memo field to character field

[acceptthis]

I'm trying to create a script that "looks up" data in a memo field from another table and parse it into the message variable of my email parser. This is the code:

dim param_message as c
followup_email_txt = lookup("startup","recno()=1","Followup_email")
param_message = a5_eval_expression("=followup_email_txt",local_variables())
email_client_external(param_to,param_subject,param_message,param_attachments,param_cc,param_bcc)

The problem is, it only looks up the first 1,043 (or so) characters in the looked-up memo field. What am I doing wrong? Do I have to DIM the param_message variable differently in order for it to accept all the characters of a memo field?

[MikeC]

Re: memo field to character field

A variable becomes a blob variable after 1023 characters. The way around this I have used is to test for the amount of characters and if less, nothing, but if more write the variable to a text file then read that text back into whatever it is you want it in (such as another memo field.

Have asked a couple of times here for a less kludgy method but none so far have surfaced.

In your case --just reread....maybe the second variable has to be dimmed as B (Blob)

[acceptthis]

Re: memo field to character field

Thanks, I think that makes perfect sense.

[acceptthis]

Re: memo field to character field

O.k, maybe it wasn't that easy. I thought I could lookup the memo field, write it to a file, and then read the file. But as soon as I lookup the memo field, it cuts it down to 1023 characters. Therefore, there's no reason to save it when it's already lost the characters.
Does that mean I can't use the lookup function the way I want? Instead, will I have to create a file after the memo field is created, and then I will read file instead of looking it up?
Ugg. Now I'll have to keep track of another file... unless there's a better way.

[MikeC]

Re: memo field to character field

Brad,
Give me a small example of what you are doing and I can play with it tonight/tomorrow(sometime).

Are you sure it has lost the characters?--write it to a file and see.

[acceptthis]

Re: memo field to character field

Thanks for your help. I took the code and ran it through the interactive tab. This is what I came up with:

dim followup_email_txt as b
followup_email_txt = lookup("startup","recno()=1","Estimate_email")
? len(followup_email_txt)
= 1023

It's not losing the data, it's just not transferring it all into the followup_email_txt variable.
I changed the variable type of the original "Estimate_email" field to a different type, like html memo, but I get the same thing.

[Jim Coltz]

Re: memo field to character field

Thanks for your help. I took the code and ran it through the interactive tab. This is what I came up with:

dim followup_email_txt as b
followup_email_txt = lookup("startup","recno()=1","Estimate_email")
? len(followup_email_txt)
= 1023

It's not losing the data, it's just not transferring it all into the followup_email_txt variable.
I changed the variable type of the original "Estimate_email" field to a different type, like html memo, but I get the same thing.

I think you may need to use a different method.
From the help file:

LOOKUP()
Syntax
Lookup_Value as A = LOOKUP( Lookup_Table as C, Filter as C, Lookup_Expression as C )

Lookup_Value
If this is character data, it can be a maximum of 1023 characters long. To return longer strings, use TABLE.EXTERNAL_RECORD_CONTENT_GET().

[Steve Wood]

Re: memo field to character field

I second that, you have to use table.external_record_content_get() for memos. I've tested it in the past and it will bring over text of any length. I use it to bring over text with HTML tags, so I know it preserves all characters.