can anybody please explain me why microsoft using nvarchar/nchar instead of varchar/char in northwind database and pubs database. I know if a column holds unicode data you should use nvarchar or nchar but for me all those tables in northwind/pubs are not holding unicode data. but still why microsoft settled for nchar/nvarchar.
View 2 RepliesHi,
Which of the above data type (alongwith size) should be used for storing things like Customer Name, Company name etc . ???
Also, what really is the benefit of one over the over :confused:
Thanks
Could someone please help me by explaining which one is best to use and when? For example, storing the word "Corona Del Mar" - which Data Type would be suggested?
Thanks.
Hi,
We are in process of converting all of the data type of the fields from CHAR/VARCHAR/TEXT into NCHAR/NVARCHAR/NTEXT (DBCS). Having more than 900 store procedure its look like real pain to make modification in all of the SPs.
After failed to find any help from GOOGLE, I am posting this request. I am basically looking for any automated tool which are convert data type in SP based on the field of the table used in the SP. Or at least which can provide me some sort of list which can helpful for doing manual reactoring.
PLEASE HELP ME!!!
Thanks,
Firoz Ansari
Hi All:
I am new to Sql 2000 database,Now I'm planing to create a table in my databse,my table included below fields like this :
PoNo(the length is 15 characters) ,Supplier Name(the length is 50 characters).etc
but I don't how to select the datatype for them. should I select Char or VarChar ?
which one is the best slection ?
thans in advanced!
What is the difference between the above data types in SQL? Which datatype should I use if I wanted both numbers and characters?
View 1 Replies View RelatedHello,
I am trying to convert a single code page MS Server database into a unicode database, using the unicode data types,NCHAR, NVARCHAR, NTEXT. The problem is that in the original database, indexes and constraints have been defined on the tables whose configurations need to be changed. As a result, the ALTER TABLE command fails. Are there any other alternative solutions?
Also, data from the old database needs to be preserved. The objective is to create a unicode database which keeps the old data intact as well as accepts the new data in unicode.
It would be great if you could help!
Thanks,
Sheetal.
Hello
in MS SQL 2000 for text it is possible ti use
char
nchar
varchar
nvarchar
what must be used and for what ?
I want to store normal text with occidental char (accents)
thank you
When I tried to insert armenian by doing the following
insert into tablex (field1) values (N'testdata')
it does not display in query analyzer or in the database as armenian.
When I copy this to word it does not convert it.
What else am I supposed to do to get that information to redisplay the correct way and I would appreciate any tutorials or samples you can show or direct me to.
Howard
Hi I have a table, which contains Char and NChar NOT NULL columns
Now I need to change it to NULL, when I use the following command, it fails for the following error,
The command I used,
ALTER TABLE <TableName>
ALTER COLUMN <ColName> CHAR NULL
ALTER TABLE <TableName>
ALTER COLUMN <ColName> NCHAR NULL
Msg 8152, Level 16, State 13, Line 1
String or binary data would be truncated.
The statement has been terminated.
But for the same table, the below command executes fine,
ALTER TABLE <TableName>
ALTER COLUMN <ColName> SMALLINT NULL
Also I can change the NULLABILITY from NOTNULL to NULL using Enterprise Manger, editing the table using Table Design and selecting Allow Nulls option.
I need a script to accomplish this task.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Senthil
#1 This stored procedure can be used to search and replace substring in the char, nchar, varchar and nvarchar columns in all tables in the current database. You should pass the text value to search and the text value to replace. So, to replace all char, nchar, varchar and nvarchar columns which contain the substring 'John' with the substring 'Bill', you can use the following (in comparison with the SetTbColValues stored procedure, this stored procedure replace only substring, not the entire column's value):
EXEC replace_substring @search_value = 'John', @replace_value = 'Bill'
/* INFO USED HERE WAS TAKEN FROM http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;262499 */
DECLARE @X VARCHAR(10)
DECLARE @ParmDefinition NVARCHAR(500)
DECLARE @Num_Members SMALLINT
SELECT @X = 'x.dbo.v_NumberofMembers'
DECLARE @SQLString AS VARCHAR(500)
SET @SQLString = 'SELECT @Num_MembersOUT=Num_Members FROM @DB'
SET @ParmDefinition = '@Num_MembersOUT SMALLINT OUTPUT'
EXECUTE sp_executesql <-LINE 11
@SQLString,
@ParmDefinition,
@DB = @X,
@Num_MembersOUT = @Num_Members OUTPUT
Just Need Help On This Error
Server: Msg 214, Level 16, State 2, Procedure sp_executesql, Line 11
Procedure expects parameter '@statement' of type 'ntext/nchar/nvarchar'.
I dont know why im getting a errrror b/c I followed http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;262499 exactly
I'm wondering which way is the best way to store your numeric values.
It probably doesnt matter, b/c you can always convert back and forth...but i'm just wondering what the best practice is i guess...
thx
I have a table that contains a lot of demographic information. The data is usually small (<20 chars) but ocassionally needs to handle large values (250 chars). Right now its set up for varchar(max) and I don't think I want to do this.
How does varchar(max) store info differently from varchar(250)? Either way doesn't it have to hold the container information? So the word "Crackers" have 8 characters to it and information sayings its 8 characters long in both cases. This meaning its taking up same amount of space?
Also my concern will be running queries off of it, does a varchar(max) choke up queries because the fields cannot be properly analyzed? Is varchar(250) any better?
Should I just go with char(250) and watch my db size explode?
Usually the data that is 250 characters contain a lot of blank space that is removed using a SPROC so its not usually 250 characters for long.
Any insight to this would be appreciated.
I have used a query statement with the following WHERE string to 'Fill' a dataset.
"AND (A.ApptsDate > '" & strApptPreDate & "' OR (A.ApptsDate = '" & strApptPreDate & "' AND A.ApptsTime >= '" & strApptPreTime & "' ))" & _ and strApptPreTime is defined as:Dim strApptPreTime As String = SomaShared.strPadTime(CStr(dApptCalcNewDate.Hour) + ":" + CStr(dApptCalcNewDate.Minute))
Somehow, the dataset showed only the ApptsTime after 10 am. After more than 2 weeks of debugging, I still can see a dataset watch for > 10 amAppsTime only. Now I am guessting, the problem is 9 is different from 10 - 16, it all because 9 is single digit. Then I check the data type settings for these variables. Here are what I found:
In SQL Server Agent job, the ApptsTime data was 'inserted' by @NewApptTimes, which is declared as char(5).In SQL Server database, the ApptsTime was defined as nvarchar(15).
My question are: 1. The reason why there were no 9 am data for the dataset, is becasue 9 am of nvarchar(15) is not > 8:30 of strApptPreTime? 2. If the answer to the quation 1 is yes, how do I define AppsTime and/or strApptPreTime?
TIA,Jeffrey
Hi,
Does any body know of any performance implications of using 'varchar' data type against 'char'?
I have some columns that are using 'char' data type, but the data in them is not fixed length. So, to gain some disk space I am planning to change the data type to 'varchar'. But, I am concerned if there will be any performance de-gradation or any other implications of doing this.
Regards
Chakri
Hi,
Is that true that using CHAR datatype improves the performance comparing to VARCHAR
thanks
indeed.
Why would you want to use char when you have varchar? Is there any performance hit using a varchar and the size you make that varchar?
Debate going at work.
Phil
I have recently inherited a database where all of the tables use varchar instead of chars for fields. Very , very few of these fields are involved in keys of even indices, but performance is an issue. I thought that I had read that varchars are worse for performance than chars when page splits may occur. Is this related to updates only, or does it matter?
Any help appreciated.
In relation to the code in this thread
http://forums.databasejournal.com/showthread.php?t=42622
My customer code field is Char (8) but accept an argument of Varchar (8) to my stored procedure. Don't ask me why!?!!
The customer code could be anything from 'A' to 'ZZZZZZZZ'.
Will this have any effect especially relating to overhead and retrieving incorrect data?
Hi,
This question may sound silly,but please comment.
Please tell me a situation where char should be used and not varchar.
Let us assume that we are dealing with non unicode characters.
Well, I find varchar is always smarter than char, so why char?
Thanks!!
Rudra
i would like to know if there is an overhead in using VARCHAR when you use to store it...
a colleague of mine claims that if the field is defined to be VARCHAR the system creates and additional column DOUBLE/DECIMAL with storage size of 17/18bytes.
such that if the size of the varchar field is less than 30 it is better to be defined as CHAR instead.
please help me out here... i think there's something wrong with his statement, but i need concrete proof to it... a link to page or pdf file would be very much appreciated.
Greetings,I have a question. I work on some SQL2k/ASP.NET apps at work. Mypredacessor, who created the databases/tables seemed to have liked touse 'char' for all text fields. Is there a reason why he would havedone this over using varchar? It's a minor annoyance to always have toRTRIM data and it makes directly making changes to the database moreannoying (with all the pointless trailing spaces)?I usually use char for fixed string lengths, like state abbreviationsor something, and varchar for strings of unknown length.Is it a performance issue? Our database doesn't do much traffic, forthe most part.
View 5 Replies View Relatedi changed my state table from char 20 to varchar 20 and it still fills it with empty space at the end of the statename
I tried entering it with the trim command still no good
i looked a the sql command made in vs and it says that the variables are varchar
is there something i am missing with varchar
does it only work properly if it is over 50 or does it not change completely when you change from char to varchar
Does using varchar or varchar(max) affect the system performance?
Should I use fixed size coloumns to increase speed?
Newbie question:
Why bother specifing the length in varchar()?
Why not just specify the max and not worry about truncation?
Thanks,
Martin
I have one question to all SQL Guru's
I know the basic difference between CHAR and VARCHAR of CHAR taking all the space it is declared with and VARCHAR taking only amount of space used.
I want to know or link to any doucment which gives the difference between CHAR and VARCHAR more than what is mentioned above.
Please this is a urgent requirment.
Thanks in advance.
what'z the difference between char & varchar, like i am doing a cast function, which one should be used..
View 11 Replies View RelatedhelloHow could I check how many chars are in record, defined as varchar(8000).It's obvious that in such defined record could be 1 char to 8000 char. Butwhat query to SQL database should I post to give information about realylenght of this records ?thanks from advanceAdam
View 5 Replies View RelatedHi,I'm planning the structure of a SqlServer 2005 database for a newapplication.The requirement is that primary keys must be "natural"; i.e. in the tableCustomers the primary key will be a max. 10 characters string (but thestring may be filled i.e. with only 5 charachters).Should I define these primary keys as char[5] or varchar[5]?I'm interested in your opinion in particular about performace issue, becausethere will be tables with millions of records...Thanks,Davide.
View 7 Replies View Relatedall these while i've only used varchar for any stringi heard from my ex-boss that char helps speed up searches. is thattrue?so there are these:1) char with index2) char without index3) char with clustered index4) varchar with index5) varchar without index6) varchar with clustered indexsome of my tables primary key (clustered) is a string type. would itbe benificial to use char? or would using (6) makes no difference?for non primary key columns that needs to be searched a lot, can i say(1) is the best?
View 4 Replies View Relatedi have used nvarchar as my datatype in sql server 2000 now
i have decided to change to varchar as i can increase the character length from 4000 to 8000
Do I Lose data if i change the datatype.
I have a table using nvarchar(for what ever reason which beyond me why its a nvarchar...) that I would like to change to a varchar. There is no unicode in the fields so I don't have to worry about but I don't want to lose any text data. Will coverting the data type lose data?
Thanks