PRB: "Line Too Long" Message in RQBE

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0
• Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5 and 2.5a
• Microsoft FoxPro for MS-DOS, versions 2.0, 2.5, and 2.5a

SYMPTOMS

In RQBE, the following error message occurs:

   Line too long

CAUSE

Running an RQBE session on a table with a large number of fields will produce error 18, "Line too long," every time the Do Query button is chosen after a field was moved up in the Output Fields box. This problem occurs because the resulting SELECT statement would exceed the maximum command-line length, which is 2048 characters.

Before the order of the fields changed, RQBE generated a SQL statement of SELECT * FROM <table_name>; however, after the order of fields changed, it had to create a SQL statement similar to the following:

   SELECT <fld1>, <fld2>,....<fldn> FROM <table_name>

RESOLUTION

If the field order is not changed in the Output Fields box, the error does not occur. Therefore, to avoid the problem, do not change the order of the fields.