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ntext confusion

  • August 27, 2003 at 8:29 am

    #80870

    Hello.

    I'm currently thinking of changing one of my nvarchar columns to ntext - I need to store large documents that may be a two to ten Megabytes in size.

    I've been researching and performing tests, but I'm still a little confused about what I can and can't do with ntext fields. I've read that I can use SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE statements with ntext fields, and it seems the most logical and simple solution to my problem - my current stored procedures use SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE statements.

    1. As I'm currently using an nvarchar( n ) column to store the document contents, could I simply replace it with an ntext column and use the existing stored procedures?

    2. What, if any, limitations apply to using SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE with text, ntext and image fields?

    3. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to the above approach that I should be aware of before my supervisor hits me with a big stick?

    Thank you for your time. 🙂

  • August 27, 2003 at 1:33 pm

    #471688

    You can handle smaller amounts of data like this, but for the large amounts you are talking about see the BOL topic "Retrieving ntext, text, or image Values".

  • August 28, 2003 at 12:00 am

    #471736

    Hi buntyHunter,

    quote:

    I'm currently thinking of changing one of my nvarchar columns to ntext - I need to store large documents that may be a two to ten Megabytes in size.

    I've been researching and performing tests, but I'm still a little confused about what I can and can't do with ntext fields. I've read that I can use SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE statements with ntext fields, and it seems the most logical and simple solution to my problem - my current stored procedures use SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE statements.

    1. As I'm currently using an nvarchar( n ) column to store the document contents, could I simply replace it with an ntext column and use the existing stored procedures?

    2. What, if any, limitations apply to using SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE with text, ntext and image fields?

    3. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to the above approach that I should be aware of before my supervisor hits me with a big stick?

    the best source of information to get a solid understanding of BLOB's (or LOB's´) you can find here http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/sql/reskit/sql2000/part3/c1161.asp

    It should also help you to find a decision whether you go this way or you don't

    HTH

    Cheers,

    Frank

    --
    Frank Kalis
    Microsoft SQL Server MVP
    Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
    My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

  • August 28, 2003 at 12:04 am

    #471738

    Frank, excellent reference, read it myself last month.

  • August 28, 2003 at 12:16 am

    #471742

    quote:

    Frank, excellent reference, read it myself last month.

    This credit belongs to DALEC (or sqlinsite?!?), who first posted it

    Cheers,

    Frank

    --
    Frank Kalis
    Microsoft SQL Server MVP
    Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
    My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

  • August 28, 2003 at 2:13 am

    #471755

    Many thanks - I'll get reading!

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