Although there is no publicly exposed method, a method does exist in the internal class System.Data.ProviderBase.FieldNameLookup which SqlDataReader relies on.

In order to access it and get native performance, you must use the ILGenerator to create a method at runtime. The following code will give you direct access to int IndexOf(string fieldName) in the System.Data.ProviderBase.FieldNameLookup class as well as perform the book keeping that SqlDataReader.GetOrdinal()does so that there is no side effect. The generated code mirrors the existing SqlDataReader.GetOrdinal() except that it calls FieldNameLookup.IndexOf() instead of FieldNameLookup.GetOrdinal(). The GetOrdinal() method calls to the IndexOf() function and throws an exception if -1 is returned, so we bypass that behavior.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Reflection.Emit;

public static class SqlDataReaderExtensions {

   private delegate int IndexOfDelegate(SqlDataReader reader, string name);
   private static IndexOfDelegate IndexOf;

   public static int GetColumnIndex(this SqlDataReader reader, string name) {
      return name == null ? -1 : IndexOf(reader, name);
   }

   public static bool ContainsColumn(this SqlDataReader reader, string name) {
      return name != null && IndexOf(reader, name) >= 0;
   }

   static SqlDataReaderExtensions() {
      Type typeSqlDataReader = typeof(SqlDataReader);
      Type typeSqlStatistics = typeSqlDataReader.Assembly.GetType("System.Data.SqlClient.SqlStatistics", true);
      Type typeFieldNameLookup = typeSqlDataReader.Assembly.GetType("System.Data.ProviderBase.FieldNameLookup", true);

      BindingFlags staticflags = BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.IgnoreCase | BindingFlags.Static;
      BindingFlags instflags = BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.IgnoreCase | BindingFlags.Instance;

      DynamicMethod dynmethod = new DynamicMethod("SqlDataReader_IndexOf", typeof(int), new Type[2]{ typeSqlDataReader, typeof(string) }, true);
      ILGenerator gen = dynmethod.GetILGenerator();
      gen.DeclareLocal(typeSqlStatistics);
      gen.DeclareLocal(typeof(int));

      // SqlStatistics statistics = (SqlStatistics) null;
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldnull);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Stloc_0);
      // try {
      gen.BeginExceptionBlock();
      //    statistics = SqlStatistics.StartTimer(this.Statistics);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); //this
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, typeSqlDataReader.GetProperty("Statistics", instflags | BindingFlags.GetProperty, null, typeSqlStatistics, Type.EmptyTypes, null).GetMethod);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, typeSqlStatistics.GetMethod("StartTimer", staticflags | BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, new Type[] { typeSqlStatistics }, null));
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Stloc_0); //statistics
      //    if(this._fieldNameLookup == null) {
      Label branchTarget = gen.DefineLabel();
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); //this
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, typeSqlDataReader.GetField("_fieldNameLookup", instflags | BindingFlags.GetField));
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Brtrue_S, branchTarget);
      //       this.CheckMetaDataIsReady();
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); //this
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, typeSqlDataReader.GetMethod("CheckMetaDataIsReady", instflags | BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, Type.EmptyTypes, null));
      //       this._fieldNameLookup = new FieldNameLookup((IDataRecord)this, this._defaultLCID);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); //this
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); //this
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); //this
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, typeSqlDataReader.GetField("_defaultLCID", instflags | BindingFlags.GetField));
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Newobj, typeFieldNameLookup.GetConstructor(instflags, null, new Type[] { typeof(IDataReader), typeof(int) }, null));
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Stfld, typeSqlDataReader.GetField("_fieldNameLookup", instflags | BindingFlags.SetField));
      //    }
      gen.MarkLabel(branchTarget);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); //this
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, typeSqlDataReader.GetField("_fieldNameLookup", instflags | BindingFlags.GetField));
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1); //name
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, typeFieldNameLookup.GetMethod("IndexOf", instflags | BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, new Type[] { typeof(string) }, null));
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Stloc_1); //int output
      Label leaveProtectedRegion = gen.DefineLabel();
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Leave_S, leaveProtectedRegion);
      // } finally {
      gen.BeginFaultBlock();
      //    SqlStatistics.StopTimer(statistics);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_0); //statistics
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, typeSqlStatistics.GetMethod("StopTimer", staticflags | BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, new Type[] { typeSqlStatistics }, null));
      // }
      gen.EndExceptionBlock();
      gen.MarkLabel(leaveProtectedRegion);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldloc_1);
      gen.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

      IndexOf = (IndexOfDelegate)dynmethod.CreateDelegate(typeof(IndexOfDelegate));
   }

}

Answer 6

public static bool DataViewColumnExists(DataView dv, string columnName)
{
    return DataTableColumnExists(dv.Table, columnName);
}

public static bool DataTableColumnExists(DataTable dt, string columnName)
{
    string DebugTrace = "Utils::DataTableColumnExists(" + dt.ToString() + ")";
    try
    {
        return dt.Columns.Contains(columnName);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        throw new MyExceptionHandler(ex, DebugTrace);
    }
}

Columns.Contains is case-insensitive btw.