Informix Error -3261
-3261 Invalid value -- its composite value does not exist in table-name table.
This column is listed with others as a COMPOSITE in the INSTRUCTIONS section of the form specification. It is shown there as needing to be verified against matching columns of table table-name. The value you have entered, considered with the other values in the composite, does not occur in table-name.
Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance
Reasons / Common Causes
-3261 fires at data-entry time when a value entered into a column listed in a COMPOSITE
doesn't match any row in the target table, considered together with the composite's other
values — per the official guidance, the composite value (this column plus its fellow columns)
must be found in table-name.
- The entered value, combined with the composite's other current values, has no matching
row in
table-name, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
Solutions / Resolution
- Enter values whose combination actually exists in
table-name, per the official guidance.
Examples
Checking a composite value in the joined table
SELECT * FROM order_items WHERE order_id = '1001' AND item_seq = 3;
-- if this returns nothing, that (order_id, item_seq) combination is invalid
Diagnostic Checks
- Check whether the combined values of the composite's columns exist together as a row in
table-name, and correct whichever value is wrong.
Related Errors / Related Topics
- -3260 — "This is an invalid value -- it does not exist in table-name table." The same
verify-join lookup failure, applied to a single column rather than a
COMPOSITE. - -3037 — "The column column-name is not a composite column. Build your form again." A
related
COMPOSITE-based error, about the composite index itself being missing from the database rather than an entered value not matching it.
An entered composite value doesn't match any row in the joined table — correct the values so the combination exists.