Question

How can I retrieve a column of datatype Varchar(MAX) from a SQL Server database in C#?

I don’t think SqlDataReader helps retrieve it.

Any clue?

Thanks

Answer 1

It’s just a string field …. just grab it like any other string…..

// define your query
string query = "SELECT YourField FROM dbo.YourTable WHERE ID = 1";

using(SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection("......"))
using(SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(query, conn))
{
   conn.Open();

   using(SqlDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader())
   {
       if(rdr.Read())
       {
          string fieldValue = rdr.GetString(0);
       }
   }

   conn.Close();
}

There’s really nothing special about the VARCHAR(MAX) type – it’s just a text field, and it can hold up to 2 GB of text – just like a .NET string. You don’t need to do anything special, like streaming or anything – just read the column into a string!