Binary parameters to stored procedures?

I have a stored procedure that takes a byte string as an argument:
CREATE PROCEDURE Reporting_TicketSelectGroups
@.publicPart NVARCHAR(400),
@.checkField BINARY(46),
@.langCode VARCHAR(9)
AS
...
I've created a DataSet with the name of the stored proc as as its query
string and with this expression as its parameter value for @.checkField:
=Code.CheckField(Parameters!ticket.Value)
This in turn refers to a function in the Code tab of the Report
Properties property sheet:
Public Function CheckField(ByVal aTicket As String) As Byte()
...
Return Convert.FromBase64String(...)
End Function
The idea is that there is a parameter called ticket and it is split in
to two parts, one part being in binary, and these two parts are then
used as parameters to the various queries used in the report. When I
attempt to preview this report, I get this error message:
An error has occurred during report processing.
Query execution failed for data set 'Groups'.
Implict conversion from data type nvarchar to binary is not allowed.
Use the CONVERT function to run this query.
I'm assuming the last two sentences come from SQL Server and indicate
that my byte[] value is being converted to string on the way -- either
that or I have stuffed it up in some way. Can anyone tell me whether
this approach should work, or is simply not possible to pass binary
parameters from RS?
--
Damian CugleyI wrote:
> I have a stored procedure that takes a byte string as an argument:
> [...] Can anyone tell me whether
> this approach should work, or is simply not possible to pass binary
> parameters from RS?
I gather from the deafening silence that it is possible to pass neither
binary parameters nor other formats like UUIDs.
My workaround was straightforward enough, once I had decided to do it: I
wrote a base64 (RFC 1521) codec in T-SQL so I can pass the data safely
as a character string.

Binary or Byte data linked to Checkbox

Dear Group,
I'm using Access 2003 linked to an SQL Server data table via an ODBC
connection.
On one form I have several check boxes which want data mapped to a
TRUE/FALSE datatype. Is there a direct way to bind a checkbox to a
bit, a binary, or a tinyint? I've only been able to get it to work
with a smallint which is 2 bytes long.
Thanks,
Max
Arg. Access wants to insert -1 for true and 0 for false.
So sorry the type will need to support negative numbers.
Matt Neerincx [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please do not send email directly to this alias. This alias is for newsgroup
purposes only.
"Max Yaffe" <myaffe@.not.gamry.com> wrote in message
news:0f1ji1p22uleclnn5t4lka3vnta48bda3k@.4ax.com...
> Dear Group,
> I'm using Access 2003 linked to an SQL Server data table via an ODBC
> connection.
> On one form I have several check boxes which want data mapped to a
> TRUE/FALSE datatype. Is there a direct way to bind a checkbox to a
> bit, a binary, or a tinyint? I've only been able to get it to work
> with a smallint which is 2 bytes long.
> Thanks,
> Max

Binary or Byte data linked to Checkbox

Dear Group,
I'm using Access 2003 linked to an SQL Server data table via an ODBC
connection.
On one form I have several check boxes which want data mapped to a
TRUE/FALSE datatype. Is there a direct way to bind a checkbox to a
bit, a binary, or a tinyint? I've only been able to get it to work
with a smallint which is 2 bytes long.
Thanks,
MaxArg. Access wants to insert -1 for true and 0 for false.
So sorry the type will need to support negative numbers.
Matt Neerincx [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please do not send email directly to this alias. This alias is for newsgroup
purposes only.
"Max Yaffe" <myaffe@.not.gamry.com> wrote in message
news:0f1ji1p22uleclnn5t4lka3vnta48bda3k@.
4ax.com...
> Dear Group,
> I'm using Access 2003 linked to an SQL Server data table via an ODBC
> connection.
> On one form I have several check boxes which want data mapped to a
> TRUE/FALSE datatype. Is there a direct way to bind a checkbox to a
> bit, a binary, or a tinyint? I've only been able to get it to work
> with a smallint which is 2 bytes long.
> Thanks,
> Max

Binary Data Type

I am trying to store a byte array in a database. I want to use binary to store the data but I am confused about the type. The byte array I am trying to store is a password hash from SHA512.

I hash a plain text value then store the result in a byte array. I then want to store the byte array in the database as binary but I am confused when its asking for the size of the binary field. In nvarchar a size of 2 would mean 2 characters.

How should I choose the size of this binary field, and what does the size mean. If I choose a size of 6 does that mean 6 characters, like 010110. Or is it stored differently?

The maximum size of a plain text password is 30 characters, and the salt used to generate the SHA512 hash has a maximum size of 16, but I don't know the exact size of the salt because its randomly picked when the salt is generated.

I need to make sure the size of my binary field will hold the largest possible password hash, but I don't want it too large so its never completely used.

How is this data stored in the binary field, and what size binary field should I choose to make sure there are no problems with the password hash being truncated, yet making sure I'm not just wasting by creating a field thats too large.

Thanks!

The size is in bytes.|||

Use the varbinary datatype, since it expands to contain the content. That way you can overestimate the byte length without taking any (extra) space

passwordcolumn varbinary(2000) NOT NULL

/micke

|||

How should I choose the size of this binary field, and what does the size mean. If I choose a size of 6 does that mean 6 characters, like 010110. Or is it stored differently?

Ok, simple thing. What the size means, exactly, is written in the documentation - which you have and which you really should read. At one point. It is the MAXIMUM size of the data that can be stored. MAXIMUM - like, btw., with the nvarcher you mention as example.

The maximum size of a plain text password is 30 characters, and the salt used to generate the SHA512 hash has a maximum size of 16, but I don't know the exact size of the salt because its randomly picked when the salt is generated.

You DO know the maximum size of the salt. The salt should always have the SAME size. Maybe you add spaces to it. Or "0". Or whatever. And then, you basically only need the maximum size anyway.

How is this data stored in the binary field,

Did I mention the documentation? There is a nice section in that explains exactly how SQL Server stores binary data. But frankly, you really do not need to know HOW it is stored. All you need to know for the problem in hand is THAT it is stored. The storage details are an implementation detail of the engine.

and what size binary field should I choose to make sure there are no problems with the password hash being truncated

Choose a size that is lare enough to store the hash. The hash will normally be static in size anyway. So, the size of the vield chould really be clear. That said I would NOT store it as binary. I would store it as char(x) and encode the data in a human readable way (i.e. for example as HEX). Makes debugging a lot easier.