Hello Helen,

'bout CURRENT_TIMESTAMP:

> Well, you would have found doc of date literals in the DataDef.pdf.

It's not in the IB6 one. Are you referring to a DataDef.pdf on the
Firebird CD?

> You could have used CAST('NOW' AS TIMESTAMP). It gives you a more
> accurate timestamp, since CURRENT_TIMESTAMP stays constant
> throughout a transaction, whereas 'NOW' gives you the timestamp at
> the moment the update or insert occurs.

Ouch - you scared me there! But I don't think this is correct. I've
just filled some fields with CURRENT_TIMESTAMPs, pausing in between,
of course within the same transaction and without any AutoCommit-ish
behavior. I did this both in IBOConsole and in IB_SQL. Rolled back the
transactions afterwards to make sure the insertions were really in the
same physical transaction.

The timestamps turned out to be correct (well, as correct as my
computer's time). You could see the time differences.

> Firebird manuals are available from IB Phoenix, on their CD. An
> updated version is due out this week. Not free: but you get a feast
> of goodies on the CD.

I think I'll order that one.


Greetings,
Paul Vinkenoog