Hi Steve, R:Base stores only the data in a note column with, I think, 4 bytes for each empty row. For text columns, however, R:Stores the total length of the text column for every row.
So, if your average note length is, say, 10 characters with 100 rows in the table with 10 rows empty the size would be around 940 (90x10 + 10x4). If you set the text length to 20 to accommodate varying lengths R:Base would need to reserve 2000 bytes regardless of the length of the data in the rows. (By the way, my figures are simplified to show the difference but there are various overheads that affect the real values.) Some people say that tables with note columns are best set up with an idnum and a key to link to other tables because of the way note data is saved. As you only have one table and assuming that you know that your data will always fit in a text column you might be better off changing to text but it's probably "6 of 1 and half-a-dozen of the other". Personally, I think you should leave the column as a note type unless you get any problems with it - in which case you already know the solution. Regards, Alastair. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "RBASE-L Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:35 AM Subject: [RBASE-L] - Import/note fields > To All: > > Recently, I created a simple mailing database of 2200 names using data > imported from an Excel spreadsheet. I let Rbase create the new table. All > executed fine. However, I noticed that all of the data fields were "note" > type. I changed all the "note" fields to "Text" fields with sufficient > length to accommodate the information. Curiously, the total file size > increased after the change. I believe a packed both databases. Since this > database will function with only one table, what is the downside of leaving > the fields as "note" data type. There will be sorts according to one or > more fields to print labels. > > Thanks to all who contribute to the many questions posed, I have learned > much from the forum. > > Steve >
