Informix Error -4310: Files cannot be printed within report headers or trailers.

Cause and resolution

Files cannot be printed within report headers or trailers.

4GL needs to know how many lines of space will be devoted to page headers and trailers; otherwise, it does not know how many detail rows to allow on a page. Since it cannot predict how many lines are in a file, it forbids printing a file in a header or trailer. You can write PRINT statements in the control blocks for FIRST PAGE HEADER, PAGE HEADER, and PAGE TRAILER. However, you cannot write PRINT FILE statements in these control blocks.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-4310 fires when PRINT FILE appears inside a FIRST PAGE HEADER, PAGE HEADER, or PAGE TRAILER section — per the official guidance, 4GL needs to know header/trailer line counts in advance, and it can't predict how many lines a file contains.

A PRINT FILE statement inside a header/trailer section, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.

Solutions / Resolution

Remove the PRINT FILE statement from the header/trailer section, per the official guidance — plain PRINT statements remain allowed there.

Examples

PRINT FILE inside a page header

PAGE HEADER
  PRINT FILE "letterhead.txt"
  -- -4310: file line count isn't statically known

Corrected

Print a fixed, known number of lines instead, or move the file's content into the report body where its line count doesn't need to be predicted in advance.

Diagnostic Checks

Check every header/trailer section for a PRINT FILE statement, and remove or relocate it.

Related Errors / Related Topics

-4309 — "Printing cannot be done within a loop or CASE statement contained in report headers or trailers." A related header/trailer restriction, about loops/CASE rather than PRINT FILE specifically.

PRINT FILE appears in a header/trailer section, which isn't allowed — remove or relocate it.