INFORMIX-4GL 4.0 upgrade problem - reserved words/column names
Posted in 1991
I am in the process of converting a client's INFORMIX-4GL application from the INFORMIX 2.10 level to release 4. I have encountered a problem with programs that have been working for 4 years, but now fail with SQL -201 errors (SQL syntax) on UPDATE statements. After much head scratching I decided to review the reserved words list against the column names in the tables. I found that I had long ago created this table with a column named length, which also is a reserved word. This did not bother the previous versions of INFORMIX-4GL, but the 4.0 SE engine is another matter. Well, having found this, the obvious solution was to rename the column. Unfortunately, INFORMIX-4GL considers it a syntax error to have 'length' in the following statement: RENAME COLUMN media.length TO media_length despite the fact that there is no way a LENGTH function makes any sense in a RENAME statement, except that it is a reserved word. So much for a simple exit from this cul-de-sac. All in all, a nasty upgrade surprise. Has anyone else encountered this kind of problem? How about a simple circumvention? If not, be forewarned about this kind of a problem that can break previously functioning programs. For the record, the environment is Xenix 2.3.4 and the 4.0 versions of INFORMIX-4GL and SE engine. Will Johnson (317) 494-1787 For what shall it profit a man, Purdue University Computing Center if he shall gain the whole world, Internet: johnson@mace.cc.purdue.edu and lose his own soul? Bitnet: johnson@purccvm