Padd Character Function To Return Variable Type

All,
I have a UDF for SQL that will padd a varchar value to a specific width and
align left or right. I found this code online somewhere, but the problem is
that it accpets a value up to Varchar(8000) and returns a varchar(8000). I
am writing a query to upload to a mainframe and need fixed-width fields, but
each field is not the same size. I can pass in the correct width to the
function and it padds correctly, but in a DTS transformation to a text file,
it thinks all fields are 8000 characters wide.
I am asking if it is possible to return a variable size data type instead of
a fixed type.
Here is the orig function:
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[PaddChar] (
@.ValueToPad varchar(8000),
@.PadCharacter char(1),
@.Justification bit,
@.Width int
)
/ ****************************************
***********************************
*************************
This function allows the USER TO pass IN a string / character value AND it
will padd the value according TO given parameters. The parameters are
AS follows:
@.ValueToPad = Value to be padded BY function.
@.PadCharacter = Character used TO pad a given value.
@.Justification = Justification format bit
0 - Value will be RIGHT justified after padding.
1 - Value will be LEFT justified after padding.
@.Width = Total COLUMN width OF the output after padding.
----
--
NOTE - ALL VALUES passes IN FOR padding must be OF CHAR or
VARCHAR data type.
****************************************
************************************
*************************/
RETURNS varchar(8000) AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @.x int
IF @.ValueToPad IS NULL SET @.ValueToPad = ''
IF @.PadCharacter IS NULL SET @.PadCharacter = ''
SET @.X = @.Width - LEN(@.ValueToPad)
--Right Justify Value
IF @.Justification = 0
BEGIN
SET @.ValueToPad = REPLICATE(@.PadCharacter,@.X) + @.ValueToPad
END
ELSE
--Left Justify Value
BEGIN
SET @.ValueToPad = @.ValueToPad + REPLICATE(@.PadCharacter,@.Width)
END
RETURN @.ValueToPad
END
and what I want basically and which doesn't seem to work, is:
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[PaddChar] (
@.ValueToPad varchar(8000),
@.PadCharacter char(1),
@.Justification bit,
@.Width int
)
/ ****************************************
***********************************
*************************
This function allows the USER TO pass IN a string / character value AND it
will padd the value according TO given parameters. The parameters are
AS follows:
@.ValueToPad = Value to be padded BY function.
@.PadCharacter = Character used TO pad a given value.
@.Justification = Justification format bit
0 - Value will be RIGHT justified after padding.
1 - Value will be LEFT justified after padding.
@.Width = Total COLUMN width OF the output after padding.
----
--
NOTE - ALL VALUES passes IN FOR padding must be OF CHAR or
VARCHAR data type.
****************************************
************************************
*************************/
RETURNS varchar(@.Width) AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @.x int
IF @.ValueToPad IS NULL SET @.ValueToPad = ''
IF @.PadCharacter IS NULL SET @.PadCharacter = ''
SET @.X = @.Width - LEN(@.ValueToPad)
--Right Justify Value
IF @.Justification = 0
BEGIN
SET @.ValueToPad = REPLICATE(@.PadCharacter,@.X) + @.ValueToPad
END
ELSE
--Left Justify Value
BEGIN
SET @.ValueToPad = @.ValueToPad + REPLICATE(@.PadCharacter,@.Width)
END
RETURN @.ValueToPad
END
Does anyone have any ideas on this?
Thanks,
NathanWhen I need to export fixed-width fields my approach is a bit
different. I create a view that formats each column the way I need it
to a fixed length, then export from the view. Examples of formatting:
convert(char(30), ItemName) as ItemName
STR(ItemValue,9,2)
Roy|||Thank you, I rarely use CHAR since it does padd for storage in the database,
duh! That worked to replace my instances of the dbo.PaddChar in my query fo
r
all the intstances where I am just padding on the right with spaces.
However, I had to just wrap a couple of them that I am right aligning, or
padding with 0's.
Since my query only pulls back a few rows a day the performance isn't bad.
Thank you again,
Nathan
"Roy Harvey" wrote:

> When I need to export fixed-width fields my approach is a bit
> different. I create a view that formats each column the way I need it
> to a fixed length, then export from the view. Examples of formatting:
> convert(char(30), ItemName) as ItemName
> STR(ItemValue,9,2)
> Roy
>

Pad Spaces in FFConnection properties?

This is a considerably LOW priority, but is there a way to padd spaces in ssis flat file connection properties? We have cases where a CSV file will read in and throw a truncation error because the field length is greater then defined. However, the CSV file might look like ,"ABC ", where a number of trailing spaces are found. Is there some way to handle this without having to adjust teh field length, maybe ignore whitespace at the source?There is no way at the Flat File Source to ignore trailing whitespace, however there is a work around. Say in this case your field length is 3, and if there are trailing spaces after that, you want to ignore them. You can then use "Ignore Failure" for Truncation Error Disposition. That is, in the Error Output tab for the Flat File Source, for Truncation of this column, choose "Ignore Failure", instead of "Fail Component". By doing this, it will only get the specified characters, and ignore the rest, whether they are trailing white spaces, or some other data there. You have to make sure that this is not causing you to accept some data which you otherwise wanted to fail on really.|||

That is partially the problem, we only want to ignore whitespaces, but if there is actual chars then we would want to throw truncation error.

Thanks for your thoughts...