Report Queries column limitation

Question

Hi All,
is there any limitation on PDF report queries regarding the column number?
the error message I've got is: ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small error
I was thinking that the result is too long but is only 3299 according to this script:
select length(dbms_xmlgen.getxml('SELECT ROW_ID, SUBJECT_ID_1, DOC_1, PATIENT_ID_1, SPECIMEN_ID_1,
               SUBJECT_ID_2, DOC_2, PATIENT_ID_2,SPECIMEN_ID_2, 
               SUBJECT_ID_3, DOC_3, PATIENT_ID_3,SPECIMEN_ID_3, 
               SUBJECT_ID_4, DOC_4, PATIENT_ID_4,SPECIMEN_ID_4, 
               SUBJECT_ID_5, DOC_5, PATIENT_ID_5,SPECIMEN_ID_5, 
               SUBJECT_ID_6, DOC_6, PATIENT_ID_6,SPECIMEN_ID_6, 
               SUBJECT_ID_7, DOC_7, PATIENT_ID_7,SPECIMEN_ID_7, 
               SUBJECT_ID_8, DOC_8, PATIENT_ID_8,SPECIMEN_ID_8 
  FROM TABLE (LABELS.GET_COLLECTION_LABELS(103))')) xml from dual;Well if I run it like this:
SELECT ROW_ID, SUBJECT_ID_1, DOC_1, PATIENT_ID_1||SPECIMEN_ID_1 a1,
               SUBJECT_ID_2, DOC_2, PATIENT_ID_2||SPECIMEN_ID_2 a2, 
               SUBJECT_ID_3, DOC_3, PATIENT_ID_3||SPECIMEN_ID_3 a3, 
               SUBJECT_ID_4, DOC_4, PATIENT_ID_4||SPECIMEN_ID_4 a4, 
               SUBJECT_ID_5, DOC_5, PATIENT_ID_5||SPECIMEN_ID_5 a5, 
               SUBJECT_ID_6, DOC_6, PATIENT_ID_6||SPECIMEN_ID_6 a6, 
               SUBJECT_ID_7, DOC_7, PATIENT_ID_7||SPECIMEN_ID_7 a7, 
               SUBJECT_ID_8, DOC_8, PATIENT_ID_8||SPECIMEN_ID_8 a8 
  FROM TABLE (LABELS.GET_COLLECTION_LABELS(103))I have no errors.
Does some one know what is the limit and why?
Thanks a lot,
Andrei

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply, sorry I have corrected first script with the length of response in xml format.
The script executes just fine in SQL developer and Toad, and in APEX SQL Workshop , and even I was able to create a classic report with the same script.
It is Report Queries generation. Not PDF it self, because if I select HTML i am getting same error
If I execute this select, it gives me the error:
SELECT ROW_ID, SUBJECT_ID_1, DOC_1, PATIENT_ID_1, SPECIMEN_ID_1,
               SUBJECT_ID_2, DOC_2, PATIENT_ID_2, SPECIMEN_ID_2, 
               SUBJECT_ID_3, DOC_3, PATIENT_ID_3, SPECIMEN_ID_3, 
               SUBJECT_ID_4, DOC_4, PATIENT_ID_4, SPECIMEN_ID_4, 
               SUBJECT_ID_5, DOC_5, PATIENT_ID_5, SPECIMEN_ID_5, 
               SUBJECT_ID_6, DOC_6, PATIENT_ID_6, SPECIMEN_ID_6, 
               SUBJECT_ID_7, DOC_7, PATIENT_ID_7, SPECIMEN_ID_7, 
               SUBJECT_ID_8, DOC_8, PATIENT_ID_8, SPECIMEN_ID_8 
  FROM TABLE (LABELS.GET_COLLECTION_LABELS(103))If i execute this one, everything is ok:
SELECT ROW_ID, SUBJECT_ID_1, DOC_1, PATIENT_ID_1||SPECIMEN_ID_1 a1,
               SUBJECT_ID_2, DOC_2, PATIENT_ID_2||SPECIMEN_ID_2 a2, 
               SUBJECT_ID_3, DOC_3, PATIENT_ID_3||SPECIMEN_ID_3 a3, 
               SUBJECT_ID_4, DOC_4, PATIENT_ID_4||SPECIMEN_ID_4 a4, 
               SUBJECT_ID_5, DOC_5, PATIENT_ID_5||SPECIMEN_ID_5 a5, 
               SUBJECT_ID_6, DOC_6, PATIENT_ID_6||SPECIMEN_ID_6 a6, 
               SUBJECT_ID_7, DOC_7, PATIENT_ID_7||SPECIMEN_ID_7 a7, 
               SUBJECT_ID_8, DOC_8, PATIENT_ID_8||SPECIMEN_ID_8 a8 
  FROM TABLE (LABELS.GET_COLLECTION_LABELS(103))It is defiantly some limitation on the number of columns, but what is the reason and why? Maybe there is a way to avoid this.
Thanks