255 Character Cell Limitations

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mh53j_fe

I am creating a report that includes a column that is data type
varchar2(1000). My goal is to find a workaround to the 255 character
limitation to display this column.

I use PL/SQL stored procedure to create the report in a text file. The
PL/SQL code parses the 1000 character column into 4 columns each with a
255 character limitation. (column1, column2, etc)

I import the text file into excel and then save it as an excel file. Is
there a way that I can combine the four columns into one column? Are
there any other workarounds that I have not thought of?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Hi,

Excel can handle more characters than 255. In fact it can
store some odd 65000 characters in a cell. BUT, it only
displays the first 1024. Which should be sufficient for
you.

You can do something like this to combine 4 cells:

=A1&B1&c1&d1

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel TA/MVP
 
Excel can handle more characters than 255. In fact it can
store some odd 65000 characters in a cell. BUT, it only
displays the first 1024. Which should be sufficient for
you.
Click to expand...

I'm almost (but not quite) getting tired of correcting this rote regurgitation
of grossly inaccurate specs from online help.

http://www.google.com/[email protected]

How many times must this be pointed out before supposedly knowledgeable and
helpful people stop blabbering nonsense (i.e., Microsoft's inaccurate specs) and
state how Excel actually functions in this regard?
 
...
...
I import the text file into excel and then save it as an excel file. Is
there a way that I can combine the four columns into one column? Are
there any other workarounds that I have not thought of?
Click to expand...

In, say, X2 enter the formula =A2&B2&C2&D2, fill down as needed, select col X,
Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste Special as Value, move elsewhere. This could be
automated with a macro.

Sub foo()
Dim c As Range
If Not TypeOf Selection Is Range Then Exit Sub
For Each c In Selection 'this would be the equivalent of column X above
c.Value = c.Offset(0, 1 - c.Column).Value & c.Offset(0, 2 - c.Column).Value _
& c.Offset(0, 3 - c.Column).Value & c.Offset(0, 4 - c.Column).Value
Next c
Selection.Copy Destination:=[SomewhereElse]
End Sub
 
But you missed the part about 65000. That should be almost 32k.

(Sorry, Jan Karel!)

<vbg>
 
Hi Harlan,
I'm almost (but not quite) getting tired of correcting this rote regurgitation
of grossly inaccurate specs from online help.

http://www.google.com/[email protected]

How many times must this be pointed out before supposedly knowledgeable and
helpful people stop blabbering nonsense (i.e., Microsoft's inaccurate specs) and
state how Excel actually functions in this regard?
Click to expand...

How nicely put. Luckily my English vocabulary fails to grasp whether
or not this is actually insulting or not <g> (I'm Dutch).

Of course you are correct, I didn't check and I didn't test. But the
fact remains that getting Excel to display the characters one wants in
a single cell can be a cumbersome task (once there are more than a
1000 to display).

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
 
...
...
Of course you are correct, I didn't check and I didn't test. But the
fact remains that getting Excel to display the characters one wants in
a single cell can be a cumbersome task (once there are more than a
1000 to display).
Click to expand...
...

Cumbersome but possible is the problem domain of macros. An event handler could
be used to check certain cells and reformat contents with additional, regularly
spaced newline characters. Also, unless word wrap is enabled, the readable limit
on what a cell can display is much less than 1024 chars.

As for editing large blocks of text, if such text were merely text, i.e., not
used as operands in any other formula or arguments to any function, then they
should be replaced with text boxes, which provide better editing functionality.
 
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