Is there a fix to the Analyzer V2.3 text string limitation?

[navoff]

I use Analyzer V2.3. The problem I've had since I first started using it is that the database has a text string limit of 4,000 characters and I have a number of lengthy <pre></pre> sections where the text inside the set of the tags exceeds the 4000 character limit. I reported it as a bug (#27635). I haven''t been able to find out whether it was addressed in the latest version of the software and since my company hasn't upgraded from V2.3, I can't verify for myself. Because of the database errors created by exceeding the string limit, links to those files show up in Analyzer as broken.

[navoff]

Yes, I'm replying to my own post. I just got off the phone with tech support (on another issue) and asked about this particular bug. It hasn't been resolved yet and is marked as under consideration for the next release.

[RamonS]

Did support state if this is a database problem? You may see if you can use SQL Management Studio to locate the table and increase the field size. No idea if that alone will fix the issue.

[navoff]

Did support state if this is a database problem? You may see if you can use SQL Management Studio to locate the table and increase the field size. No idea if that alone will fix the issue.

They didn't say, though, I have been wondering the same thing, myself. I thought it might be an easy thing to fix so I'm surprised that this is still not addressed. I haven't tried using SQL Management Studio to try and fix the problem myself, but, at this rate, I'm thinking of giving that a try. I'm tired of seeing all the error messages and so called "broken links".

[LTinker68]

The only possible problem with that workaround is you'll have to do it with every Analyzer database file in every project, and you'll have to remember to repeat the fix if you ever delete the Analyzer folder, since the file is automatically created the next time you open the project but it won't retain your changes.

[navoff]

The only possible problem with that workaround is you'll have to do it with every Analyzer database file in every project, and you'll have to remember to repeat the fix if you ever delete the Analyzer folder, since the file is automatically created the next time you open the project but it won't retain your changes.

Well, talking to our company's database guru, it would be a moot point anyway since it's a limitation of SQL server and Microsoft would have to implement the change.

[LTinker68]

... and Microsoft would have to implement the change.

So, what, you're giving up?

So MadCap's solution should be to allow you to tag content that shouldn't be scanned so you won't keep getting those messages from Analyzer. Assuming you don't want the content in those <pre> tags to be scanned.

[RamonS]

You could change the field definition from a varchar to a BLOB. BLOBs eat everything.

[navoff]

You could change the field definition from a varchar to a BLOB. BLOBs eat everything.

Unfortunately that only makes it worse. The code Madcap is using in its Analyzer is set up to query using equal instead of like. When you change to a BLOB (or in this case a CLOB since it appears they're using Unicode), then you get tons of error messages when you try to run the Analyzer. It looks like they would need to make lots of changes in their code in order to fix this particular problem. <sigh>

[NorthEast]

Does this problem affect any topic with a long line of text?

I've noticed one of our projects has a large number of 'broken link' errors, for links to topics that actually do exist.
The one thing in common, is that the topics they link to have one or more very long lines; usually table tags with lots of text in them.

I'm going to try adding a few line breaks to see if that helps.

Anyway, for the time being, it means Analyzer is pretty much useless.
Broken links are probably the most important thing I need to check.