Application Note for QuNect ODBC for QuickBase

How to Manually set the Size of a Quickbase Field

QuNect ODBC for QuickBase by default truncates single line text fields to 255 characters and multi-line text fields to 65,535 characters. In the case of Quickbase text fields you can set the size of the field that QuNect ODBC for QuickBase presents by setting the Max characters field property. You can read about how to set the Max characters field property here: http://help.quickbase.com/user-assistance/default.html#set_max_length.html.

For other text like fields like URL fields that do not have a Max characters field property you can set the size as presented by QuNect ODBC for QuickBase by clicking on the Settings link from the application's home page. Then click on Variables. Then click on Create a new variable. The name of the variable will begin with QUNECT_TEXT_SIZE_ followed by the DBID an underscore and then by the field identifier FID of the field. For example:

        QUNECT_TEXT_SIZE_bcks8a7y9_34
        

The value of the application variable should be the size you would like to specify for the text field. This application variable only effects the size of this text field when accessed through QuNect ODBC for QuickBase. This application variable has no effect on the Quickbase application when accessed through a web browser or through the Quickbase HTTP API. If you set a value greater than 8000 then the field type in SQL Server will become a BLOB and although you can read BLOB fields via linked servers you cannot INSERT or UPDATE BLOB fields via a linked server. This is why QuNect ODBC for QuickBase presents multi-line text fields, by default, as VARCHAR fields truncated to the maximum length of 8000 characters that SQL Server supports for this data type. Another way to control the length of a text field is to set the Max characters field property. Setting this property effects the number of characters that can be inserted via a web browser or through the Quickbase HTTP API as well as through QuNect ODBC for QuickBase. However, with SQL Server, if the Max characters property is set to a value greater than 8000 QuNect ODBC for QuickBase will still present the field truncated to 8000 characters. To go beyond 8000 chacaters on SQL Server you must use the application variable method described above.

You can find the DBID of a Quickbase table by reading the How to Find the DBID of a Quickbase Table application note.