FD MetaInfo Query

Overview

The FD MetaInfo Query component lets you query database metadata — tables, columns, indexes, foreign keys, stored procedures, and more — directly from a report. It wraps FireDAC’s TFDMetaInfoQuery and behaves like an FD Table: drop it on the report, set properties in the designer, then open and navigate it in script.

Unlike an FD Query, there is no SQL to write. You tell the component what kind of metadata you want using the MetaInfoKind property, optionally filter by object name or schema, then open it. The result is a read-only dataset you can iterate row by row.

Adding to a Report

Drop an FD MetaInfo Query from the designer palette onto the report alongside your FD Database component. Set the Database property to point at your connection, then configure the remaining properties in the Object Inspector before running the report.

Properties

Database

The FD Database component this query will use. Must be set before opening the dataset. If left blank, the component falls back to the default database set on the FD Components object.

MetaInfoKind

Controls what type of metadata the query returns. Set this in the designer or from script using the named constants listed below.

Constant	Value	Returns
mkNone	0	No query — dataset will be empty
mkCatalogs	1	Available catalogs (databases)
mkSchemas	2	Available schemas
mkTables	3	Tables and views
mkTableFields	4	Columns of a specific table
mkIndexes	5	Indexes on a specific table
mkIndexFields	6	Columns in a specific index
mkPrimaryKey	7	Primary key of a specific table
mkPrimaryKeyFields	8	Columns in the primary key
mkForeignKeys	9	Foreign keys on a specific table
mkForeignKeyFields	10	Columns in a specific foreign key
mkPackages	11	Packages (Oracle)
mkProcs	12	Stored procedures and functions
mkProcArgs	13	Parameters of a specific procedure
mkGenerators	14	Generators / sequences (Firebird)
mkResultSetFields	15	Columns returned by a stored procedure
mkTableTypeFields	16	Columns of a table type (Oracle)

BaseObjectName

The name of the table, index, foreign key, or procedure you want to inspect. This property is only used for field-level and index-level kinds — it specifies which parent object to drill into. It has no effect when MetaInfoKind = mkTables or other list-level kinds.

MetaInfoKind	BaseObjectName specifies
mkTableFields	The table whose columns to return
mkIndexes	The table whose indexes to return
mkIndexFields	The table containing the index
mkPrimaryKey	The table whose primary key to return
mkPrimaryKeyFields	The table containing the primary key
mkForeignKeys	The table whose foreign keys to return
mkForeignKeyFields	The table containing the foreign key
mkProcArgs	The procedure whose parameters to return

ObjectName

A filter applied to the names of objects in the result set. Leave blank to return all objects.

MetaInfoKind	ObjectName filters
mkTables	Table names returned
mkProcs	Procedure names returned
mkSchemas	Schema names returned
mkIndexFields	The index name within the table set by BaseObjectName
mkForeignKeyFields	The foreign key name within the table set by BaseObjectName

Note: Wildcard support in ObjectName depends entirely on the database driver. Actian Zen (Sage 50) does not reliably support % wildcards here — leave ObjectName blank and filter the results yourself in script after opening.

SchemaName

Filters results to a specific schema. Leave blank to include all schemas.

CatalogName

Filters results to a specific catalog. Leave blank to include all catalogs.

Wildcard

A secondary wildcard pattern applied to the result. Behaviour depends on the driver.

ObjectScopes

Controls which ownership scopes are included in the result. Set this from script using the helper methods below — the named constants (osMy, osOther, osSystem) are available in script only and will not appear in the designer. Leave at the default (0) to let the driver return its default scope.

Constant	Meaning
osMy	Objects owned by the current user
osOther	Objects owned by other users
osSystem	System objects

TableKinds

Controls which table types are included when MetaInfoKind = mkTables. Set this from script using the helper methods below — the named constants are available in script only. Leave at the default (0) to let the driver return its default set of table types.

Constant	Meaning
tkSynonym	Synonyms
tkTable	Base tables
tkView	Views
tkTempTable	Temporary tables
tkLocalTable	Local tables

Read-Only Properties

Property	Type	Description
RecordCount	Integer	Number of rows in the result
EOF	Boolean	True when positioned past the last row
BOF	Boolean	True when positioned before the first row
FieldCount	Integer	Number of columns in the result
ColumnDataTypeName	String	SQL-style type name for the current row’s COLUMN_DATATYPE value (e.g. VARCHAR, INTEGER). Only meaningful when MetaInfoKind = mkTableFields.

Script Methods

Opening and Closing

MetaInfoQuery1.Open;
MetaInfoQuery1.Close;

You can also set Active := True and Active := False.

Navigation

MetaInfoQuery1.First;
MetaInfoQuery1.Last;
MetaInfoQuery1.Next;
MetaInfoQuery1.Prior;

Field Access

// Returns nil if field not found - safe to call on any row
F := MetaInfoQuery1.FindField('TABLE_NAME');

// Raises an exception if field not found
F := MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('TABLE_NAME');

ObjectScopes Helpers

Use these instead of setting ObjectScopes directly.

MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeScope(osMy);
MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeScope(osOther);
MetaInfoQuery1.ExcludeScope(osSystem);
MetaInfoQuery1.ClearScopes;   // remove all scope flags

TableKinds Helpers

Use these instead of setting TableKinds directly.

MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeTableKind(tkTable);
MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeTableKind(tkView);
MetaInfoQuery1.ExcludeTableKind(tkSynonym);
MetaInfoQuery1.ClearTableKinds;   // remove all kind flags

GetFieldTypeName

Converts any COLUMN_DATATYPE integer to a SQL-style type name string. Useful when you want to translate the raw value yourself rather than using the ColumnDataTypeName property.

var TypeName: String;
TypeName := MetaInfoQuery1.GetFieldTypeName(
  MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('COLUMN_DATATYPE').AsInteger);
// returns e.g. 'VARCHAR', 'INTEGER', 'DATETIME'

EnableControls / DisableControls

MetaInfoQuery1.DisableControls;
// ... navigate many rows without UI updates ...
MetaInfoQuery1.EnableControls;

IsEmpty

if MetaInfoQuery1.IsEmpty then
  ShowMessage('No metadata found');

Additional Constants

These constants are available in script for working with results from index and foreign key queries.

Index Kind (ikNonUnique, ikUnique, ikPrimaryKey)

Returned in the INDEX_TYPE field when MetaInfoKind = mkIndexes.

Cascade Rule Kind

Constant	Meaning
ckNone	No cascade action
ckCascade	Cascade delete or update
ckRestrict	Restrict
ckSetNull	Set null
ckSetDefault	Set default

Examples

List All Tables

MetaInfoQuery1.MetaInfoKind := mkTables;
MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeScope(osMy);
MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeScope(osOther);
MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeTableKind(tkTable);
MetaInfoQuery1.IncludeTableKind(tkView);
MetaInfoQuery1.Open;

while not MetaInfoQuery1.EOF do
begin
  ShowMessage(MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('TABLE_NAME').AsString);
  MetaInfoQuery1.Next;
end;

MetaInfoQuery1.Close;

Filter to a Specific Table Name

Use ObjectName for an exact name match where your driver supports it. For Actian Zen (Sage 50), leave ObjectName blank and filter in script instead — Zen does not reliably support wildcard filtering here.

// Exact match via ObjectName (works on most drivers)
MetaInfoQuery1.MetaInfoKind := mkTables;
MetaInfoQuery1.ObjectName := 'JRNLROW';
MetaInfoQuery1.Open;

// Script-side filtering (use this for Actian Zen / Sage 50)
MetaInfoQuery1.MetaInfoKind := mkTables;
MetaInfoQuery1.ObjectName := '';   // leave blank - return all tables
MetaInfoQuery1.Open;

while not MetaInfoQuery1.EOF do
begin
  if Pos('JRNL', MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('TABLE_NAME').AsString) = 1 then
    ShowMessage(MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('TABLE_NAME').AsString);
  MetaInfoQuery1.Next;
end;

MetaInfoQuery1.Close;

List Columns of a Table

MetaInfoQuery1.MetaInfoKind := mkTableFields;
MetaInfoQuery1.BaseObjectName := 'CUSTOMER';
MetaInfoQuery1.Open;

while not MetaInfoQuery1.EOF do
begin
  ShowMessage(
    MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('COLUMN_NAME').AsString + ' - ' +
    MetaInfoQuery1.ColumnDataTypeName);
  MetaInfoQuery1.Next;
end;

MetaInfoQuery1.Close;

Build a Comma-Delimited Column List

var ColList: String;

MetaInfoQuery1.MetaInfoKind := mkTableFields;
MetaInfoQuery1.BaseObjectName := 'CUSTOMER';
MetaInfoQuery1.Open;

ColList := '';
while not MetaInfoQuery1.EOF do
begin
  if ColList <> '' then ColList := ColList + ', ';
  ColList := ColList + MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('COLUMN_NAME').AsString;
  MetaInfoQuery1.Next;
end;

MetaInfoQuery1.Close;
ShowMessage(ColList);

Check Whether a Column Exists

var Found: Boolean;

MetaInfoQuery1.MetaInfoKind := mkTableFields;
MetaInfoQuery1.BaseObjectName := 'CUSTOMER';
MetaInfoQuery1.Open;

Found := False;
while not MetaInfoQuery1.EOF do
begin
  if MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('COLUMN_NAME').AsString = 'EMAIL' then
  begin
    Found := True;
    Break;
  end;
  MetaInfoQuery1.Next;
end;

MetaInfoQuery1.Close;

if Found then
  ShowMessage('EMAIL column exists')
else
  ShowMessage('EMAIL column not found');

List Stored Procedures

MetaInfoQuery1.MetaInfoKind := mkProcs;
MetaInfoQuery1.Open;

while not MetaInfoQuery1.EOF do
begin
  ShowMessage(MetaInfoQuery1.FieldByName('OBJECT_NAME').AsString);
  MetaInfoQuery1.Next;
end;

MetaInfoQuery1.Close;

Notes

The fields returned by FD MetaInfo Query vary by database driver. Common field names for mkTables include TABLE_NAME, TABLE_TYPE, and TABLE_SCHEMA. For mkTableFields the most commonly used fields are COLUMN_NAME, COLUMN_DATATYPE, COLUMN_LENGTH, COLUMN_PRECISION, COLUMN_SCALE, and COLUMN_NULLABLE.

The COLUMN_DATATYPE field contains a numeric value corresponding to a FireDAC field type. Use ColumnDataTypeName or GetFieldTypeName to convert it to a readable SQL type name.

FD MetaInfo Query is read-only. Editing, posting, or deleting rows is not supported.