SQL Server 2008: Converting Binary and Character Values

In one of our posts, we had covered how to convert a hext string to a varbinary and vice-versa in SQL Server 2005. In SQL Server 2005, if you use the convert function to convert a character string to a varbinary, you will get the ASCII codes of the characters and likewise if you tried to convert from a varbinary to a string using convert, you would have gotten the characters represented by the ASCII codes in the binary value. That is why one needed to use different means like the one we have shown in the previous post. In SQL Server 2008, one can simply use the CONVERT function to do the same thing.