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Informix Error -8051: The LEFT MARGIN must be no less than zero and no greater than the RIGHT MARGIN.

Cause and resolution

The LEFT MARGIN must be no less than zero and no greater than the RIGHT MARGIN.

Revise the left and right MARGIN statements in the OUTPUT section to reasonable margin values.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-8051 fires when a report's LEFT MARGIN is negative or greater than its RIGHT MARGIN — per the official guidance.

  1. A negative LEFT MARGIN value, per the official guidance — the first named case.
  2. LEFT MARGIN greater than RIGHT MARGIN, per the official guidance — the second named case.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Revise the LEFT MARGIN/RIGHT MARGIN statements in the OUTPUT section to reasonable values, per the official guidance.
Examples
An invalid margin pair
OUTPUT
  LEFT MARGIN 80
  RIGHT MARGIN 10
Corrected
OUTPUT
  LEFT MARGIN 5
  RIGHT MARGIN 80
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the LEFT MARGIN and RIGHT MARGIN values in the OUTPUT section, and confirm LEFT MARGIN is between 0 and RIGHT MARGIN.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -8053 — "Neither the PAGE LENGTH, TOP MARGIN, nor BOTTOM MARGIN is allowed to be less than zero." A related OUTPUT-section value restriction, for the vertical page-layout statements rather than LEFT/RIGHT MARGIN.

LEFT MARGIN is negative or exceeds RIGHT MARGIN — revise both to reasonable values.