At 05:27 PM 27-01-01 +0000, you wrote:

>Jason
>
> > . . . field trimming ..
> > Look in the TIB_Query component editor. It is given a user
>interface there.
>
>Thanks - found it!
>
>But the question remains
>
>Should fields be trimmed by default?
>
>I would have thought that the data should not be interfered with as a
>default and the trimming should be there as an extra facility? What
>do folks think?

Yes! Otherwise char and varchar columns will clog the buffers with the
padding blanks with which these columns arrive at the client. It's not
"interfering with data", it's fixing a bad feature.

In this minor case where blank is stored as a value (why????) probably we
can have a "no right trimming" column attribute available for optional use.

To me, storing a blank rather than empty string in a blank non-null column
doesn't make sense at all. Likewise with "meaningful" trailing
blanks. To change the behaviour of all datasets to fit in with someone's
bad data design doesn't seem at all an attractive idea.

Helen


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