Webfocus seems to have many problems dealing with Alpha Variable fields rather then fixed length. Within our environment, we have many different data sources primarily coming from Oracle.
We are a large company and not the same groups do not manage all tables so the key fields we join on are defined in different ways (i.e. A10V, A15, A20, etc.) across the different Oracle tables.
Within WF you can't seem to join 2 Alpha fixed fields together that are not the exact same definition, but you can do this with Alpha Variable.
In addition, using fixed length within Oracle takes up more room.

We are finding many different problems when we go to create jobs and the answer always seems to be changing it to fixed length.

Does anyone else have issues with Variable length fields?

Kathy

wf came late to variable length fields and I would suggest you do everything as fixed (we also Oracle shop). The prob with joins is resolved with a setting ORACHAR=VAR.

Here are ours

(FOC1496) AUTODISCONNECT OPTION IS - : ON FIN
(FOC1499) AUTOCOMMIT OPTION IS - : ON COMMAND
(FOC1491) FETCH BUFFERING FACTOR - : 5000
(FOC1531) INSERT BUFFERING FACTOR - : 500
(FOC1652) CHARACTER TYPE FOR INSERT OR UPDATE - : VAR
(FOC1653) CONVERSION STYLE FOR ORACLE NUMBERS - : COMPAT
(FOC1654) ORACLE HOME - : Not set
(FOC1655) ORACLE SID - : Not set
(FOC1441) WRITE FUNCTIONALITY IS - : ON
(FOC1445) OPTIMIZATION OPTION IS - : ON
(FOC1763) IF-THEN-ELSE OPTIMIZATION IS - : ON
(FOC1484) SQL ERROR MESSAGE TYPE IS - : DBMS
(FOC1552) INTERFACE DEFAULT DATE TYPE - : NEW
(FOC1446) DEFAULT DBSPACE IS - :

Also there is a setting to stop AnVs being gened for Oracle varchars in the metadata. NB dont change Oracle just use fixed length in your metadata.

Do a search of the forum on ORACHAR as well...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hammo1j,

Direct answer to Kathy's question - boy, do I have issues! Insomuch that we avoid them altogether. And seems you've already found the solution.

SET VARCHAR=OFF in the server profile would probably resolve most issues. You would need to regenerate your master files after changing the setting.

If you use the VARCHAR=OFF option, you may need to create your masters rather than regenerating them.

SQL SQLORA SET VARCHAR OFF
is in my edasprof
then i re-create my masters using the synonmym creator.
As PB says, 'refresh' isn't quite enough.
Refresh will only take the V off the ACTUAL, not the USAGE.
So you have to CREATE NEW and click the 'OVERWRITE' box..you don't have to delete them and recreate them, which is nice.
Then you'll have the V off both the ACUAL and the USAGE.
I'm with Darin... Its a real good thing to do. it avoids all kinds of ageda !

... but watch out for loss of customisations such as TITLE and DESCRIPTION keywords - depending upon the release that you are on these may get "lost" - later releases are better.

T