Clob veriable return

Question

oracle 11.2.0
I have a procedure in a package that has an "OUT" variable as a varchar2. For example ...
PROCEDURE myproc(abc IN varchar2, xyz OUT varchar2);
I can pass in a string that is larger than 4000 characters into "abc" and it works fine. I can then store it as a CLOB no problem. When I read that CLOB and put it into "xyz", I can't do it. If I try to put it into xyz using DBMS_LOB.read(myclob, clobsize, 1, xyz), then I get saying that there is a size constraint on xyz. If I create an internal variable called ...
MNO VARCHAR2(32000);
And say DBMS_LOB.read(myclob, clobsize, 1, MNO), then that works fine. When I try to pass it back into xyz, it truncates and only sends back the first 4000 characters. I have tried making it a function, and all kind of variations, but I cannot send back more than 4000 characters. I have also searched the web for an explanation, but nowhere does it say there is a size restriction on either incoming or outgoing variables.
To get around this, I can send back a CLOB and let the calling program do the work, or I can send back 2 smaller variables that are less than 4000 chars each and let the calling program concat them together. I am looking for any solutions to make the original setup work. Do you know of any limitations or something I can try?

Answer 1

You have to look at the caller procedure that calls myproc. What variable do you use in this procedure to retrieve the result of the OUT parameter?
create or replace procedure dropme (xyz out varchar2)
is
begin
   xyz := 'Hello world';
end;
declare
  abc varchar2(1);
begin
  dropme(abc);
end;
Error at line 1
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small
ORA-06512: at "PROD.DROPME", line 4
ORA-06512: at line 4This rang a bell, and apparently I posted this question myself a long time ago B-)
Maximum VARCHAR2 length in stored procedure parameter
Edited by: InoL on Aug 31, 2011 1:31 PM