_Columns Table

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

The _Columns table is a read-only system table that contains the column catalog. All the columns for all tables are listed. You can query this table to find out if a given column exists.

The _Columns table has the following columns.

Column	Type	Key	Nullable

Table	Text	Y	N
Number	Integer	Y	N
Name	Text		N

Columns

Table: The name of the table that contains the column.
Number: The order of the column within the table.
Name: The name of the column.

Remarks

Because the _Columns table is a system table that cannot be modified through SQL queries, you cannot obtain the primary keys with the MsiDatabaseGetPrimaryKeys function or the PrimaryKeys method.

Only persistent columns are stored in the _Columns table. To determine if a temporary column exists one would need to create a view using a SELECT * statement against the table, then loop through all fields in a record returned by the MsiViewGetColumnInfo function with the MSICOLINFO_NAMES option.