How can I load column names from an Access table into a variable (I'm not sure which one to use)? I'm using an ADOTable in Delphi7

Question

I'm trying to import the column names from an MS Access Table (named Learners) to some variable (not sure which one to use). The column's names are dates. When btnSave (TButton) is clicked the code should determine if the column with the current date has been created yet. If not then it should create it. This is the code I got so far:

procedure TForm1.btnSaveClick(Sender: TObject);  
var  
  bFound: boolean;  
  K: integer;  
  strColumnNames : TStringList;  
begin  
  strColumnNames := TStringList.Create;  
  tblLeerders.GetFieldNames(strColumnNames);  
  bFound := False;  

  for K := 1 to tblLeerders.IndexFieldCount  
    do  
      begin  
        if strColumnNames.Strings[K] <> FormatDateTime('dd/mm/yyyy', Date())  
          then  
            begin  
              bFound := True;  
            end;  
      end;  

  if bFound = False  
    then  
      begin  
        with qryLearners  
          do  
            begin  
              SQL.Text := 'Alter TABLE Leerders ADD COLUMN ' + FormatDateTime('dd/mm/yyyy', Date()) + ' Boolean ';  
              ExecSQL;  
            end;  
      end;  
end;  

Please help! Any advice would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Try:

if Assigned(tblLeerders.FindField(FormatDateTime('dd/mm/yyyy', Date()))) then
begin
  qryLearners.SQL.Text := 'Alter TABLE Leerders ADD COLUMN ' + 
                           FormatDateTime('dd/mm/yyyy', Date()) + ' Boolean ';  
  qryLearners.ExecSQL; 
end;

(code edited as per Gerry, below)

You also said "Any advice would be appreciated". My advice is don't try to use a database like a spreadsheet. Store the data in normal fashion (in a table with a date & value column) and then denormalize for presentation. Access makes this easy to do with Crosstab Queries.