The new binary protocol available in MySQL 4.1 and above allows you to send and receive date and time values (DATE, TIME, DATETIME, and TIMESTAMP), using the MYSQL_TIME structure. The members of this structure are described in C API Prepared statement datatypes.
To send temporal data values, you create a prepared statement with mysql_prepare(). Then, before calling mysql_execute() to execute the statement, use the following procedure to set up each temporal parameter:
In the MYSQL_BIND structure associated with the data value, set the buffer_type member to the type that indicates what kind of temporal value you're sending. For DATE, TIME, DATETIME, or TIMESTAMP values, set buffer_type to MYSQL_TYPE_DATE, MYSQL_TYPE_TIME, MYSQL_TYPE_DATETIME, or MYSQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP, respectively.
Set the buffer member of the MYSQL_BIND structure to the address of the MYSQL_TIME structure in which you will pass the temporal value.
Fill in the members of the MYSQL_TIME structure that are appropriate for the type of temporal value you're passing.
Use mysql_bind_param() to bind the parameter data to the statement. Then you can call mysql_execute().
To retrieve temporal values, the procedure is similar, except that you set the buffer_type member to the type of value you expect to receive, and the buffer member to the address of a MYSQL_TIME structure into which the returned value should be placed. Use mysql_bind_results() to bind the buffers to the statement after calling mysql_execute() and before fetching the results.
Here is a simple example that inserts DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP data. The mysql variable is assumed to be a valid connection handle.
MYSQL_TIME ts; MYSQL_BIND bind[3]; MYSQL_STMT *stmt; strmov(query, "INSERT INTO test_table(date_field, time_field, timestamp_field) VALUES(?,?,?"); stmt= mysql_prepare(mysql, query, strlen(query))); /* setup input buffers for all 3 parameters */ bind[0].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_DATE; bind[0].buffer= (char *)&ts; bind[0].is_null= 0; bind[0].length= 0; .. bind[1]= bind[2]= bind[0]; .. mysql_bind_param(stmt, bind); /* supply the data to be sent is the ts structure */ ts.year= 2002; ts.month= 02; ts.day= 03; ts.hour= 10; ts.minute= 45; ts.second= 20; mysql_execute(stmt); ..