Text Output Parameters For SQL Server 2005 - Tip

I've decided to change this blog into a programming tool and publish tips, tricks and insights. For my first post in my newly formatted blog, I decided to keep it simple and reveal a little tip for people who might have suffered the same confusion. If you are hitting a SQL Server 2005 (and perhaps 2000) and are receiving a text output parameter, you might have received perhaps only the first letter of your expected output, even if when you run the query inside the DBMS it returns the entire string. The answer: the size property. It seems the default size for a varchar or nvarchar output parameter is only one character. So, to receive any and all returned text, you must set the size, such as the following:

Dim retSupp As SqlParameter = cmd.Parameters.Add("@@returnMsg", SqlDbType.VarChar)
retSupp.Size = Integer.MaxValue
retSupp.Direction = ParameterDirection.Output

If you expect a crazy large string in return, you can changed Integer.MaxValue to Long.MaxValue and get the same effect.