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Asked: 2026-05-10T19:22:15+00:00

So I need to update a text field. Neither the UPDATE statement or the

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So I need to update a text field. Neither the UPDATE statement or the WRITETEXT statement work when used below

CREATE TABLE MyTable (IDField int, MyField text) INSERT INTO MyTable (IDField) SELECT 1  DECLARE @Data1 varchar(8000), @Data2 varchar(8000), @ptrval binary(16)  SELECT @Data1 = REPLICATE('1',8000) SELECT @Data2 = REPLICATE('2',8000)  -- this sets MyField to string of only 8000 characters UPDATE MyTable SET MyField = @Data1 + @Data2 WHERE IDField = 1    SELECT @ptrval = TEXTPTR(MyField )  FROM MyTable  WHERE IDField = 1   -- this causes an error: Incorrect syntax near '+'. --WRITETEXT MyTable.MyField @ptrval @Data1 + @Data2

How am I supposed to do this when local variables cannot be of type TEXT? (If I had SSQL Server 2005 I would use varchar(max) – but I don’t)

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  1. Try using UPDATETEXT instead

    WRITETEXT MyTable.MyField @ptrval @Data1  UPDATETEXT MyTable.MyField @ptrval 8000 NULL @Data2

    The insert offset is zero based so 8000 should write into the 8001st character. The delete offset is null as a value of NULL deletes all data from the insert_offset position to the end of the existing text.

    Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189466.aspx

    Do not forget nvarchar (which you should use with ntext field) have a maximum capacity of half the varchar fields that you are using so your block sizes need to be reduced to 4000 in that case.

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