Lew Schwartz wrote:
Vince:
I think you meant to suggest I look at len(alltrim(str(1))), no?
OK, in an attempt to rectum-fy my first brain-fart, I did a little more
experimenting, took your original query, and broke it into bits, plus
the original expression, like so:
select alltrim(str(nMonth)), alltrim(str(nYear)),
alltrim(str(nMonth))+"/"+alltrim(str(nYear)) FROM mycrap
The queries gets the VALUES you would expect, but the DISPLAY STRUCT
shows this:
Field Name Type Width
EXP_1 Character 10
EXP_2 Character 10
EXP_3 Character 21
Going back to my brainfart answer, we see that Str(nInteger) without the
qualifying length parameters results in a default len of 10:
? Len(str(1)) && 10
My supposition is that the query *thinks* it is reserving room for the
longest possible result. ie, it "knows" that Alltrim() could result in
a varying length, so ignores that and concentrates on Str(). It "knows"
that the longest possible result for a Str() with no parms is 10, so it
reserves 10 chars. Of course, in this case, it is flat out wrong,
because your numeric is only 4 digits, so could never get larger than
that. But, I bet that this is what is going on:
"A Str() operation, with no length parms, on a numeric field COULD
result in up to 10 chars, so I need to reserve that."
Instead of:
"A Str() operation, with no length parms, on a numeric field COULD
result in up to Max(Len(Field), 10) chars, so I need to reserve that."
That's my guess. I feel I have redeemed myself, and am now gathering my
tattered dignity around myself, and storming off in a huff towards the
beckoning weekend!
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