---
title: "Obtaining Descriptor Handles | Microsoft Docs"
ms.custom: ""
ms.date: "01/19/2017"
ms.prod: sql
ms.prod_service: connectivity
ms.reviewer: ""
ms.technology: connectivity
ms.topic: conceptual
helpviewer_keywords: 
  - "descriptors [ODBC], retrieving or setting field values"
ms.assetid: 936f983f-c7e9-43f3-97ea-dd4b1bbf4654
author: David-Engel
ms.author: v-daenge
---
# Obtaining Descriptor Handles
An application obtains the handle of any explicitly allocated descriptor as an output argument of the call to **SQLAllocHandle**. The handle of an implicitly allocated descriptor is obtained by calling **SQLGetStmtAttr**.