[PHP5 AdoDB] Correct return value after oracle package function call should be a string and I get a number instead.

Hello. I'm using PHP5 and ADODb(could not find a version number for the life of me, the closest thing I could find is an "old-changelog.htm" file topping version 3.92.22 well buried in a docs folder). I have this php code: /*getTitoloFromID si riferisce alla tabella CONF_RELAZIONI!!!*/ function getTitoloFromID( $anno, $trimestre,$id ) { $r_titolo = str_pad('', 50,'@'); $params = array(

  'p_anno'    => $anno,

'p_trimestre' => $trimestre,

  'p_id'    => $id,
  'r_titolo'    => &$r_titolo

); trace( 'Parametri: '); trace( $params ); $sql = "BEGIN :r_titolo := PKG_RELAZIONI.getTitoloFromID(:p_anno,:p_trimestre,:p_id); END;"; $this->Execute($sql, $params); trace( 'Titolo nella chiamata: '.$r_titolo); return $r_titolo; } Backend is Oracle(don't know the version, again don't have a clue where to look for it, but I'm pretty sure it's above 9 because we use constructs that... d'oh! are present from ver 9 on :D). When I check the LOGS table in my db, I see the *correct* result being added. When this value gets to PHP, however, something happens and I receive the value "1"(without quotes) without any apparent reason. The correct value is a string and, again, it gets displayed in the logs table correctly, hence I assume the SQL is correct. I am also sure it does not depend on the params(trimestre means quarter, the first thing I thought was that I could be misplacing parameters or something like that) but that's not the case either. Return value is properly sized because I had already received the "invalid buffer size" error. Other calls use the same "pattern" and they all work beautifully. I am pretty much at loss and would love some help nailing this because I can't seem to wrap my head around it :-) Many thanks for reading this :-) Andrew