Extended indicators in ODBC applications

ODBC applications can use extended indicators to update all columns in UPDATE, INSERT, and MERGE statements without specifying the current value of columns that do not require changes.

If you use extended indicators you do not need to code separate INSERT statements for every combination of columns that you want to insert. You can enable extended indicators by setting the EXTENDEDINDICATOR keyword in the ODBC initialization file, or with the SQL_ATTR_EXTENDED_INDICATORS connection attribute. When you execute SQLBindParameter(), you can set the rgbValue to null and the pcbValue to SQL_DEFAULT_PARAM or SQL_UNASSIGNED.

You can also use the ODBC array input interface to bind a parameter marker to an array of application variables instead of a single application variable. You are not required to call SQLExecute() repeatedly on the same INSERT, UPDATE, or MERGE statement.