Stream datatypes are not displayed when you execute SQL (in SMP for example).
The following query (SAMPLES namespace):
SELECT TOP 2 ID, Notes FROM Sample.Employee
Produces this output:
| ID | Notes |
| 101 | 1%Stream.GlobalCharacter^Sample.PersonS |
| 102 | 3%Stream.GlobalCharacter^Sample.PersonS |
To get around that use SUBSTRING operator:
SELECT TOP 2 ID, SUBSTRING(Notes, 1) FROM Sample.Employee
It produces much more useful output:
| ID | Notes |
| 101 | Juanita used to work at TelePedia Inc. as a(n) Associate Manager |
| 102 | Danielle used to work at MetaTel Corp. as a(n) Assistant WebMaster |
To limit the length of the stream property use three argument form:
SELECT TOP 10 ID, SUBSTRING(Notes, 1, 100) FROM Sample.Employee
In this example only the first 100 characters from a stream would be returned.