Subsonic + Sqlite + Float datatype == "Can't save: xxx exceeds the maximum length of 8"

Question

I'm building a data loader utility application (Win 7 64bit, VS 2008, C#, .Net 3.5, Win Forms) using Subsonic 2.2.
I've gotten everything working using SqlServer and now I need to get it working in Sqlite 3. I've worked through some issues but there is one I cannot resolve;
I have 2 columns, Latitude and Longitude that are FLOAT data types in sqlite and Subsonic generates as nullable floats. The code generation is fine, building is fine but when I attempt to run the application, when the object gets saved I get en error, "Can't save: Longitude exceeds the maximum length of 8."
My guess is that it's a verification issue in Subsonic as my Sqlite db has now issue with the data I have been loading into those columns.
Any Subsonic or Sqlite veterans out there have any suggestions, I am brand new to Subsonic and have only been working with Sqlite for about 6 months now.

Thanks, Geoff

The value that is causing the error is -122.41082 which is over 8 chars but I don't think that's the limit for a float in sqlite. Maybe I'm choosing poorly when it comes to data types?

Answer 1

This is a SQLite issue as, from what I understand, SQLite doesn't have a concept of "types" - only inferences on values:

http://www.sqlite.org/faq.html#q3 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/623044/how-to-alter-sqlite-column-iphone

What I'm guessing here is that the inference is getting lost on the float translation - if you read up the docs, it says as much:

A column with NUMERIC affinity may contain values using all five storage classes. When text data is inserted into a NUMERIC column, an attempt is made to convert it to an integer or real number before it is stored. If the conversion is successful (meaning that the conversion occurs without loss of information), then the value is stored using the INTEGER or REAL storage class. If the conversion cannot be performed without loss of information then the value is stored using the TEXT storage class

So it looks like the value you're passing in is NOT able to be stored as REAL (for some reason) and is trying to be tweaked to TEXT, with the limitation of a length of 8. This makes sense also because it's counting the decimal place - and it shouldn't (it only would if it's text).

Have a read here: http://www.sqlite.org/datatype3.html#affinity

It looks like this is the issue you're dealing with. All in all, SQLite is a "ducktyped" database, and many people have been bitten by it.

So, in short, I think your answer is probably to use Math.Round(3) to bring the value in under 8 total numbers + decimal (and the negative symbol) so it can be coerced into the column.