At 10:18 AM 5/5/2005, Bill Downall wrote:
I have a medical records database in which I converted virtually all NOTE datatypes to VARCHAR three years ago. I have been very happy with the results. There are often multiple VARCHAR columns within a single table.
The #4 file grows very rapidly, and the total size of the database is greater than it would be with NOTE. The database is shared between a web application and an R:BASE application, and it works seamlessly. Issues like storing CR/LF within the data are much easier to handle now, especially through any UNLOAD/LOAD process. The users never have to worry about that big copy/paste that might exceed the 4K limit.
In addition to that, you also have the option to store the data as RTF with all fonts, colors, sentence highlighting, etc.
Printing a report for VARCHAR column with huge data (multiple pages) is also cool.
If your database grows more than 2GB, simply use the "TURBO" command for a smooth migration to "V-8".
Imagine the possibilities!
Very Best R:egards,
Razzak
