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 Selecting proper data type

Author  Topic 

WindChaser
Posting Yak Master

225 Posts

Posted - 2006-07-28 : 09:53:51

Hi folks.

I have a number of numerical fields which are of an optional nature (i.e. the user may or may not use them). In the vast majority of cases, the user will not use them.

My understanding is that using smallint will mean that 2 bytes of storage are used in ALL cases, but that using nvarchar with a null default will mean that no storage space will be used in most cases.

Am I correct or in left field?

Srinika
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1378 Posts

Posted - 2006-07-28 : 10:06:22
I'm not particular about ur main questions, but here r some points:

1. Its not adviseable to use nvarchar (or varchar or char) to stote numeric data.
2. int or smallint or any data type can be left as null
3. storage counts when data is inserted (doubt it matters when allocated).

Srinika
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