* @hibernate.property
     *      length="200"
     *      truncate-to-fit="true"
     */
    public String getResponse()
    ...

<property
    name="response"
    type="java.lang.String"
    column="response"
    length="200"
    not-null="false"
    unique="false"
    truncate-to-fit="true"
/>

import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.SQLException;

import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;

import net.sf.hibernate.type.StringType;
import net.sf.hibernate.util.StringHelper;

/**
* @author MarcWilson
*/
public abstract class TruncateStringType extends StringType
{
    private static final Log log = LogFactory.getLog( StringHelper.qualifier( TruncateStringType.class.getName() ) );

    public static class TruncateStringType5    extends TruncateStringType {}
    public static class TruncateStringType50   extends TruncateStringType {}
    public static class TruncateStringType100  extends TruncateStringType {}
    public static class TruncateStringType200  extends TruncateStringType {}
   
    private int length;
   
    protected TruncateStringType()
    {
        this.length = getLength(getClass().getName());
    }
   
    private int getLength(String className)
    {
        int i = className.length();
        while(Character.isDigit(className.charAt(i-1)))
        {
            i--;
        }
        return Integer.parseInt(className.substring(i));
    }
   
    Object truncate(String value)
    {
        if(value != null && value.length() > length)
        {
            log.warn("String value of length " + value.length() + " was truncated to length " + length + " to fit");
            if(log.isDebugEnabled())
            {
                log.debug("Initial (untruncated) string:" + value);
            }
            value = value.substring(0, length);
        }
        return value;
    }

    public void set(PreparedStatement st, Object value, int index) throws SQLException
    {
        super.set(st, truncate((String)value), index);
    }
}

<property
    name="response"
    type="TruncateStringType$TruncateStringType200"
    column="response"
    length="200"
    not-null="false"
    unique="false"
/>