[dba-SQLServer] Convert from ntext to varchar

Chris,

The fog lifts! Giving a length to a variable-length field does not plump up the database to accommodate that field length as it does for a fixed-length field; but the table will allow up to that many characters to be entered. Got it! Thanks.

Steve Erbach
Neenah, WI


> ------------Original Message------------
> From: "Mackin, Christopher" <CMackin at quiznos.com>
> To: dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com
> Date: Thu, Jan-6-2005 1:46 PM
> Subject: RE: [dba-SQLServer] Convert from ntext to varchar
> 
> The Ntext or Text in SQL is similar to a Memo field in access and I 
> don't really know exactly what the 16 indicates in the field, but for 
> Char, VarChar, NChar and NVarChar the number after it is the length of data 
> allowed in the field, same as a text field in Access/Jet.
> 
> As for the 30 being allowed, I've seen similar results (with a 
> different length passed on) when not specifying the length of a VarChar field, 
> I'm not sure what sets the default and make it a point to always 
> specify a length when dealing with those data types.
> 
> -Chris Mackin