> This still doesn't explain why rs.next() should return true because
> the API reference states that next returns "true if the new current
> row is valid; false if there are no more rows". So the first call to
> rs.next() should return false because there are no rows (and this is
> indeed how it works with SQLserver).

If your SQL Server returns you empty result set, then this pure MS'
invention. According to the standard it must return NULL, and NULL !=
<empty>. See
http://www-db.stanford.edu/~ullman/fcdb/oracle/or-nulls.html for
example. JDBC driver returns you true in rs.next(), because it has a
row with a NULL value, not an empty result set.

Roman