INFO: Create an SQL Command with > 255 Characters

ID: Q163800

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 5.0, 6.0

SUMMARY

It is often necessary to create an SQLEXEC command that contains more than 255 characters. However, if the command does contain more than 255 characters one of the following error messages appears:

In Visual FoxPro 3.0 and 5.0:

Syntax error

In Visual FoxPro 6.0:

Command contains unrecognized phrase/keyword

This article demonstrates one example of how the "insert string" might be concatenated to avoid this behavior.

MORE INFORMATION

The following is an example of how you might use concatenation to execute a SQLEXEC command that would require more that 255 characters:


handle=SQLCONNECT("Pubs")
   m=SQLEXEC(handle, "CREATE TABLE t255 (one char(50)," + ;

       "two char(50), three char(50), four char(50)," + ;
       "five char(50), six char(50))")

   * The next command will insert the string successfully.
   b=SQLEXEC(handle, "INSERT INTO t255 (one) ;

     VALUES('xxxxxxjklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw')")

   * The next command will also insert successfully.
   b=SQLEXEC(handle, "INSERT INTO t255 (one,two,three,four) ;

     VALUES('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw', + ;
     'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw', + ;
     'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw', + ;
     'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw')")

   *The next command will produce a syntax error because the length
   *of the string starting with insert is more than 255 characters.
   b=SQLEXEC(handle, "INSERT INTO t255 (one,two,three,four,five) ;

     VALUES('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw', + ;
     'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw', + ;
     'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw', + ;
     'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw', + ;
     'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw')")

   f1='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw'
   f2='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw'
   f3='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw'
   f4='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw'
   f5='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw'
   f6='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw'

   *The next line works because there is no string
   *longer than 255 characters
   b=SQLEXEC(handle, "INSERT INTO t255" + ;

     "(one,two,three,four,five,six) " + ;
     "VALUES('"+ f1 + "','" + f2 + "','" + ;
     f3 + "','" + f4 + "','" + f5 + "','" + ;
     f6 + "')")

NOTE: You could use the same method with SELECT statement as well. If you are using a SELECT statement that is longer than 255 characters, you could store the field list and/or the WHERE conditions in a memory variable and pass the memory variable with the SELECT statement. For example, if you have to run a lengthy SELECT statement like the following:


SELECT FIELD_1, FIELD_2, FIELD_3 ......., FIELD_50 FROM TABLE1 WHERE CONDITION1 = CRITERIA1

you could alternatively do this by running the following:


CF1 = "FIELD_1, FIELD_2, FIELD_3 ......., FIELD_50 "

RESULT = SQLEXEC(handle, "SELECT " + CF1 + " FROM TABLE1 WHERE CONDITION1 = CRITERIA1")

Additional query words:

Keywords : KbClientServer kbDatabase kbServer kbVFp300 kbVFp500 kbVFp600
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo