[DB-SIG] checking column types from cursor object in a database-independent way?

[Michael Bayer]

On Apr 21, 2013, at 9:39 PM, Daniel Lenski <dlenski at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> I *could* pass around a handle to the DB module along with the cursor
> itself, as you've suggested, but that seems redundant and error-prone
> to me.  To my mind, this is a small gap in the DBAPI design:
>  (1) DBAPI does specify a set of module-dependent type objects
> against which column type objects are to be compared
>  (2) DBAPI does specify a cursor object which will produce column
> type objects after a query is executed
>  (3) DBAPI *doesn't* provide any way to get from the cursor object to
> the module-defined type objects, at least not without passing  around
> module-dependent object.


IMHO, the DBAPI is not meant to be used as a direct API within higher level application code; it only aims to provide a consistent low-level API to a wide variety of databases.   It should always be framed within some kind of abstraction layer within real-world application.  Therefore it should not concern/complicate itself worrying about convenience accessors, this only makes it more difficult for DBAPI implementors, leads to greater inconsistency between implementations, and makes it harder to test for compliance.