Comments on: varchar(max) size limit

By: msi77

msi77 — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:03:36 +0000

Try to use SS Native Client as ODBC driver.

By: niranjan56

niranjan56 — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:11:53 +0000

good point Carlos – and apologies to everyone.
here is what my ODBC configuration looks like:
Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver Version 03.85.1117

Data Source Name: LMS Dev
Data Source Description:
Server: WS2K3032SQL
Database: (Default)
Language: (Default)
Translate Character Data: Yes
Log Long Running Queries: No
Log Driver Statistics: No
Use Integrated Security: Yes
Use Regional Settings: No
Prepared Statements Option: Drop temporary procedures on disconnect
Use Failover Server: No
Use ANSI Quoted Identifiers: Yes
Use ANSI Null, Paddings and Warnings: Yes
Data Encryption: No

The SQL Server is running on some Intel machine, VB ver is 6.5,

By: carlosdl

carlosdl — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:40:58 +0000

Well, you didn’t mention that you were getting an error, nor did you mention that you were using ODBC.

I think the ODBC driver could be causing the error.

Are there some other details you might want to provide ??

By: niranjan56

niranjan56 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:14:08 +0000

ok – so 2 Gb of data is 2^31 characters, way WAY over 8000 characters – right?
so why do I get “[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver]String data, right truncation” error when I try to insert any thing more than 8000 characters?

By: niranjan56

niranjan56 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:08:57 +0000

I have SQL Server 2005 and I have defined the table field to be varchar(max) but it’s not accepting anything more than 8000.

By: gent01

gent01 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:39:42 +0000

Depends on what database version you are using: SQL Server 2000 can only store up to 8000 characters in a VARCHAR field. I don't believe it supports the MAX option. SQL Server 2005, 2008 still only supports 8000 characters for VARCHAR, but thet also adds the MAX option which will allow you to store 2.1M.