> you can't just use
> INSERT INTO INTERNAL TABLE(FIELD1, FIELD2, ...) VALUES SELECT
> CAST(FIELD2 AS BIGINT),
> CAST(FIELD2 AS VARCHAR(30)),
> ...
> FROM EXTERNAL TABLE

If that's what I have to do, it's what I'll do. I was hoping to have a
script that would encapsulate the creation of the external table along
with a view that would format the data correctly. Then anyone wanting
to access the file would run that script first, and could then do
whatever they needed to do..
Right now our only need is to bulk load it, so any non-trivial work to
get the "elegant" version working is a waste.

If I don't read otherwise, I'll probably use your method Monday
afternoon. Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
From: firebird-support@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:firebird-support@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Alan McDonald
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 2:19 PM
To: firebird-support@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [firebird-support] External file load

> I created an external table DDL to import a fixed width file with 326
> columns. To move that data in to the internal table, I was going to
> select from a view. I want the view to trim trailing blanks and to
> convert the file's various date formats to Firebird dates.
> Without any data conversion the view can be created without any
> problem.
> When I try to trim all text fields that are longer than one character,

> I get an error that the table definition, at 65574 bytes, is too
> large.
> The strange part is that originally I was left and right trimming ALL
> columns. The error gave the same table size; only left trimming
> specific columns didn't reduce the size at all.
>
> I have two questions, what can I do to reduce the size of the
> metadata, and if I can't use a view how should I transform the data
> when importing in to the internal table?

you can't just use
INSERT INTO INTERNAL TABLE(FIELD1, FIELD2, ...) VALUES SELECT
CAST(FIELD2 AS BIGINT),
CAST(FIELD2 AS VARCHAR(30)),
...
FROM EXTERNAL TABLE


?
Alan



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