FIX: ODBC Functions TIMESTAMPADD and TIMESTAMPDIFF May Cause Error 128 (311000)

SYMPTOMS

If you use either of the ODBC canonical time functions TIMESTAMPADD or TIMESTAMPDIFF in a data modification query from an ODBC-based client application, the following error may occur which causes the SQL batch to fail to compile and execute:

Error 128, Level 15, State 1
The name 'SQL_TSI_YEAR' is not permitted in this context. Only constants, expressions, or variables allowed here. Column names are not permitted.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

301511 INF: How to Obtain the Latest SQL Server 7.0 Service Pack

NOTE: The following hotfix was created prior to Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Service Pack 4.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date         Time    Version    Size        File name
   --------------------------------------------------------

   17-OCT-2001  18:49   7.00.1012  5,054,736   Sqlservr.exe
   14-JAN-2001  01:39   7.00.0978    586,000   Sqlsort.dll

NOTE: Because of file dependencies, the most recent hotfix or feature that contains the preceding files may also contain additional files.

WORKAROUND

You can work around this problem in the following ways:

Use the native Transact SQL functions DATEADD and DATEDIFF instead of the ODBC canonical functions.
Use the ODBCCMPT utility to mark the ODBC application as being version 6.5 compliant.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

The following values could occur as the column name reported in the error above:

SQL_TSI_YEAR
SQL_TSI_QUARTER
SQL_TSI_MONTH
SQL_TSI_WEEK
SQL_TSI_DAY
SQL_TSI_HOUR
SQL_TSI_MINUTE
SQL_TSI_SECOND
SQL_TSI_FRAC_SECOND

Here is an example query that uses an ODBC canonical function:

SELECT {fn TIMESTAMPDIFF(SQL_TSI_DAY,'2001-1-1', '2001-1-2')}

Normally, the ODBC driver for the data source you are connecting to translates the query, changing the ODBC canonical function into the native SQL language of the data source on the client during the process of submitting the query to the data source. However, with the SQL Server ODBC driver the ODBC canonical functions are not translated on the client and are instead evaluated on SQL Server itself.