Several database using following query:

select column_name, numeric_precision as length, data_type from information_schema.columns where table_name='TEST'

H2, mysql and postgresql support above syntax

http://h2database.com/ipowerb/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=205

There difference of getColumnName() and getColumnLabel() , for SQL "select name as n from table" getColumnName() with return "n" and getColumnLabel() will return "name" - http://ola-bini.blogspot.com/2008/01/are-you-using-resultsetmetadatagetcolum.html