Subject Re: [firebird-support] Correct syntax to set field position
Author Ann W. Harrison
Salvatore Besso wrote:
>
>>Why don't you just change the size of the field directly?
>
>
> The fields are bound to domains. Can I change only the size (VARCHAR) in the
> domains? It would be really nice. Now to change the size of two fields I had
> to write a 50+ lines script to drop and recreate all dependent objects :-(

Yes you can change the domain directly.

> I have to increase both sizes to 30 characters. If it is possible, what
> happens with the added space and existing values? Are they padded with
> something (i.e. spaces) or do they remain unchanged?

Initially they remain unchanged, though they will look to you as if they
were padded with spaces. That's because records are put through a
filter before being returned, so if they're not in the current format on
disk, they are reformatted before being returned. If you change the
record, the new version will be "full length", though data compression
will eliminate the trailing spaces.

Regards,


Ann