If I have 8 text fields that I want a table to have, would it be better to use 8 Note fields vs. 8 Text fields of 80 characters?
Would the Note fields use less disk space that the allocated Text fields of 80 characters?
I know this would allow me to use more than 80 characters in some of the fields, so that would be a benefit.
Are there any draw backs to a Note field?
Also, will I lose any data in a Text field that I convert to a Note Field?
Steve,
Welcome to the Official R:BASE List Server!
Here's the clear description of TEXT vs. NOTE vs. VARCHAR.
TEXT Holds alphanumeric data. The default length is eight characters; the maximum is 1,500 characters. Unlike NOTE columns, you set the maximum length of a TEXT column. The R:BASE/Oterro database reserves a minimum of four bytes of internal storage space.
NOTE Holds variable length text of up to 4,092 characters which is the limit of a row. If, for example, the row contains a text column of 1000 characters, only 3092 characters are available. The data is truncated in the order it occurs in the row. The actual length of each NOTE entry is determined by the data contained in the column. The R:BASE/Oterro database reserves a minimum of four bytes of internal storage space. Optionally, you may specify the maximum size of a NOTE data type (NOTE (n)). The NOTE data type will truncate at (n) characters and give a warning.
VARCHAR Holds alphanumeric data; you must set the maximum length. If you set the maximum length to a value over 32,767 characters, the limit is ignored and defaults to 256 MB.
You may also want to take a look at:
http://www.razzak.com/fte (07/18/2002)
From The Edge: Understanding and Using VARCHAR Data Type
Hope that helps!
Very Best R:egards,
Razzak.
