SDE 9.2 - unknown column type when labeling, VARCHAR2 vs NVARCHAR2

[Huey Brantley]

My questions:

1) Is this a new column type that MS doesn't recognize or am I doing
something wrong?

2) Does SE_NSTRING_TYPE  on line 726 of mapsde.c same column type as
NVARCHAR2?  

3) Did ESRI or Oracle introduce a new column type?

Any insite would be much appreciated.

-hue


Boring Detailed information Below
---------------------------------

Using ArcCatalog 9.2 with Oracle 10g to create a text field results in a
column type NVARCHAR2(). When attempting to label with column type in
4.10.2:

Warning: [MapServer Error]: sdeGetRecord(): Unknown SDE column type.

is returned.  Using version 4.99, no error is triggered, but no label is
displayed.
Using the following feature classes below, sde.area_labels cannot be
labeled, however, FACILITY_NAME and FACILITY_GROUP in sde.facility_view
can be.

ArcGIS 9.2 in Oracle 10g.  These tables were copied from ArcGIS 9.2 in
Oracle 9i to another server running ArcGIS 9.2 in Oracle 10g.

SQL> desc sde.area_labels;
 Name                                      Null?    Type
 ----------------------------------------- --------
----------------------------
 OBJECTID                                  NOT NULL NUMBER(38)
 AREA_LABEL                                         NVARCHAR2(255)
 GLOBALID                                  NOT NULL NCHAR(38)
 SHAPE                                              NUMBER(38)
 AREALABEL                                          NVARCHAR2(50)

SQL> desc sde.facility_view;
 Name                                      Null?    Type
 ----------------------------------------- --------
----------------------------
 OBJECTID                                  NOT NULL NUMBER(38)
 SHAPE                                              NUMBER(38)
 FACILITY_NUMBER                                    NVARCHAR2(10)
 FACILITY_NAME                                      VARCHAR2(64)
 FACILITY_GRADE                                     NVARCHAR2(10)
 FACILITY_GROUP                                     VARCHAR2(17)

SQL> 




ArcGIS 9.2 in Oracle 9i.  These tables were originally created in ArcGIS
8.x and upgraded to ArcGIS 9.x.

SQL> desc sde.area_labels;
 Name                                      Null?    Type
 ----------------------------------------- --------
----------------------------
 OBJECTID                                  NOT NULL NUMBER(38)
 AREA_LABEL                                         VARCHAR2(255)
 SHAPE                                              NUMBER(38)
 GLOBALID                                           NCHAR(38)

SQL> desc sde.facility_view;
 Name                                      Null?    Type
 ----------------------------------------- --------
----------------------------
 OBJECTID                                  NOT NULL NUMBER(38)
 SHAPE                                              NUMBER(38)
 FACILITY_NUMBER                                    VARCHAR2(10)
 FACILITY_NAME                                      VARCHAR2(64)
 FACILITY_GRADE                                     VARCHAR2(10)
 FACILITY_GROUP                                     VARCHAR2(17)

SQL>