Keywords: sybase

## 3.9 CS_DATAFMT Objects

`CS_DATAFMT` objects are a very thing wrapper around the Sybase `CS_DATAFMT` structure. They have the following attributes:

attribute | type
`name` | `string`
`datatype` | `int`
`format` | `int`
`maxlength` | `int`
`scale` | `int`
`precision` | `int`
`status` | `int`
`count` | `int`
`usertype` | `int`
`strip` | `int`

The `strip` attribute is an extension of the Sybase `CS_DATAFMT` structure. Please refer to the `DataBuf` documentation.

`CS_DATAFMT` structures are mostly used to create `DataBuf` objects for sending data to and receiving data from the server.

A `CS_DATAFMT` object created via the `CS_DATAFMT()` constructor will have the following values:

attribute | value
`name` | `'0'`
`datatype` | `CS_CHAR_TYPE`
`format` | `CS_FMT_NULLTERM`
`maxlength` | `1`
`scale` | `0`
`precision` | `0`
`status` | `0`
`count` | `0`
`usertype` | `0`
`strip` | `0`

You will almost certainly need to provide new values for some of the attributes before you use the object.

A `CS_DATAFMT` object created as a return value from the `ct_bind()` function will be ready to use for creating a `DataBuf` object.