some of my notes on text-data types...

VARCHAR2(size) - Variable-length character string; max of 4000 bytes (or ~4K characters)

NVARCHAR2(size) - Variable-length character string; max of 4000 bytes (or 4K characters)

LONG - Character data of variable length up to 2 gigabytes, but only one per database (?)

LONG RAW - Raw binary data of variable length up to 2 gigabytes

CHAR(size) Fixed length character data ; maximum size is 2000 bytes.

NCHAR(size) Fixed-length character data; maximum size is 2000 bytes.

CLOBs - character large object

BLOBs - A binary large object
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FUNCTION get_item_count_f (p_block_item VARCHAR2) RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
      nCount      NUMBER := 0;     
      nItmSize    NUMBER := 0;
      nRemaining  NUMBER := 0;
      vRetVal     VARCHAR2(100);
 
BEGIN

      nItmSize := Get_Item_Property(p_block_item, MAX_LENGTH);
      nCount := length(NAME_IN(p_block_item));
      nRemaining := nItmSize - nvl(nCount,0);
      vRetVal := 'Remaining: '||nRemaining||' of '||nItmSize;
      RETURN vRetVal;

END;

--------------------
PACKAGE MyTimer IS

      tID               TIMER;     
      v_block_item      VARCHAR2(61);
 
  PROCEDURE SET_TIMER (p_item  VARCHAR2);
  PROCEDURE DEL_TIMER (p_item VARCHAR2);

END;
----------------------
PACKAGE BODY MyTimer IS

  -- The value passed to this procedure should be the value of
  -- :SYSTEM.CURSOR_ITEM (if Forms version 6i, use
  -- :SYSTEM.CURRENT_ITEM)

  PROCEDURE SET_TIMER (p_item  VARCHAR2) AS

  BEGIN

      IF ( p_item = v_block_item ) THEN 
         -- tID is a Package level Variable
            tID := Create_Timer('MLINE_TEXT',1000,REPEAT);
         -- These ELSIF statements are here only to demonstrate

  -- how you can extend this procedure to support multiple items
  -- in a Form that you use this method on.  They can be excluded
  -- if you do not want to include them.

      ELSIF ( p_item = 'BLOCK2.Item2' ) THEN
            tID := Create_Timer('ITEM2',1000,REPEAT);
      ELSIF ( p_item = 'BLOCK2.Item3' ) THEN
            tID := Create_Timer('ITEM3',1000,REPEAT);            

      END IF;

  END SET_TIMER;
 
  PROCEDURE DEL_TIMER (p_item VARCHAR2) AS

  BEGIN

      IF ( p_item = v_block_item ) THEN 
            -- tID is a Package level Variable
            Delete_Timer('MLINE_TEXT');
      ELSIF ( p_item = 'BLOCK2.Item2' ) THEN
            Delete_Timer('ITEM2');
      ELSIF ( p_item = 'BLOCK2.Item3' ) THEN
            Delete_Timer('ITEM3');             
      END IF;

  END DEL_TIMER;

END;
---------------

Type at Form level when-timer-Expired

DECLARE

   vTimer   VARCHAR2(30) := Get_Application_Property(TIMER_NAME);

BEGIN

   IF ( vTimer = 'COUNTER' ) THEN
      :MLINE_COUNTER.DSP_TEXT_COUNT :=
       get_item_count_f(:SYSTEM.CURSOR_ITEM);        
   END IF; 

END;