Use Aliases in your SQL instead of the lazy * notation:

SELECT T1.Count AS Count1, T2.Count AS Count2.....

Your suggestion is an excellent solution for most scenarios.  In this specific case, users construct their own SQL statements and provide a list of tables/columns they want the program to process.  Some of the transactions involve hundreds of fields so providing aliases isn't really feasible. 

Is it possible to implement a function to access any given table/colum based on the schema of the returned dataset?

Massis

Since you are using a SqlDataReader (according to the title of your post), there is no DataSet.  But there is a GetName() method of the SqlDataReader. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.sqlclient.sqldatareader.getname.aspx.  Will that do you?

The GetName() only returns the column name, so I still can't distinguish which table the column belongs to. 

I tried using the GetSchemaTable(), hoping it returns the table/column info for each field. Unfortunatley, that information is not included in the schema table, see below.

************************************************************************************************ 

ColumnName = col1

ColumnOrdinal = 0

ColumnSize = 50

NumericPrecision = 255

NumericScale = 255

IsUnique = False

IsKey =

BaseServerName =

BaseCatalogName =

BaseColumnName = col1

BaseSchemaName =

BaseTableName =

DataType = System.String

AllowDBNull = False

ProviderType = 22

IsAliased =

IsExpression =

IsIdentity = False

IsAutoIncrement = False

IsRowVersion = False

IsHidden =

IsLong = False

IsReadOnly = False

ProviderSpecificDataType = System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlString

DataTypeName = varchar

XmlSchemaCollectionDatabase =

XmlSchemaCollectionOwningSchema =

XmlSchemaCollectionName =

UdtAssemblyQualifiedName =

NonVersionedProviderType = 22

************************************************************************************************

Is there a different way I can execute the  SQL command in order to obtain the table name as part of the schema?

Massis

Hi massis,

I'm afraid there's no other way to achieve it. When you execute the join query on database, a logic table will be returned. I think it's impossible to know which table is a certain column from. I think Mike's suggestion is extremely good although you have to change the stored procedure.

Thanks.

massis:

Is there a different way I can execute the  SQL command in order to obtain the table name as part of the schema?

Capture the query that the user creates and use that as a basis for the schema.  It would have to contain the table names, and the order in which the fields are selected. 

Writing my own lexer/parser isn't exaclty the simply solution I was hoping to find.  I'll do more research to figure out the best way to go.