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Truncated Field Names

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    Truncated Field Names

    Anyone ever see a situation where field names within tables are truncated? Example: Customer_Name becomes Customer_Nam? I've seen this recently in a few of my fields, in a couple of different tables, and is affecting data entry.

    Thanks for any info.

    Dennis Jones

    #2
    RE: Truncated Field Names

    Funny you should ask right after I just asked Selwyn about this (no response yet).

    Yes, it has happened to me several times, the latest just this morning. In this latest case at least I know how to avoid it. What I did was this: I wanted to get rid of all field rules, forms, reports, etc. for a table. So I thought, just exit the DB, delete everything except the dbf file and let A5 build new support files when the app reopens, RESULT: Truncated field names for fields longer than ??? (sorry, didn't actually count). This also left the table with duplicate field names, which seemed to only matter when trying to restructure.

    I have had this happened in other scenarios. The most important rule: NEVER DO ANYTHING WITHOUT A CURRENT BACKUP OF THE db YOU ARE WORKING WITH.

    Some would probably say you keep field names short, but that means more obscure names rather than more descriptive ones. And if there is such problem with longer names, why should A5 allow them in the first place?

    Good luck.

    Ray Lyons

    Comment


      #3
      RE: Truncated Field Names

      a5 uses standard .dbf files which have a maximum field length of 10 characters.

      so, in order to support long field names, a5 stores the long field name in each table's data dictionary (the .ddd file).

      if the .ddd file got deleted or corrupted, then a5 would loose the long field information. however this would not result in the loss of any data. just the long field names.

      Comment


        #4
        RE: Truncated Field Names

        Ray,

        Fieldnames longer than 10 chars exceed the original limit in the dBase format specifications. A native DBF file cannot be built with fieldnames longer than 10 chars. Alpha Five gets around this by storing long fieldnames in the dictionary files supporting each table. This is a clever way to extend functionality beyond what was originally available in the dBase format. However, if the dictionaries are deleted, or become corrupted, the long fieldnames are toast.

        -- tom

        Comment


          #5
          RE: Truncated Field Names

          Thanks Tom and Selwyn.

          It's that "got corrupted" that will make me think twice about longer names in the future. I can more or less control deletion but corruption, like death and war, happens. In any case, once again BACKUP!!!

          Ray

          Comment


            #6
            RE: Truncated Field Names

            Selwyn:

            Thanks for the reply. If I go back into the schema and rebuild my field names, should the data come back to me? In the corresponding fields in my default form I have "ERROR" in the fields in question.

            Thanks for the reply.

            Dennis Jones

            Comment


              #7
              RE: Truncated Field Names

              Agreed...although, is it possible the dictionary could have gotten corrupted due to a Windows XP system roll-back? This is a feature that allows you to take a snap-shot of your system and then bring you back to that point if there's ever a problem. I know that this was done on my machine recently and the problems seem to have started the next day.

              Dennis Jones

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