[Shapelib] Character field longer than 255

[Jérôme Cuinet]

Hello,

Since this afternoon, I have searched and I have find a more recent 
shapefile library in gdal project. And in the gdal version, the character 
field can be written with a length longer than 255, but it is read as it 
have a length codded only on the first byte.

So, what's happenning ? What is the rule ? Why theses exceptions for 
character fields ?

In http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/ticket/1202 Frank W. said that there were a 
fix in shapelib, but I don't see any release after 1.2.10 in april 2003. If 
a more recent shapelib exists, where it is ?

Thanks,


Jérôme Cuinet
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jérôme Cuinet" <jerome.cuinet at cose.fr>
To: <shapelib at lists.maptools.org>
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 3:39 PM
Subject: [Shapelib] Character field longer than 255


Hello,

Contrary to Xbase (.dbf) File Format Description
(http://www.clicketyclick.dk/databases/xbase/format/), with Shapefile
library we can add to a .dbf file a character field with a length longer
than 255 character. Is it an extension to dbf file format or an unique
shapelib specification ?

I want to use this function, but I'm worried about compatibility with other
shapefile drivers. Should I use these only for my program, or I could use
these shapefiles with another programs ?

Thanks



Jérôme Cuinet



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