function signature varchar2 no size - question for experts

Hi
I wrote a function to be used in a view as follows :

create function abc (par in varchar2)
RETURN VARCHAR2
as
patin varchar(10) := 'abcdef';
patout varchar(10) := '123456';
begin
return (translate(par,patin,patout));
end;

Now, view is :

create view aaa as
select abc(field1), ....
from tab...

When I link this table to MSAccess
it assumes field name as size 4000 - default for maximum varchar2 width and creates MEMO field istead of TEXT of size. MEMO in Access is like TEXT in normal databases and TEXT is like char
So you cannot join this field or operate as normal char.

So the problem is in signature of abc function. When I try in RETURN datatype to use VARCHAR2(100) instead of VARCHAR2 function would not compile. I complains on '('.

How do I change this function signature to be RETURN VARCHAR2(100) ???? Thank,
 Gregory Received on Mon Jul 27 1998 - 12:38:02 CDT