The concat function requires 2 to 254 arguments

Question

1.00/5 (1 vote)

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SQL-Server-2014

I have a problem in my system. Im trying to search specific data in my datagridview and filter it and click it the show to the texboxes.. It has an error saying

The concat function requires 2 to 254 arguments

What should I do? Thanks

What I have tried:

VB

<pre>Imports System.Data.SqlClient



Public Class TreatmentHistory

    Dim connection As New SqlConnection("Server=DESKTOP-C6IEOUN\SQLEXPRESS;database =NEWCMO; integrated security=True;")
    Private Sub TreatmentHistory_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        FilterData("")
    End Sub

    Private Sub txtPID_TextChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles txtPID.TextChanged

    End Sub
    Public Sub FilterData(valueToSearch As String)


        Dim searchQuery As String = "SELECT * FROM tblTreatment WHERE CONCAT(patientID,Surname,Firstname,Age,
Clm11,
Clm12,
Clm13,
Clm14,
Clm15,
Clm16,
Clm17,
Clm18,
Clm21,
Clm22,
Clm23,
Clm24,
Clm25,
Clm26,
Clm27,
Clm28,
Clm31,
Clm32,
Clm33,
Clm34,
Clm35,
Clm36,
Clm37,
Clm38,
Clm41,
Clm42,
Clm43,
Clm44,
Clm45,
Clm46,
Clm47,
Clm48,
Clm51,
Clm52,
Clm53,
Clm54,
Clm55,
Clm61,
Clm62,
Clm63,
Clm64,
Clm65,
Clm71,
Clm72,
Clm73,
Clm74,
Clm75,
Clm81,
Clm82,
Clm83,
Clm84,
Clm85,
Button1,
Button2,
Button3,
Button4,
Button5,
Button7,
Button6,
Button8,
Button9,
Button10,
Button11,
Button12,
Button13,
Button15,
Button14,
Button16,
Button17,
Button18,
Button19,
Button20,
Button21,
Button22,
Button23,
Button25,
Button24,
Button26,
Button27,
Button28,
Button29,
Button30,
Button31,
Button32,
Button33,
Button35,
Button34,
Button36,
Button37,
Button38,
Button39,
Button40,
Button41,
Button42,
Button43,
Button44,
Button46,
Button45,
Button47,
Button48,
Button49,
Button50,
Button51,
Button52,
Button53,
Button54,
Button55,
Button56,
Button57,
Button58,
Button59,
Button60,
Button61,
Button62,
Button63,
Button64,
Button65,
Button66,
Button67,
Button68,
Button69,
Button70,
Button71,
Button72,
Button73,
Button74,
Button75,
Button76,
Button77,
Button78,
Button79,
Button80,
Button81,
Button82,
Button83,
Button84,
Button85,
Button86,
Button87,
Button88,
Button89,
Button90,
Button91,
Button92,
Button93,
Button94,
Button95,
Button96,
Button97,
Button98,
Button99,
Button100,
Button101,
Button102,
Button103,
Button104,
Button105,
Button106,
Button107,
Button108,
Button109,
Button110,
Button111,
Button112,
Button113,
Button114,
Button115,
Button116,
Button117,
Button118,
Button119,
Button120,
Button121,
Button122,
Button123,
Button124,
Button125,
Button126,
Button127,
Button128,
Button129,
Button130,
Button131,
Button132,
Button133,
Button134,
Button135,
Button136,
Button137,
Button138,
Button139,
Button140,
Button141,
Button142,
Button143,
Button144,
Button145,
Button146,
Button147,
Button148,
Button149,
Button150,
Button151,
Button152,
Button153,
Button154,
Button155,
Button156,
Button157,
Button158,
Button159,
Button160,
Button161,
Button162,
Button163,
Button164,
Button165,
Button166,
Button167,
Button168,
Button169,
Button170,
Button171,
Button172,
Button173,
Button174,
Button175,
Button176,
Button177,
Button178,
Button179,
Button180,
Button181,
Button182,
Button183,
Button184,
Button185,
Button186,
Button187,
Button188,
Button189,
Button190,
Button191,
Button192,
Button193,
Button194,
Button195,
Button196,
Button197,
Button198,
Button199,
Button200,
Button201,
Button202,
Button203,
Button204,
Button205,
Button206,
Button207,
Button208,
Button209,
Button210,
Button211,
Button212,
Button213,
Button214,
Button215,
Button216,
Button217,
Button218,
Button219,
Button220,
Button221,
Button222,
Button223,
Button224,
Button225,
Button226,
Button227,
Button228,
Button229,
Button230,
Button231,
Button232,
Button233,
Button234,
Button235,
Button236,
Button237,
Button238,
Button239,
Button240,
Button241,
Button242,
Button243,
Button244,
Button245,
Button246,
Button247,
Button248,
Button249,
Button250,
Button251,
Button252,
Button253,
Button254,
Button255,
Button256,
Button257,
Button258,
Button259,
Button260,
Remarks,
Complain) like '%" & valueToSearch & "%'"

        Dim command As New SqlCommand(searchQuery, connection)
            Dim adapter As New SqlDataAdapter(command)
            Dim table As New DataTable()

            adapter.Fill(table)

            dgvTreatmentHistory.DataSource = table

    End Sub

    Private Sub PictureBox1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles PictureBox1.Click
        FilterData(txtPID.Text)
    End Sub
End Class

Posted 5-Feb-17 23:51pm

Member 12905345

Updated 6-Feb-17 1:20am

Add a Solution

Comments

Michael_Davies 6-Feb-17 5:59am

The error message tells you all you need to know you are concatenating more than 254 strings.

2 solutions

Solution 2

Concat[^] function concatenates two or more strings into single one, but you want to search for specific value in specific field. As to your code, you're trying to concatenate name of fields, instead of strings. A proper way to use CONCAT function is:

SQL

SELECT CONCAT('Hello', ',', ' ', 'World', '!')

I'd suggest to create Stored procedure[^] which can accept several arguments. If user can select field to search (by using radiobutton), your sp can look like this:

SQL

Use YourDatabaseName;

CREATE STORED PROCEDURE usp_SearchDb
    @SearchedField NVARCHAR(30),
    @FindValue NVARCHAR(30)    
AS
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    DECLARE @qry NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'SELECT * FROM YourTable WHERE ' + @SearchedField + ' Like %' + @FindValue + '%'
    EXEC(@qry)

END

Note: Not tested, but it should works!

In case, when you need to query several columns at once, you have to read about Querying Multiple Columns (Full-Text Search)[^]

Good luck!

Posted 6-Feb-17 1:20am

Maciej Los

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CPallini · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-05T23:59:00

Solution 1

Well, the error is clear enough: you are providing to many argument to the concat function. You could possibly perform the concatenation stepwise. For instance you could concatenate the first half of the argument sequence, then the second half, and finally concatenate the resulting strings.

[update]

Quote:
How could I concatenate the halfs??

The idea is simple, suppose, for instance, you have {'a','b','c','d'}, then:

SQL

concat( concat('a', 'b'), concat('c', 'd'))

[/update]

Posted 5-Feb-17 23:59pm

CPallini

Updated 6-Feb-17 0:16am

v3

Comments

Member 12905345 6-Feb-17 6:02am

How could I concatenate the halfs??

Member 12905345 6-Feb-17 6:23am

So, it gonna be...

Dim searchQuery As String = "SELECT * FROM tblTreatment WHERE CONCAT(CONCAT(patientID,Surname,Firstname,Age,...etc..),CONCAT(Clm34,Clm35,Clm36,Clm37,Clm38,Clm41,Clm42))

Am I correct if Im going to apply in my actual program?