So I really have a few questions here…
I wanted to increase the text field size in the Description column of the Item table. When I increased it past 30 characters to 50 it seemed to accept the change fine. When I type past 30 chars I get this error message
"Overflow under type conversion of Text to Code.
Value: 12345678901234…etc etc etc"
Q1: How can I change this?
Q2: Why does NAV use Text instead of the Char datatype?
Thanks in advance.
No way. Put back to 30 chars. (Unless you don’t want to change some other about 65 tables and rewrite ALL code, changing lengths of variables [:)] )
If you search forum, you will find bazzilion threads about it - once a fortnight somebody still asks about Description field and its extension…
It’s simply called so. NAV historically has its own names for types fields, it has nothing to do with ANSI SQL standards.
That error happens during the validation of the description, where it copies the value into the Search Description field. Turn on the debugger and step through the code, you’ll see where that happens. Basically when you increase the field length, what you are doing is creating a problem everywhere else that this field is used. It used to be that every description, and name field was 30 characters, and everywhere that you would use those fields, it would suffice to just create a text type variable and accept the default length, and you were fine. When you subsequently increase the field length, you will also have to increase every other piece of the system that uses the description field, every related field, every variable that uses it, and this can be a pain to find. Hence the standard advice: don’t do it. Instead, create a new field with the field length that you want. That way, you have it all under control. You’d still have to make sure the description flows to where you want it to flow, but at least you don’t cause standard NAV to error out.
The text data type is just what it is, a text data type. What is strange is that on SQL Server it doesn’t even map to a text type but to varchar. It is what it is, I don’t know what the reasons were.
Thanks DenSter,
That sounds like a pretty good suggestion. We’ll try out a secondary description to use - it’s silly that a Description would be a search field. A few things in NAV irk me greatly, and I really think Microsoft should have me on their Dev team so I can smack the other Dev’s around in NAV and say “Hey, stop it”.
Don’t get me wrong, NAV is pretty awesome and I like it more and more all the time… but I came from Great Plains 8, 8.5, 9.0, and 10.0. Neither are perfect, both lack in areas where the other excels.
Thanks again.
Maybe use Developer’s Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, search the description where it use.
So, change all length to 50.
It’s not, the “Search Description” field is a search field. It gets populated with whatever you enter into the Description field in the validation code, that’s why you should run the debugger and step through the code when errors like this happen, you might learn something. When you increase the field length of the Description, you will also need to increase the field length of every other field that it references, and the “Search Description” field is one of them. Cause and effect, action and consequence. It’s not impossible, it’s not even difficult, it’s just a pain in the butt, and it’s generally not worth the trouble. The developer toolkit doesn;t find all of them, and you’re going to get issues related to the field length for a long time.
I really think I should be on the development staff of every company that employs people like you, so that I can smack them around when they think they can do better than the NAV team [:D] at least to be able to charge a fee for explaining these things [Y]
Well Den you have to get past your language barrier first, because I am not relating the two subjects in that sentence the way you are interpreting it.[:(]
Its two separate comments for two completely separate points of view that I speak of…[:O]
Its ok that a Description field is defined by the system, and of course there is a way to alter it… that’s the beauty of a tailorable system on SQL Server. I understand that NAV is what you make of it; this is one of the things I am learning to love about it, but regardless of what you might think, I know for a fact I can suggest some better methods than the NAV Dev team. I have dealt with ERP solutions enough at this point to spot the flaws in each as well as the feasible improvements that can be made in all of them.
The Idea behind “NAV shouldn’t have a Search Description field that is being passed a value from the Description field on a card” is basically just saying "Hey, Cronus is lame; you’re running on SQL Now… [:O] you don’t need a search description - Everything is your search description. If I can’t remember the Customer ID - I open up the list and I type the name of the customer on the “customer name” part, and guess what? It does the exact same thing as the search description. So you have added pointless redundancy to a record; extra process, extra data, extra time and effort of the server. [:@]
Listen, I’m not a normalization fanatic. I understand the purpose of a multi-use field and that it “may” serve a purpose somewhere else in the database & system. I also understand the purpose of redundant data to speed up referencing and database processes. But … in regards to Tradition, Just because you’ve always done it that way, doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly stupid. [:D]
Oh, and companies that employ people like me are lucky as hell to have people like me. I have an open mind, I’m responsive, I’m efficient, I’m not adverse to change, I learn extremely fast, I provide value and benefit in every aspect of the work that I do, and I know how to point out severe flaws in architecture of any kind. I’m also not afraid to tell my company that their internal processes are crap and need to change to fit the system they are buying, and put my foot down about it whether they want to fire me or not; something that my predecessor and boss were afraid to do. That is why my company put itself in the mess that it’s in with the system right now. Which is generally why 80% of the companies I have met that use any kind of MS Dynamics seem to always be in a god damn pickle with the Partner and the company financials are all screwed up. If more companies had somebody with my experience and ingenuity in their organization, they probably wouldn’t have to fire their first and second partner, and spend 100k just to start fixing their data and all of the eff’d up mods in place. They could have spent that money on Training somebody like me to use the system properly in a formal environment with real instructors so I wouldn’t have to learn it from diving in and spending countless hours on forums, and in the systems bugging people with my novice questions… but hey, that’s life, and that’s why I have a job.[B]
Companies need people like me to catch your flailing hand and say “Hey, fascism doesn’t get the job done”. It’s easy to look at something and judge it from the outside when you’re standing aloof … that’s why I am trying to swim with the fish. [I]
Well, YOU was asking the questions here. And you got competent answers. And I think, even if YOU are the “guy companies need”, Den and Modris will ever have more Navision experience than YOU will ever have with your small mind.
And speaking about language barriers: What is the meaning of “flailing”?
Torch,
re-read what you just wrote, and then ask yourself “Why am I an employ way down on the food chain in some messed up company, when all these other guys that clearly are not even close to being in my intelligence league are respected in the community running their own consulting businesses and helping companies solve real issues, an making big bucks doing it”
I think if you were even a tenth as brilliant as you claim to be, that you would own the company, not be sitting in a cubicle 9-5 working for the man.
Time to wake up and smell the roses.
Wow that’s quite a rant there “Torch”. I’ll leave your fascist remark where it is, to joke about that is such an ignorant, insulting and classless thing to do that I won’t even take the time to reply to that. You would benefit from a conversation with my grandparents, who lived through WWII, to understand exactly what fascism means.
so that they have someone to blame when it all falls apart.
WOW! There is so much hate out there I can hardly believe it. You guys need to open your hearts a little bit and learn how to love.
You don’t even know the situation and you’re attacking my “defensive” response as if I am parading myself all around town as a genius? You put words into my mouth that I didn’t even say? Pardon me my good friend but that is propaganda in the right light, and we know the kind of people who like to spread propaganda don’t we? …
Speaking of which, I used the “fascism” comment, because I don’t like the idea of anybody simply “smacking” me around because they disagree with me, or because they don’t like my point of view. Yes, it’s an extreme to some people, I understood that when I used the comment. But typically in a stream of intellectuals you don’t expect to find the person who takes the comment to heart and intends to blow it out of proportion… until it happens. At that point you learn from it, you grow from it, and you realize … not everybody keeps an open mind to everything. Does that mean that we ban the word, or dare not speak its name? No, it means we take the effort to enlighten people. I’m really sad about your Grandparents DenSter. That’s a legitimate statement, I honestly feel terrible for anyone who has been a victim of genocide and human cruelty. But you, unfortunately, I will not spare. Because the biggest moral lesson of that encounter for the western culture to learn was “Tolerance”. Tolerance is not the pink elephant in the room; tolerance is complete understanding of a situation. Being able to take it in, breath it in and in the end say “It’s ok to be different, I accept you, because on moral grounds we’re still similar”. So in regards to spasmodic hands of fury beating down on your NAV Admin because you don’t like his point of view or ideas; Yes, I think fascism was appropriate… even if I was slanging it to squeeze the definitive juices from its loins to season my words in the aroma I smelled fit.
Additionally, to take that comment so to heart and use it out of the context it was meant for (fascism abusive vs. fascism genocide) tells me that you are performing some mental gymnastics along the lines. You didn’t see me saying “OMG HE THREATENED TO HIT ME!!!” in a forum. That’s because I took it for what it was… a backhanded insult (no pun inten… yes there is pun, lots of pun, just look for the pun, and when you are done – we’ll have cake).
I don’t know DenSter well… at all. However, it’s hard to spot a “joke” when it’s written in a serious discussion. Some humor is lost on people … QED. I made plenty of comments in my post out of sarcasm, and I honestly didn’t seriously intend to insult DenSter … more or less just provide a defensive point of view to his commentary which seemed to belittle me, rather than just support me. (which is all I really wanted anyway)
I’d like to take a moment to reach out to some of you who think so little of me…
To: Walter; I’m confused. Are you seriously asking me the definition of the world “flailing” after you just called me a pea brain? This baffles me, are you that incredibly lazy? With the time it took you to encapsulate the word into double quotes you could have just checked the online free dictionary … That’s like Joker asking Batman to help him set the timer on his bomb under Gotham City Hall because he’s incompetent with electronics…Even your colleagues are shaking their heads at you for this one.
To: David Singleton; David … you deserve a retort all to your own. I don’t have to reread what I wrote, I remember it all. Part of the beauty of thinking about what you say before you say is that it tends to stick in your mind long enough to double check whether or not you’re making a fool out of yourself, and whether or not that is your intention. You should try it some time. I’m not actually an employee way down the line. I’m below executive / VP but I’m above middle management. I report to the CEO and the VP of the company directly. Now, I know what you’re saying… You ARE the CEO of your company. Well David, I’m proud of you. It’s nice to see a CEO who can make ends meet and troll the forums at the same time to help the little people like me learn the world. You’ve got so much to offer and I’m glad that you’re giving back to the community to help the simpletons like myself. Maybe when I have finished up school, completed my first degree (or plural because I love education) I might start up a Dynamics consulting business, or pursue another form of career. I’ll decide one way or another, what to do, later. For now I’ll continue to try and pave my way with ERP / SQL Support. Because paying for college on your own when you’re supporting yourself is difficult and running a company while you’re doing it all is nearly impossible, especially when you have a full time relationship going on. If I really wanted to age myself like cheese I suppose I could drop it all and just jump right into it. But I honestly don’t feel like I know enough about anything right now. Funny how that works out? You guys say I’m self-proclaimed brilliant, when those words were never uttered from my mouth, and yet I’m the only one who thinks I have a lot to learn. I couldn’t taste the irony anymore than if I bit into my finger and sucked the blood.
One thing I don’t have to learn is to cover my ass. No, David. They don’t blame me when things fall apart, they blame the partner and their developers for saying things like “That’s the way it works, deal with it”. I document really, really, well and communicate even better. I learned to do that a long time ago as a precaution against things going wrong and fault being directed to me… because that umbilical cord was menacing. I’ve also botched things up enough to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them. I’ll leave it at that.
Don’t get me wrong, I like it when people speak their mind, I just wish that the majority of people out there would take the time to “think” before they speak. Not spent 30 seconds on a blog to type something terribly inaccurate for no apparent reason, other than to spread slander in a disagreement that did not even involve them in the first place.
By the way – in case you all didn’t notice, my first post praised him for help… my second was simply defensive. I’m tired of people telling me “that’s just the way it is” … seriously? Are you actually going to try and take that stance with me? Please before you decide to stand on quicksand let me remind you of a list of people who fought that battle from my perspective and won:
Christopher Columbus: “Guess what guys? The world isn’t flat!”
Abraham Lincoln: “Let’s not enslave people, it’s wrong, we can live with the change.”
a. The American Public: “But Abe, if we do that, where will we find a new endless supply of expendable labor?”
b. Abe: “China.”
And by the way, if the rest of you read what DenSter wrote, he said, “yes you can change it you just have to go through this much effort to do it." You should realize you’ve all made yourselves look like fools for nothing, because his concession was in my favor. You all say I’m arguing with him about his NAV knowledge, but you’re wrong. I’m angry for a reason. I don’t like people telling me my ideas are shit for no better reason than “That’s just how it is”. It’s ok to prove somebody wrong, and say “Hey, that’s why we don’t do it that way”. It’s not ok to sit there and say “I should smack you around for your insufferable insolence heathen! Be penitent before your betters! HAH!”
Finally, let’s be honest. I don’t expect any of you to answer my posts going forward, I am pretty sure some of you were reading this, mouths agape but dissatisfied. Like somebody at your favorite Italian restaurant had just served you a, cold, dead, deer carcass, that met its end at the headlights of a semi-truck. I’m not legitimately out to offend anyone, but it’s my interpretation that a discussion form is for discussion. Maybe from now on I should shut my mouth and just put the NAV question up, no commentary from me just a, “Yes that’s the answer, thank you good bye”. Because my opinion is irrelevant and nothing I say will ever have any merit when I’m standing in the shadow of mental giants who are obviously my superior in every way. I should just be a robot and take what is given to me, and like it.
Tolerance… you all still have so much to learn. You are decades ahead of me in experience and age, but you are decades behind me in philosophy because you’ve already learned to be “accustomed”. That’s my rebuttal.
P.S. (I’ve toned this document down a lot, the previous versions were much too angry and I really feel like it could use some more modification to be less aggressive, but, whatever. I think it gets the point across. You guys really need to love more. Pride is a terrible thing to cling to…and don’t go telling me I need to take my own advice, you guys slung mud in my eye unprovoked)
Ho hum blah blah, I read the first few lines and realized its not worth reading any more…
bye bye.
Calling someone a fascist is not sarcasm. I’ll leave your big stinking pile of shit, but the topic is closed.