问题
I have a query that returns XML which I want to convert to varchar. My query returns 93,643 characters of XML. When I try to cast my xml result as varchar, I only get 43,679 characters when I copy the result set to a text editor. When I do len(xmlString), I get 93,643 characters.
I know from this post that varchar(max) can have up to 2^31 characters and 1 byte = 1 character, but it seems to be cutting off my data.
Do XML characters count as more than 1 byte? Why am I not able to select all the data from my xml result?
CAST((SELECT COLUMNS FROM TABLE FOR XML PATH('Name'), TYPE) AS VARCHAR(MAX)
回答1:
This is just a limitation of the Managementstudio.
With a testquery on a bigger table I get described 43,679 characters.
The same Query deliveres 267089 characters in a application via ADO.
回答2:
Not sure why you need to cast you xml data to varchar(max) but if you just want to copy all data don't cast it at all. In this case in the result window you will see one cell with a clickable value (just like a web link). Click it and all your data will be opened in a new window, then you will be able to save it like a file or just copy it. Hope it helps.
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13958195/cast-for-xml-to-varcharmax