Informix Error -2892

-2892 The column column-name name appears more than once. If you wish

a column to be duplicated in a form, use the same display field label.

The expected way to display the same column in two or more places is to put two or more fields in the screen layout, each with the same tag-name. Then put a single statement in the ATTRIBUTES section to associate that tag-name with the column name. The current column value will be duplicated in all fields. If you intended to display different columns, the column names as listed in the ATTRIBUTES section must differ. If you intend to display different columns that happen to have the same column-names, prefix each with its table-name.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-2892 fires when the same column name appears more than once in the ATTRIBUTES section under different display-field tags without being intended as a genuine duplicate — per the official guidance, duplicating a column across multiple fields is done by giving those fields the same tag-name, not by repeating the column name against different tags.

The same column name associated with more than one distinct field tag, without matching tag-names, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.

Solutions / Resolution

To duplicate a column across two or more places, put two or more fields in the screen layout with the same tag-name, per the official guidance, then a single ATTRIBUTES statement associating that tag-name with the column — the value is then duplicated in all fields automatically.
If different columns were intended, make sure the column names listed in ATTRIBUTES differ, per the official guidance.
If the different columns happen to share the same column-name across tables, prefix each with its table-name, per the official guidance.

Examples

Duplicating a column value across two fields (correct approach)

SCREEN
{
Order Date: [odate  ]           Copy: [odate  ]
}
END

ATTRIBUTES
  odate = order_date;

Genuinely different columns disambiguated by table

ATTRIBUTES
  cust_name = customer.name;
  supp_name = supplier.name;

Diagnostic Checks

Check whether the repeated column name is meant to duplicate a value (use matching tag-names) or reference genuinely different columns (qualify with table.column).

Related Errors / Related Topics

-2844 — "The column column-name is associated with more than one field in the form specification." A closely related naming-conflict error covering the same one-column-many-fields ambiguity.

The same column name is tied to more than one field tag — use matching tag-names to duplicate a value, or qualify with table.column for genuinely different columns.