[DERBY-52] Cannot create CHAR column with size greater than 254

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 10.0.2.0
• Fix Version/s: 10.1.3.1
• Component/s: Documentation
• Environment: Dell Dimension 2350, 2GHz P4, 1 Gig RAM, ; Window XP Pro Version 2002, SP2; JDK 1.4.2_03, build 1.4.2_03-b02; Derby Snapshot SVN version 46005 (Binaries)
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Jason Palmatier
• Created: 29/Oct/04 21:44
• Updated: 13/Jan/11 16:41
• Resolved: 26/Apr/05 14:02

Description

An attempt to create a table that contains a column of type CHAR with a size greater than 254 using the SQL statement

CREATE TABLE dummyTable ( column1 char(255),column2 char(10),column3 char(10) )

results in the following SQL Exception:

SQL Exception: The length, precision, or scale attribute for column, or type mapping 'CHAR(255)' is not valid.
SQL Error: 30000
SQL State: 42611

However, if you decrease column1's length by one as below, the table is created successfully:

CREATE TABLE dummyTable ( column1 char(254),column2 char(10),column3 char(10) )

The Derby Reference Manual states that the limit on the length of a CHAR data type is java.lang.Integer.MAX_VALUE:

http://incubator.apache.org/derby/manuals/reference/sqlj128.html#HDRSII-SQLJ-13733

Issue Links

• relates to: DERBY-4025 CHAR data type documentation fails to describe the maximum allowed length