Informix Error -818: Specified user menu not found.

Reasons / Common Causes

-818 fires when a requested user menu (defined via the Forms/Menu subsystem) can't be found — per the official guidance, either a misspelled menu name, or a menu genuinely not defined in the current database.

1. A misspelled menu name, per the official guidance — the most direct, common cause.
2. The menu not defined in the current database at all, per the official guidance — it may exist in a different database, or was never actually created here.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Check the spelling of the menu name, per the official guidance.
2. Check the contents of the sysmenus table in the current database, per the official guidance, to confirm whether the menu is actually defined here — first check its actual column names (they aren't independently confirmed here), then query it:

   SELECT colname FROM syscolumns
   WHERE tabid = (SELECT tabid FROM systables WHERE tabname = 'sysmenus');
   
   SELECT * FROM sysmenus;
   

3. Switch to the correct database, if the menu is confirmed to exist elsewhere rather than in the current one.

Examples

Listing available menus

SELECT * FROM sysmenus;

Compare the requested menu name against this table's contents to confirm spelling and presence.

Diagnostic Checks

1. Query sysmenus in the current database to confirm whether the requested menu name exists there at all.

Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -818 in this set yet.

Check spelling first, then confirm the menu is actually defined in the current database via sysmenus.