This example demonstrates the DefinedSize property of a Column. The code will redefine the size of the FirstName column of the Employees table of the Northwind database. Then, the change in the values of the FirstName Field of a Recordset based on the Employees table is displayed. Note that by default, the FirstName field becomes padded with spaces after you redefine the DefinedSize property.
Public Sub DefinedSizeX()
Dim rstEmployees As ADODB.Recordset
Dim catNorthwind As New ADOX.Catalog
Dim colFirstName As ADOX.Column
Dim colNewFirstName As New ADOX.Column
Dim aryFirstName() As String
Dim i As Integer
Dim strCnn As String
strCnn = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _
"Data Source=c:\Program Files\" & _
"Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb;"
' Open a Recordset for the Employees table.
Set rstEmployees = New ADODB.Recordset
rstEmployees.Open "Employees", strCnn, adOpenKeyset, , adCmdTable
ReDim aryFirstName(rstEmployees.RecordCount)
' Open a Catalog for the Northwind database,
' using same connection as rstEmployees
Set catNorthwind.ActiveConnection = rstEmployees.ActiveConnection
' Loop through the recordset displaying the contents
' of the FirstName field, the field's defined size,
' and its actual size.
' Also store FirstName values in aryFirstName array.
rstEmployees.MoveFirst
Debug.Print " "
Debug.Print "Original Defined Size and Actual Size"
i = 0
Do Until rstEmployees.EOF
Debug.Print "Employee name: " & rstEmployees!FirstName & _
" " & rstEmployees!LastName
Debug.Print " FirstName Defined size: " _
& rstEmployees!FirstName.DefinedSize
Debug.Print " FirstName Actual size: " & _
rstEmployees!FirstName.ActualSize
aryFirstName(i) = rstEmployees!FirstName
rstEmployees.MoveNext
i = i + 1
Loop
rstEmployees.Close
' Redefine the DefinedSize of FirstName in the catalog
Set colFirstName = catNorthwind.Tables("Employees").Columns("FirstName")
colNewFirstName.Name = colFirstName.Name
colNewFirstName.Type = colFirstName.Type
colNewFirstName.DefinedSize = colFirstName.DefinedSize + 1
' Append new FirstName column to catalog
catNorthwind.Tables("Employees").Columns.Delete colFirstName.Name
catNorthwind.Tables("Employees").Columns.Append colNewFirstName
' Open Employee table in Recordset for updating
rstEmployees.Open "Employees", catNorthwind.ActiveConnection, _
adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic, adCmdTable
' Loop through the recordset displaying the contents
' of the FirstName field, the field's defined size,
' and its actual size.
' Also restore FirstName values from aryFirstName.
rstEmployees.MoveFirst
Debug.Print " "
Debug.Print "New Defined Size and Actual Size"
i = 0
Do Until rstEmployees.EOF
rstEmployees!FirstName = aryFirstName(i)
Debug.Print "Employee name: " & rstEmployees!FirstName & _
" " & rstEmployees!LastName
Debug.Print " FirstName Defined size: " _
& rstEmployees!FirstName.DefinedSize
Debug.Print " FirstName Actual size: " & _
rstEmployees!FirstName.ActualSize
rstEmployees.MoveNext
i = i + 1
Loop
rstEmployees.Close
' Restore original FirstName column to catalog
catNorthwind.Tables("Employees").Columns.Delete colNewFirstName.Name
catNorthwind.Tables("Employees").Columns.Append colFirstName
' Restore original FirstName values to Employees table
rstEmployees.Open "Employees", catNorthwind.ActiveConnection, _
adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic, adCmdTable
rstEmployees.MoveFirst
i = 0
Do Until rstEmployees.EOF
rstEmployees!FirstName = aryFirstName(i)
rstEmployees.MoveNext
i = i + 1
Loop
rstEmployees.Close
Set catNorthwind = Nothing
End Sub