DBGrid showing "(MEMO)" as the value of string fields - delphi

Question

I'm trying to write a simple SQLite application using Lazarus and the SQLdb components.
I connect to the database and populate a TDBGrid. Problem is that all columns that are text fields display the value "(MEMO)" rather then the string in database.

Answer 1

I have found a simple solution:
The property dgDisplayMemoText from the DBGrid must be enabled.

Answer 2

I forgot the source of this but this is what I am doing with memo fields in tdbgrid.
bluish is right about the gettext event, this is how to implement it in the code:
Create a class called MemoDifier:
MemoDifier = class
public
procedure DBGridOnGetText(Sender: TField; var aText: string;
DisplayText: boolean);
end;
At the implementation section of your code, put this:
procedure MemoDifier.DBGridOnGetText(Sender: TField; var aText: string;
DisplayText: boolean);
begin
if (DisplayText) then
aText := Sender.AsString;
end;
Then click the tdbgrid control in your form and at the Object Inspector(Lazarus IDE), click the Events tab, scroll below to find the OnPrepareCanvas event. Double click it to generate the code. Then modify the code to suit to your needs such as the name of your tdbgrid control:
procedure Tmainui.TDBGrid1PrepareCanvas(sender: TObject;
DataCol: Integer; Column: TColumn; AState: TGridDrawState);
var
MemoFieldReveal: MemoDifier;
begin
if (DataCol = 1) then
begin
try
TDBGrid1.Columns.Items[0].Field.OnGetText := #MemoFieldReveal.DBGridOnGetText;
TDBGrid1.Columns.Items[1].Field.OnGetText := #MemoFieldReveal.DBGridOnGetText;
TDBGrid1.Columns.Items[2].Field.OnGetText := #MemoFieldReveal.DBGridOnGetText;
except
On E: Exception do
begin
ShowMessage('Exception caught : ' + E.Message);
end;
end;
end;
end;
The variable MemoFieldReveal points to the class MemoDifier. Don't forget to modify the index (Items[x]) to point to your index number of the tdbgrid items/fields which shows the (MEMO) text.

Answer 3

Another option
If you are using TZConection add this line to you code when you Connect you database
TZConnection).Properties.Add('Undefined_Varchar_AsString_Length=100');

Answer 4

As said on IRC, you probably need to add the fields of your query to the form, (so that "field" components are generated for them) and then implement the TMemoField.GetText event.
See if entering the "fields" field in the object inspector brings up an editor to generate the components (it does so in Zeos iirc).

Answer 5

Memo fields cannot be shown in the TDBGrid. Add TDBMemo to the form and connect it to the same TDataSource. You will see the text in your memo in this case.

Answer 6

I have the same in MySQL and Tgrid so I'm hoping the answer is the same as it is quite simple :-)
Say if s is the field causing the problem then Instead of writing
SELECT s
write
SELECT LEFT(s,200) AS s

Answer 7

An apparently simple solution is to limit the length of the TEXT in the field using something like VARCHAR(n) in the column type where n is the maximum number of allowed characters.

Answer 8

Old question but I came across it while looking for a similar issue, but on the data retrieved by code rather than with a DBGrid; When I retrieved a string fields with the methods DisplayText or Text, I got "(memo)" instead of the correct value.
The answer is actually simple… The TSQLQuery class owns a set of methods called AsXxx to get the data according to a type of data. Here use AsString to assign a variable inline.
SQLQuery1.Open;
//some check to make sure there are fields
name:=SQLQuery1.Fields[1].AsString; //gives "English" for example
code:=SQLQuery1.Fields[2].DisplayText; //gives "(Memo) instead of "en"
More, if you don't know at design time of which type the variable is (for example, you want to design a generical function for any kind of table) with its FieldDefs property of your TSqlQuery object can help you.
It owns a DataType property that allows to choose which AsXxx function to use. Here for example.
SQLQuery1.Open;
//some check to make sure there are fields
with SQLQuery1.FieldDefs[1].DataType of
ftMemo: SQLQuery1.Fields[1].DisplayText; //gives "(Memo)"
ftString: name:=SQLQuery1.Fields[1].AsString; //gives "English" for example
...
end;
And if you look at the datatype while debugging, you will notice that with SQLite, any text is seen as a ftMemo, not a ftString for there is only one type of text there.

Answer 9

after some tests, I could see that although the fields are treated as "MEMO", for "string" fields, just keep the "VARCHAR" option instead of "TEXT" when creating the table.

Answer 10

This article gives a solution: Displaying and editing MEMO fiels in Delphi's TDBGrid.
Here I summarize what you have to do:
in the .dfm add OnGetText = MyDataSetMyFieldGetText to the TMemoField (here named MyField) belonging to your data set (for example a TTable, here named MyDataSet)
in the .pas > interface > type > inside your form definition, add
procedure MyDataSetMyFieldGetText(Sender: TField; var Text: string; DisplayText: Boolean);
in the .pas > implementation > add this method
procedure TDM.WorkVisiteNoteGetText(Sender: TField; var Text: string; DisplayText: Boolean);
begin
Text := Copy(WorkVisiteNote.AsString, 1, 100);
end;