7. Understanding ODBC Connectivity : ODBC Programming : Date/Time Columns and Values : Special Date Values Meaning "TBD"
 
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Special Date Values Meaning "TBD"
Null Dates
Databases need to recognize a date value that corresponds to "TBD" or "Unknown". Null dates are suitable for this purpose. Ingres supports null dates for both ANSI date/time types and INGRESDATE types. The treatment in ODBC is the same as for other null data components.
Empty Dates
Ingres supports a specific type of date value that is called an "empty" date. An empty date is similar to an empty string: the contents of an empty date are non-null, but have no data. In practice, empty dates can perform the same function as null dates. Both indicate the absence of a valid date.
Magic Dates
A magic date is a specific date that represents a different value than the date itself. The ODBC uses the magic date 9999-12-31 to represent empty dates, and 9999-12-31 23:59:59 to represent empty timestamps. If Ingres syntax is in effect, any date or timestamp parameter containing the date 9999-12-31 is converted to an empty date. Similarly, if fetching an empty date into SQL_C_TIMESTAMP or SQL_C_DATE, the result is converted to the magic date.