sql server primary key with size over 900 bytes problem

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

i wanted to assign a column as primary key size is over 900 bytes and i got column size is over 900 bytes error.i had to decrease size to make it a primary key.question -
1.is there any better alternative to assign key to a column size over 900 bytes
2.suppose i decrease size of the column less than 900 bytes and assigned it primary key.but my other columns total sizes are more than 900 bytes as usual as there are many long data to be saved.in that case will there be any insert and update problem?

Posted 23-May-12 5:23am

mridul samadder

Add a Solution

2 solutions

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Wendelius · Answer 1 · 2012-05-23T08:33:00

Agree with Dylan Morley, use surrogate keys whenever possible (=always) and define the natural keys as unique.

The only difference to Dylan's answer is that I would personally prefer a uniqueidentifier[^] instead of IDENTITY. One reason for example is that uniqueidentifier can be used in environments where you need replication. In overall it's more flexible.

Dylan Morley · Answer 2 · 2012-05-23T05:50:00

This article explains better than I can in a quick answer!

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bartd/archive/2011/01/06/optionsforindexedlookupsoflongvalues.aspx[^]

Basically, you need to reconsider your key design. Are you trying to create a primary key using fields that have long strings in, or combination of string fields?

Out of the suggestions in that article, I'd go with creating a primary key field using the IDENTITY specification which will solve this issue immediately. Then, you could consider some unique constrainsts or other indexes to provide database integrity and performance.

sql server primary key with size over 900 bytes problem

2 solutions

Solution 2

Solution 1

Add your solution here

Preview 0