--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, Dimitry Sibiryakov <sd@...> wrote:

>
> > Why is the Timestamp field value padded with 'zero' when it is combined
> > with (var)char fields?
>
> Every value in external tables is aligned. And this alignment depends
> on data type. Timestamps are aligned to 8 bytes.
> For details you can search for thread with subject "Alignment of
> ISC_TIMESTAMP" in firebird-devel list.
>
> SY, SD.
>

Maybe I misunderstood your answer, but the Timestamp IS 8 bytes (30 D7 00 00 70 12 EB 14). My question was about the 7 'zero' bytes that are inserted before the TimeStamp field, after the 20's from the char(21). These appear in case 3 only, not in case 1 or case 2.

I tried to underline the bytes by '-', but the layout is some misformatted now, I see.