exception handling in procedures

Hello, We have Hp-UX 10.20 with Informix 7.3x; we have databases with transaction logging and some without. In a stored procedure, I would like to check if an insert fails due to a duplicate (-239/-268), and then if a duplicate exists, to then do an update. Simple enough I thought if I use the ON EXCEPTION command. It works great when I use it on a db without logging (checks for -239), and also works when I use it via dbaccess on a db with logging( checks for -268). When I use it through esqlc it does not work, it seems to completely ignore the fact that the exception handler exists!!! I have used the trace on and it just seems to verify the failure to recognize the defined exception. I have tried numerous variations on the locations of the BEGIN and END statement blocks. I have included the relevant code below with a few annotations. Any help would be greatly welcome. Thanks, Mark (mark.glaudemans@noaa.gov) ========================================================================= create procedure test_pe ( postlid char(8), postprid char(9), postprodtime datetime year to second, postposttime datetime year to second ) define sqlnum int; define isamnum int; define counter int; set debug file to '/tmp/marktest.out'; trace on; BEGIN ON EXCEPTION SET SQLNUM, ISAMNUM END EXCEPTION WITH RESUME; select count(*) into counter from productlink where lid=postlid and product_id = postprid and producttime = postprodtime and postingtime =postposttime; [returns count=0] insert into productlink values(postlid, postprid, postprodtime, postposttime);[insert works] select count(*) into counter from productlink where lid=postlid and product_id = postprid and producttime = postprodtime and postingtime =postposttime; [returns count=1] insert into productlink values(postlid, postprid, postprodtime, postposttime); [insert fails as expected due to duplicate (the key to the table is all of its four fields shown) but exception not found, and -268 returned to calling esqlc procedure...] END end procedure;