length of string query in Topcat TAP

[Petr Skoda]

Dear all,

I wanted to get a guess of maximum length of spectral type string in 
SIMBAD (in order to limit database collumn declaration in one our 
archiving system ) by TAP query run through TOPCAT window and I failed.

On http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr:80/simbad/sim-tap

I tried the query

SELECT top 100
    sp_type as sp, LENGTH(sp_type)
    FROM basic
where sp_type is not null

but TOPCAT does not allow (red syntax ) me to type lenght, LENGTH ,
CHAR_LENGTH or anything else (e.g. SIZE) ... in ADQL is CHAR_LENGTH a 
reserved word , but when enforcing the TAP submission it complains on it
(was expecting .... and long list of keywords) but then it warns


(HINT: "CHAR_LENGTH" is not supported in ADQL, but is however a reserved 
word. To use it as a column/table/schema name/alias, write it between 
double   quotes)

I am a little confused ... Is it a problem of TOPCAT syntax checker or a 
general lack in ADQL .... in other words, the ADQL does not allow to 
measure the length of a string atribute ?


Thanks for explanation


(BTW I succeeded just to load all sp_types in a table and then used the 
TOPCAT internal function length(string) in a new synhetic collumn directly 
on a table. But if I would not be able to download all SIMBAD sp_types to 
TOPCAT I would be lost just by using ADQL ....


Best regards,


Petr
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*  Petr Skoda                         Phone : +420-323-649201, ext. 361 *
*  Stellar Department                         +420-323-620361           *
*  Astronomical Institute CAS         Fax   : +420-323-620250           *
*  251 65 Ondrejov                    e-mail: skoda at sunstel.asu.cas.cz  *
*  Czech Republic                             skoda at asu.cas.cz          *
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