Informix Error -898

-898 Cannot alter a table which has associated violations/diagnostics tables.

The user has tried to add, drop, or modify a column in a table that has a violations and diagnostics table associated with it.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-898 is the mirror image of -897: it fires when ALTER TABLE (adding, dropping, or modifying a column) targets a table that currently has a violations and diagnostics table associated with it — per the official guidance, the target table's structure can't be changed while that association is active.

ALTER TABLE (add/drop/modify column) attempted on a table with an active violations/diagnostics table, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.

Solutions / Resolution

Stop the violations table first, per -896's discussion:
```
STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE FOR orders;
```
Perform the intended ALTER TABLE, once the association is stopped:
```
ALTER TABLE orders ADD ship_date DATE;
```
Restart the violations table afterward, if still needed:
```
START VIOLATIONS TABLE FOR orders;
```

Examples

Stop, alter, restart

STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE FOR orders;
ALTER TABLE orders ADD ship_date DATE;
START VIOLATIONS TABLE FOR orders;

Diagnostic Checks

Confirm whether the table being altered has an active violations/diagnostics table association, and stop it first if so.

Related Errors / Related Topics

-897 — "Cannot modify/drop a violations/diagnostics table." The mirror-image restriction: altering the violations/diagnostics table itself, rather than the target table.
-895 — "Cannot create violations/diagnostics table." A related error, about failing to create the association in the first place.

Stop the violations table association first, perform the ALTER TABLE, then restart it if still needed.