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Informix Error -1208: There is no conversion from non-character values to character values.

Cause and resolution

There is no conversion from non-character values to character values.

If you are using a database server prior to Version 4.0, no automatic conversion from numeric values to character values occurs in SQL statements such as INSERT and UPDATE. Check that the specified value for each column agrees with the data type of that column. If you use a Version 4.0 or later database server, this message should not appear.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-1208 fires on database servers prior to Version 4.0 when an automatic (implicit) conversion from a numeric value to a character value is attempted in an INSERT/UPDATE-style operation — per the official guidance, this conversion simply wasn't supported on those older servers; Version 4.0+ servers shouldn't encounter this message.

  1. A numeric-to-character implicit conversion attempted on a pre-4.0 server, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause, and specific to that obsolete version range.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Verify that each column value matches its corresponding data type, per the official guidance, avoiding reliance on an implicit conversion this server version doesn't support.
  2. If seen on a Version 4.0+ server, treat it as unexpected, per the official guidance's own framing — investigate further rather than assuming this documented pre-4.0 cause applies.
Examples
N/A

Specific to database servers prior to Version 4.0 — on that version range, match each value's type to its column explicitly rather than relying on implicit numeric-to-character conversion.

Diagnostic Checks
  1. Confirm the server version in use — this error's documented cause is specific to pre-4.0 servers.
  2. Check for implicit numeric-to-character conversions in the failing statement.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -1207 — "Converted value does not fit into the allotted space." A related conversion error, about a conversion that IS supported but whose result doesn't fit the buffer, rather than a conversion unsupported outright.

Specific to pre-Version-4.0 servers, where numeric-to-character implicit conversion wasn't supported — match value types to columns explicitly.