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Informix Error -896

-896 Violations table is not started for the target table.

This error occurs in either of the following cases:

1. A STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE was executed before the START VIOLATIONS TABLE statement or after the START VIOLATIONS TABLE statement was rolled back.

2. A violations table has not been started for the target table and an INSERT, DELETE, or UPDATE statement fails to satisfy any filtering-mode object on the target table.

A violations table must exist before execution of the STOP VIOLATIONS statement.

To prevent this error, you can start a violations table for the target table.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-896 fires in two related situations, per the official guidance: STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE executed without (or after a rolled-back) START VIOLATIONS TABLE, or an INSERT/DELETE/ UPDATE failing to satisfy a filtering-mode object on a target table that never had a violations table started.

  1. STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE executed before START VIOLATIONS TABLE, per the official guidance, or after the START was rolled back — no violations table is actually active to stop.
  2. A filtering-mode object (a constraint set to FILTERING) violated by an INSERT/DELETE/ UPDATE, with no violations table started for the target table, per the official guidance — filtering mode specifically needs a violations table to record the violation into.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Start a violations table for the target table, per the official guidance, before attempting operations that depend on one:
    START VIOLATIONS TABLE FOR orders;
  2. Confirm the START VIOLATIONS TABLE transaction wasn't rolled back, per the official guidance, if a STOP is failing unexpectedly — a violations table must exist (and its starting transaction must have committed) before STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE can run.
  3. Check whether any constraint on the target table is in FILTERING mode, per the official guidance, and start a violations table before performing DML that might violate it.
Examples
Starting a violations table before filtering-mode DML
START VIOLATIONS TABLE FOR orders;
-- now INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE against orders, with filtering-mode
-- constraints recording violations into the violations table
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Confirm whether START VIOLATIONS TABLE was ever run for the target table, and whether that transaction actually committed.
  2. Check for filtering-mode constraints on the target table, if the error surfaced during ordinary DML rather than an explicit STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -895 — "Cannot create violations/diagnostics table." A related error, about START VIOLATIONS TABLE itself failing, rather than one never having been started at all.
  • -897 — "Cannot modify/drop a violations/diagnostics table." A related restriction, about altering an existing violations table.

Start a violations table for the target table before relying on filtering-mode behavior or attempting STOP VIOLATIONS TABLE.