Change field length in V3.0?

I have a situation where we are trying to map address info from a
custom entity to the contact entity. Problem is that they address field
for the custom entity was created with only 50 char in length and the
address field in contact entity that we are trying to map to is of
course 100 chars long. So, if you go to the address attribute in the
custom entity it appears that you can change it from 50 to 100....it
lets you save that change....BUT, when you try to map the two fields it
still throws the message about not being able to map the fields
because they aren't identical, etc.... We have made sure to publish the
changes etc but still does not work....ideas?

is it that you just can't change the length even though in the UI it
appears that you can????

chadbuserncsicc
Wed May 17 17:30:02 CDT 2006

Its strange that you get this error because field lengths differ, usually its
because the fields are of different data types. Anyhow, try this...

Keep the existing 50char field, for now.
Create a new 100char field to match exactly to the field you want to map to
in the Contacts Entity, same data type and length.

Put the new 100char field on the form next to the original 50char field.
Run an advanced find query and save it to see how many records have values
for the original 50char field.
Create a manual workflow and apply to the records in the saved query to move
the values in the original field to the new field. Once you are confident
that all the records have been updated, you can remove the original field off
the form.
Then map the fields again to ensure addresses are the same for future records.



"SteveT" wrote:

> I have a situation where we are trying to map address info from a
> custom entity to the contact entity. Problem is that they address field
> for the custom entity was created with only 50 char in length and the
> address field in contact entity that we are trying to map to is of
> course 100 chars long. So, if you go to the address attribute in the
> custom entity it appears that you can change it from 50 to 100....it
> lets you save that change....BUT, when you try to map the two fields it
> still throws the message about not being able to map the fields
> because they aren't identical, etc.... We have made sure to publish the
> changes etc but still does not work....ideas?
>
> is it that you just can't change the length even though in the UI it
> appears that you can????
>
>

Jeffry
Thu May 18 02:31:48 CDT 2006

From the online help:
nvarchar
Text. You must specify the type of text: Text, Text area, E-mail, URL, or
Ticker Symbol, and the maximum length. Text attributes are limited to 4000
characters.
The maximum length cannot be changed after the attribute is created. When
you are editing an existing attribute, any value you specify in Maximum
Length only affects the display size in the user interface, and not the
length of the attribute in the database. If you need to change the length of
an attribute in the database, you must delete the original attribute and add
a new one. Note that this will delete all data stored in the original
attribute.

So, changing the maximum length only affects the display size, not the
database field. This is a bit confusing and can cause errors because you can
increase the maximum length in the UI so that people can type in text that's
longer than the database field.

HTH,


--
Jeffry van de Vuurst
CWR Mobility
www.cwrmobility.com
--
"SteveT" <drumguy61-google@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1147899650.473340.154100@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>I have a situation where we are trying to map address info from a
> custom entity to the contact entity. Problem is that they address field
> for the custom entity was created with only 50 char in length and the
> address field in contact entity that we are trying to map to is of
> course 100 chars long. So, if you go to the address attribute in the
> custom entity it appears that you can change it from 50 to 100....it
> lets you save that change....BUT, when you try to map the two fields it
> still throws the message about not being able to map the fields
> because they aren't identical, etc.... We have made sure to publish the
> changes etc but still does not work....ideas?
>
> is it that you just can't change the length even though in the UI it
> appears that you can????
>