Antonio,
Thank you very much!!

>Dmitry, this time I'll post my reply inline.
>
>>1. If I check the LEN() of the VARBINARY field, it returns the number of bytes, not the number of characters this value would be cast to. Correct?
>>Example:
>>

>>cTest = "1234567890"
>>bTest = cast( cTest as varbinary(250))
>>? len(bTest)      && shows 10 = number of bytes.
>>? bTest             && much longer than 10.  That is, this is the actual length of the value in the field
>>

>
>Do not get confused by the representation of the data. What you see in the second line is the same as "0h" + STRCONV("1234567890", 15), that is, the hexadecimal representation of the ANSI codes for characters "1", "2", "3", and so on, preceded by the "0h" prefix that signals "this is a hexadecimal encoded binary string".
>
>Binary strings are quite similar to regular ones, not considering their representation. You also have the max size limit of 254 bytes for a binary string literal, and you can use binary and regular strings interchangeably (I think always, but may be proven wrong on this...).
>
>For instance, SUBSTR(0h31323334353637383930, 2, 1) returns 0h32 (yes, that's a single byte). You can even concatenate regular and binary strings, but attention must be paid to the order of operands:
>
>

>? 0h31323334353637383930 + "Dmitry" 
>? "Dmitry"  + 0h31323334353637383930
>

>
>will result in
>
>

>0h31323334353637383930446D69747279
>Dmitry1234567890
>

>
>being displayed (remember, that's the representation, both values are exactly the same).
>
>>
>>2. In SQL Server table I can make a column to be BINARY(250) (instead of VARBINARY(250)) but not in VFP.
>>VFP has only VARBINARY and not BINARY type. Correct?
>
>Yes, although if you mark a character field as being NOCPTRANS, as Martina told you, you'll get a BINARY() equivalent. When retrieving data from the SQL Server, BINARY(250) will come down as Varbinary(250) (its LEN() always 250). If BINARY() length exceeds 254, it will turn into a Blob (always of a fixed sixe).