easily editting fields with more than 1024 characters

i suspect i know the answer to this already, but here goes anyway...

i have a table that has field of varchar(2048), which once in a blue moon i
need to edit the data manually (until a bad character parser validates the
data before it's written ;-) )
at the moment i'm doing this through enterprise manager (sql server 2000),
opening the table then filtering using where clauses etc to see the records
i'm interested in. i then edit the data direct in the results pane (purely
because it's quicker than entering the UPDATE transact SQL). this is fine
until i hit a record that has 1024 or more characters in the field. all i
can do is delete all the data. if i try and paste the same data into the
field again, it'll truncate the record to the first 1024 chars (unconfirmed)
despite the field being able to take double that.

i've googled this and the result basically said "don't be lazy, do it
through UPDATE transact SQL in the query analyser".

anyone know if that's my only option or is there a patch / whatever to allow
me to keep using entman as i lazily do at the mo?

cheers!dave (usenet@.polo.devilgas.com) writes:
> i suspect i know the answer to this already, but here goes anyway...
> i have a table that has field of varchar(2048), which once in a blue
> moon i need to edit the data manually (until a bad character parser
> validates the data before it's written ;-) ) at the moment i'm doing
> this through enterprise manager (sql server 2000), opening the table
> then filtering using where clauses etc to see the records i'm interested
> in. i then edit the data direct in the results pane (purely because it's
> quicker than entering the UPDATE transact SQL). this is fine until i hit
> a record that has 1024 or more characters in the field. all i can do is
> delete all the data. if i try and paste the same data into the field
> again, it'll truncate the record to the first 1024 chars (unconfirmed)
> despite the field being able to take double that.
> i've googled this and the result basically said "don't be lazy, do it
> through UPDATE transact SQL in the query analyser".
> anyone know if that's my only option or is there a patch / whatever to
> allow me to keep using entman as i lazily do at the mo?

As I just said in another post, the Open Table function in Enterprise
Manager is a convenience function and not a replacement for an application
or even in class with Access or Excel. There are several shortcomings
with Open Table. In this particular case, I believe there is a limit of
around 1000 characters io EM.

So you just start typing UPDATE commands. By the time, you've gotten some
exercise, you will find that that is faster in the long run, because
scripts are repeatable, while point-and-click GUIs are not.

--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@.sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techin.../2000/books.asp|||"Erland Sommarskog" <esquel@.sommarskog.se> wrote in message
news:Xns9698EF7C2DE54Yazorman@.127.0.0.1...
> As I just said in another post, the Open Table function in Enterprise
> Manager is a convenience function and not a replacement for an application
> or even in class with Access or Excel. There are several shortcomings
> with Open Table. In this particular case, I believe there is a limit of
> around 1000 characters io EM.
> So you just start typing UPDATE commands. By the time, you've gotten some
> exercise, you will find that that is faster in the long run, because
> scripts are repeatable, while point-and-click GUIs are not.
> --
> Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@.sommarskog.se
> Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
> http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techin.../2000/books.asp

thanks erland. i can assure you that in this case, it's a lot faster doing
it from EM than transact SQL. by the time i've copied and pasted the 1000+
characters, id field etc etc then edit the chars i want to change in the SQL
it's considerably longer.
thankfully these changes are once in a blue moon and only affect a single
record.