You could use the SQLCOLUMNS function...
I have a procedure..
CSAFIELDS which is like the AFIELDS function
then after you can create a cursor from this array.

OR.
DO SQLEXEC(h,'select * from blah_blah where blah_blah and recno=0')
Providing you have Primary keys on the table and indexes this can be very fast.

Also on oracle you can do
rownum=0 but this is not always optimal.

Also you can use the NODATA sometimes...