>> I understand that Milan derives that from 1) buffer size and 2) max
>> number of bytes per character for the encoding used.
>
> Opposite. Bytes_per_char is required to allocate buffer for XSQLVAR's
> and used *before* obtaining query results.

Vlad, you should wake up, not just stand up. SQLVAR.sqllen indicates
required buffer length in bytes. No need for bytes_per_char on client side.

SY, SD.