[AccessD] [Spam] Re: [Spam] Re: Why Change Field Size/was Cha nge FieldS ize

DWUTKA at marlow.com DWUTKA at marlow.com
Mon Dec 5 20:28:37 CST 2005


Is it me, or did the magnetic poles just shift?  Something happened, JC and
I agree on a development technique! ;)

Drew

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	John Colby [SMTP:jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com]
	Sent:	Monday, December 05, 2005 8:07 PM
	To:	'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
	Subject:	Re: [AccessD] [Spam] Re: [Spam] Re: Why Change Field
Size/was Change FieldS	ize

	>Is this a changed stance for you?

	Nope, I've defaulted to 255 for as long as I can remember.


	John W. Colby
	www.ColbyConsulting.com 

	Contribute your unused CPU cycles to a good cause:
	http://folding.stanford.edu/
	-----Original Message-----
	From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
	[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of
DWUTKA at marlow.com
	Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 8:44 PM
	To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
	Subject: [Spam] Re: [AccessD] [Spam] Re: Why Change Field Size/was
Change
	FieldS ize

	I concur.  Is this a changed stance for you?  I know I was on the
255 length
	stance the first time around. ;)

	Drew

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	John Colby [SMTP:jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com]
		Sent:	Monday, December 05, 2005 5:43 PM
		To:	'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
		Subject:	Re: [AccessD] [Spam] Re: Why Change Field
Size/was
	Change Field Size

		I just ran into a field the other day.  PolicyID, guaranteed
to
	NEVER be
		more than 10 characters, so the field was set to 10
characters (by
	the
		previous programmer).  

		Guess what?  We finally (3 years later) got a policed that
was
	waaaay more
		than 10 characters.  Of course the entire policy record
could not go
	in,
		which prevented the claim from being processed.  All users
must get
	out of
		the database so that I can open up the field (to 255
characters of
	course). 

		I don't care WHAT the business rule is, text data can and
will
	change.  SSN
		is a good example.  It is guaranteed to be XXX-XX-XXXX
except that
	they are
		running out of SSNs (50 years later) and guess what is going
to
	change in
		the next few years...

		Length types of rules are not the thing (IMHO) that should
be
	enforced at
		the DB level.

		John W. Colby
		www.ColbyConsulting.com 


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