At 09:36 PM 22/06/2004 +0000, you wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I've read some articles on Blob and VarChar, but I'm still not sure
>what to use. I need to store some text (configuration templates)
>information from a delphi application into a database. I think a max
>of 2000 chars (at the moment all templates are < 1000 chars).
>
>What is the best way to store this data in? Using VarChar or Blob's?

VarChar is potentially a lot of bytes across the wire if your application
pulls multiple-row sets out to clients. Blobs don't come across the wire
automatically: you get an 8-byte blob_id which you use to request the data
on demand.

>What if I change my application one day and I would make it possible
>that a user can choose the database? Does Blob give more
>incompatability problems than VarChar?

Yes. Some DBMS don't even support BLOB.

/heLen