[cx-oracle-users] ORA-01461 when inserting into VARCHAR2 column

[Rodney B. <ba...@pl...>]

I typically use cx_Oracle via SQLAlchemy and had trouble providing Unicode
variables to an insert statement.  They redirected me here.  While preparing
a test case, I found the problem to be a bit different than I expected.

I'm finding cases where inserting a string (via bind variable) with length >
2000 into a VARCHAR2 column fails with "ORA-01461: can bind a LONG value
only for insert into a LONG column".

In my test case, this happens when the first insert uses a unicode bind
variable (not necessarily > 2000 in length).  Subsequent inserts using
either str or unicode bind variables > 2000 in length fail with ORA-01461.

If the first insert uses a str bind variable, subsequent inserts succeed
with either str or unicode.

If this is expected behavior, is there a setting that can be used to avoid
the problem?

Some system specifics:
Oracle version       : 10gXE
Database characterset: AL32UTF8
NLS_LANG variable    : AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8
cx_Oracle version    : 5.1
python version       : 2.6

Rodney