list of all available data types

[mysql_...@wonderland.com]

I would like to know if there is a way to programmatically list all
available data types
in mysql. I don't mean all data types associated with a table that can be
derived from
the INFORMATION_SCHEMA. But all data types possible. The reason I need this
is that part of a GUI I'm writing requires the user to select a mysql data
type from
a drop down list. I know I can just hard code the types, but I would prefer
to derive
the list in the code in case mysql makes changes to their data types in the
future.
Thanks for any help - DR

[strawberry]

I can come up with a crude way of getting all current datatypes, but
it's not really futureproof. I'm not even certain that is works on all
installations, but it works on mine:

use mysql;

SELECT name
FROM help_topic
WHERE (help_category_id = 1 AND name NOT LIKE '% %')
AND (help_category_id = 1 AND name NOT LIKE '%\_%')
ORDER
BY name;

[Captain Paralytic]

How will you know whether the new datatype should be quoted/
escaped/.....?

[mysql_...@wonderland.com]

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate both of your insights