>I have defined a field of type Binary(16). The field holds a byte value.
>
>If I do a select command, SqlParameter.SqlDbType will return Binary. However, if I do an update command, SqlParameter.SqlDbType returns VarBinary.
>
>Can someone explain me why this is like that?
>
>I need to have a universal way of recognizing the type. Should I always add my parameter with a type VarBinary so to end up with the same recognition at either a select or update command?

It is better to have parameter's type matching the column's type. So explicitly define the parameter to be binary type in the parameter's declaration.