The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

Chapter 1: Storing and Managing Unstructured Data-- Create a table and insert a rowCREATE TABLE BlobTable(TextValue TEXT ,VarcharMaxValue VARCHAR(MAX))INSERT INTO BlobTable( TextValue ,VarcharMaxValue)SELECT 'The text data type is invalid for local variables.' ,'However VARCHAR(MAX) is valid'-- Reading the first 20 characters from the TEXT columnDECLARE @val VARBINARY(16)SELECT @val = TEXTPTR(TextValue)FROM BlobTableREADTEXT BlobTable.TextValue @val 0 20-- Reading the first 20 characters from the VARCHAR(MAX) columnSELECT LEFT(VarcharMaxValue, 20)FROM BlobTableListing 1-4:Working with the new LOB data types is much easier.All of the new LOB data types introduced in SQL Server 2005 support storage of up to2 GB of data in a single column.VARBINARY(10) -- Can store up to 10 BytesVARBINARY(8000) -- Can store up to 8000 BytesVARBINARY(8001) -- Error!!!VARBINARY(MAX) -- Can store up to 2 GB of dataListing 1-5:MAX identifier raises the storage capacity from 8,000 bytes to 2 GB.31