> -----Original Message-----
> From: ing. Thijs Kuperus [mailto:thijs@...]
> Sent: Miércoles 24 de Enero de 2001 12:56
>
> It's just that when I used the VarChar type, I read
> somewhere that the server expands the varchar with spaces and
> then transfers
> the whole thing.. I read that IBO then throws those spaces away again...
> seems to me to be unnecessary transfer over the line.. I
> think/thought blobs
> were more efficient... I could be wrong though..

I think this happens with CHAR, not VARCHAR. The server pads the string to
the defined length before sending the records to the client. This was done
in a time when IB supported several proprietary communications protocol as a
way to handle weird problems. Now that TCP and even NetBEUI is expected to
work in a decent way, the process could be changed so the client library
adds the blanks at the tail of the CHAR fields.

C.