Limitation in DECODE Function

If you happen to receive "ORA-00939: too many arguments for function" in a complex query then you may need to first look into the DECODE statement. There seems to be some limitation with the decode function that it can hold a maximum number of 255 components. It includes the expression , search and the results arguments.

Interestingly in Discoverer Environment the complex folders which holds the decode function disappears when it exceeds this limit. Creating a large decode will also generate the same error in the Desktop Edition; however, the complex folder will not disappear in this case.