I cost me a whole day but....

The sp_helpindex returns data in the following format:

varchar(128), varchar(210) and nvarchar(2078)

The last one is unicode and quite long (I can't imaging why). Strings under 255 characters or so seem to convert ok. I HATE this, but changing the stored proc by converting the data to a varchar(200) fixes it:

'index_keys' = convert(varchar(200), index_keys)

I suppose I'll save this as one of our custom stored procs so that it doesn't get overwritten by a re-install or upgrade.

Anyone know a better way?