A.1 Sybase Adaptive Server Datatypes
Table A-1 compares the datatypes supported by
Sybase Adaptive Server to those
supported by Microsoft SQL Server. While there is significant overlap
in the types offered, a few types differ in meaning or are missing on
one of the platforms. Where differences in the types exist,
they'll be listed in the table. Types that are not
listed within the table should be considered identical on both
platforms.
Table A-1. Sybase Adaptive Server datatypes
Sybase adaptive server datatype
|
Microsoft SQL Server datatype
|
Notes
|
---|
N/A
|
BIGINT
|
Usage of decimal(19,0) as an equivalent to
BIGINT will allow storage of values within the
same range.
|
BINARY
|
BINARY
|
Describes a fixed-length binary value up to 255 bytes in size. In
contrast, Microsoft SQL Server can store 8,000 bytes.
|
CHAR(N)
|
CHAR(N)
|
Holds fixed-length character data up to the
database's page size in length.
|
DATETIME
|
DATETIME
|
Holds date and time data within the range of 1753-01-01 00:00:00
through 9999-12-31 23:59:59. The DATETIME type
can store milliseconds with a granularity of 1/300 second.
|
NCHAR(N)
|
N/A
|
Holds fixed-length character strings in the national character set up
to the database's page size in length. In contrast,
Microsoft SQL Server's NCHAR
datatype stores Unicode character strings.
|
N/A
|
NTEXT
|
Holds Unicode text passages up to 1,073,741,823 characters in length.
|
NVARACHAR(N)
|
N/A
|
Holds variable-length character strings in the national character set
up to the database's page size in length. In
contrast, Microsoft SQL Server's
NVARACHAR datatype stores Unicode character
strings.
|
TIMESTAMP
|
ROWVERSION
|
A unique number within a database that is updated whenever a row is
updated.
|
SMALLDATETIME
|
SMALLDATETIME
|
Holds date and time data within the range of 1900-01-01 00:00 through
2079-12-31 23:59. Unlike Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase cannot hold
dates with second resolution in a SMALLDATETIME.
|
N/A
|
SQL_VARIANT
|
Sybase has no weakly typed storage type like SQL
Server's SQL_VARIANT.
|
UNICHAR
|
NCHAR(N)
|
Stores fixed-length, Unicode character strings up to the
database's page size in length.
|
N/A
|
UNIQUEIDENTIFIER
|
Represents a value that is unique across all databases and all
servers.
|
UNIVARCHAR
|
NCHAR(N)
|
Stores variable-length, Unicode character strings up to the
database's page size in length.
|
VARBINARY(N)
|
VARBINARY(N)
|
Describes a variable-length binary value up to 255 bytes in size. In
contrast, Microsoft SQL Server can store up to 8,000 bytes.
|
VARCHAR(N)
|
VARCHAR(N)
|
Holds fixed-length character data up to the
database's page size in length.
|
The primary differences between the types offered by
SQL Server and Sybase are the storage
sizes, precision, and default meaning of the
NCHAR type. When converting data from one
platform to the other, it is important to observe these subtle
differences to avoid data truncation or corruption.
|