Passing results to a variable 1

[NeilO123]

Help to a begginer

I am trying to pass the results of a SELECT LEN to a variable and then display the results of the variable, but I must have the code wrong as an example:

USE AdventureWorks;
GO
DECLARE @varLen int
SET @varlen = SELECT LEN(FirstName)
SELECT @varLen
FROM Person.Contact
GO
Any help is appreciated since I intent to use the results of @varLen in a string.

Thanks to all in advance

 

[NeilO123]

markros thanks but, I need to extract the contents off the the column "appName" which contains a variable length string as long as (70 CHAR) and then take the results of the LEN and do a SET to the column "buttonText" for the string that is in the column "appName" less 8 characters, afterwards SET the column "appName" to 'DCR Tool'

I wish it was as simple as what you have describe

 

[markros]

why you cannot do then

SET ButtonText = substring(AppName,1, LEN(AppName)-8)

 

[NeilO123]

Ok,markros, I did try it as follows:
CODE
USE RUMS
GO
--App DCR Tool (CHAR 8)-4
DECLARE @varlen int
SELECT @varlen = len(appName) from dbo.tbl_hits
@varLen=(@varLen-8)
UPDATE dbo.tbl_hits
SET ButtonText = substring(AppName,1, LEN(AppName)-8) ,
appName='DCR Tool'
FROM dbo.tbl_hits
WHERE (appName LIKE 'DCR%')
--
Results
Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 4
Incorrect syntax near '@varLen'.
--
What you had describe should work but, first I need to overcome the syntax error??

 

[NeilO123]

markros, I also try the following code with a different error message:
CODE
USE RUMS
GO
UPDATE dbo.tbl_hits
SET ButtonText = substring(AppName,1, LEN(AppName)-8) ,
appName='DCR Tool'
FROM dbo.tbl_hits
WHERE (appName LIKE 'DCR%')
Results
Msg 207, Level 16, State 1, Line 0
Invalid column name 'ButtonText'.

 

[markros]

Do you have ButtonText column in the tbl_Hits?

Can you post your table creation script?

 

[NeilO123]

markros, you are right. I am in your debt, I should have done a double check of the entire code before posting.

Thanks a lot for the lesson not only on what you have show me but also to review the code for what can be the obvious