Informix Error -4370: The variable variable-name cannot be used in validation.

Cause and resolution

The variable variable-name cannot be used in validation.

The VALIDATE statement operates on only simple variables; it cannot accept records or arrays. If you have named a record, you can use asterisk notation or THRU notation as shorthand for a list of the component fields of the record. However, if a record component is itself a record, you must list its components individually as well.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-4370 fires when VALIDATE is given a record or array as a whole — per the official guidance, VALIDATE only operates on simple variables; a record can be expanded via asterisk or THRU notation as shorthand for its component list, but any component that's itself a record must also be listed individually.

VALIDATE given a record or array directly, without expansion, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.

Solutions / Resolution

Use asterisk or THRU notation to expand a record into its component list, per the official guidance, listing any nested record's own components individually too.

Examples

VALIDATE on a whole record

DEFINE rec RECORD
  qty INTEGER,
  price DECIMAL
END RECORD

VALIDATE rec
-- -4370: rec is a RECORD, not a simple variable

Corrected

VALIDATE rec.*

Diagnostic Checks

Check every VALIDATE target, and expand any record/array into its simple-variable component list.

Related Errors / Related Topics

-4334 — "The variable variable-name in its current form is too complex to be used in this statement." A related complex-type restriction covering the same general principle across multiple statement types.

VALIDATE was given a record or array as a whole — expand it using .*/THRU notation.