What is the maximum length of a string?

Question

When I light my project, I get the following warning:

C:\Users\me\wix\service.wxs(105) : warning LGHT1076 : ICE03: 
          String overflow (greater than length permitted in column); 
          Table: ServiceInstall, Column: Description, Key(s): ServiceRegister

My Description is quite long, but before I set out to trim it down, what is the maximum length permitted?

Answer 1

The Description column in ServiceInstall table has the Formatted type, so technically it doesn't have a limit. You can use any length you want.

The warning is displayed because your current text exceeds 255 characters (standard maximum text length in Windows). It's only a warning, not an error. It doesn't affect your installation.

Still, if you want to avoid the warning, a solution is to use installer properties:

• split your description text into multiple custom properties
• use these properties in your description instead of the actual text

This way the long text will be resolved during install and it's length won't trigger any warnings.