Convert varbinary to string on SQL Server

Question

I have been trying to convert a vabinary column to a string in SQL Server 2000. I have tried the recommended methods on this post: varbinary to string on SQL Server but not had any luck yet.

I have it working in SQL Server 2008, just not in SQL Server 2000.

My binary is

0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000C0FFFF000000000000

When I use select

CONVERT(VARCHAR(1000), @data, 0) 

in SQL Server 2008 it works fine, but when I use it in SQL Server 2000 the output I get is

'ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ'

Has anyone come across this issue?

Answer 1

you can do it SQL Server 2005/2000 by using XML.

DECLARE @bin VARBINARY(MAX)
SET     @bin = 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000C0FFFF000000000000

SELECT @bin AS actualvalue,
        CAST('' AS XML).value('xs:hexBinary(sql:variable("@bin"))', 'VARCHAR(MAX)') AS StringValue