Value of more then 256 Byte in pure SQL

Hi, I'm frustrated - a user of us developed a little application with a table containing a character field of 1 k - no problem. While inserting values with perl DBI/DBD he got an error when the field length exceeds 255 byte. First I thought its the Interface - therefore I tired out with native SQL via dbaccess . Is is not possible !!! So anyone knows what can I do to help him, without changing the architecture of his database. The platform is Reliant Unix with IDS 7.30 The lapidar errorcode 280 told me to "revise" the statement. I dont hope that this is meant serious Thanks in advance for any help. Klaus