Informix Error -9780: Statement-local variable cannot be an argument to a function called from outside the WHERE clause.

Reasons / Common Causes

-9780 fires when a UDR invocation accepting a Statement Local Variable (SLV) as an argument occurs outside a WHERE clause — per the official guidance.

1. A UDR call accepting an SLV argument, placed outside the WHERE clause of a DML statement, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause; this is only permitted inside a WHERE clause.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Move the UDR invocation inside a WHERE clause, per the official guidance.

Examples

An SLV-accepting UDR outside WHERE

SELECT foo(@my_slv) FROM mytable;   -- -9780: foo takes an SLV but isn't in WHERE

Corrected

SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE foo(@my_slv);

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check where the SLV-accepting UDR call appears in the statement, and move it into the WHERE clause.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -9781 — "SLV cannot be an argument to a function invoked explicitly by EXECUTE or CALL." A related SLV-scope restriction, on EXECUTE/CALL rather than non-WHERE-clause placement.
• -9752 — "Argument must be a Statement Local Variable or SPL variable or argument for an OUT or INOUT parameter." A related SLV/OUT-INOUT restriction, on the argument's kind rather than the call's placement.

A UDR accepting an SLV argument was called outside a WHERE clause — move it inside one.