How Can I Create a VARCHAR(MAX) Field?

In MS SQL Server 2000 a row cannot exceed the size of 8000 bytes. In MS SQL Server 2000 a VARCHAR column can store up to 8000 characters and an NVARCHAR column can store up to 4000 characters. This is a limitation in MS SQL Server 2000 that has been solved in MS SQL Server 2005.

In MS SQL Server 2005 (and 2008) you can use 'MAX' in the length of a VARCHAR, NVARCHAR and VARBINARY field (VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX), VARBINARY(MAX)). These data types can hold the 2 GB of data (same as BLOBs can hold).

In DeZign for Databases you can make use of this data type by selecting the VARCHAR, NVARCHAR or VARBINARY data type in the Entity dialog. Then enter 'MAX' in the length field.

Please note that DeZign for Databases also recognized these VARCHAR(MAX) data types when importing an existing MS SQL Server database.