ActiveRecord ArgumentError: negative string size (or size too big)

Question

I've been working with this one for a few days. Here's the ActiveRecord error and the application trace.

ArgumentError: negative string size (or size too big): 
EXEC sp_executesql N'SELECT [ops_jobs_join].* FROM [ops_jobs_join] 
WHERE (work_center_id = N''M*1053'' OR work_center_id = N''M*1035'' OR
      work_center_id = N''M*1037'' OR work_center_id = N''M*1036'') AND
      (status != N''C'') AND (start_date != N'''') AND 
      (start_date >= N''20120516'') AND (comp_date <= N''20120527'') AND 
      (work_order NOT LIKE N''LA%'') 
ORDER BY work_center_id ASC, start_date ASC, starting_shift_num ASC, 
      status ASC, priority ASC, comp_date ASC, ending_shift_num ASC, 
      due_date ASC, sequence_number ASC'

It turns out if I call Op.all I get this error:

ActiveRecord ArgumentError: negative string size (or size too big)

If I ignore the column that uses may contain unicode characters it works fine. All the data is being stored in the database without a problem but for some reason rails3 isn't having it.

Some where clauses will return records while others result in the same error:

activerecord-sqlserver-adapter (3.2.4) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/sqlserver/database_statements.rb:421:in `fetch_all'

It's similar to these two posts:

• ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid: ArgumentError: negative string size (or size too big): SELECT * FROM [shop]

• ActiveRecord doesn't work on one table

It seems like the solution in the first post is to change the gem which I would like to avoid.

I looked at my table and I don't think I'm using any keywords as field names.

I use other queries similar to this one and they work fine. The only difference is the values I use in the where clause (work_center_id = N''M*1053'').

Answer 1

Rails default encoding for manipulates with data is UTF8, you need to use this encoding as well in your database. Change it and all has to be fine.