JDBC: I need a resultsetmetadata before i execute...

Hello

I have an SQL command e.g. SELECT a, b, c from table;

And i need to retrieve MetaData, especially the number of columns that it will return, before i actually execute the statement.

I realise that once i execute the statement it will become easy as i can just call .getResultSetMetaData

So i am wondering if there is anyway to get the metadata or the column count at least before i bother to execute the query.

Cheers

Andy