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Informix Error -939: Too many messages to display; some are not shown.

Cause and resolution

Too many messages to display; some are not shown.

This message appears if a single error in the server results in a large number of messages being returned. For example, if there is a nested set of calls in which a user-defined routine (UDR) executes an SQL statement that calls another UDR, and so on, when an error occurs, each UDR returns a message for that error corresponding to its own context. When the number of messages exceeds an internal limit, the remaining messages are replaced by this message. You do not need to take any special action.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-939 fires when a single server-side error produces more messages than an internal display limit — per the official guidance, this is a purely informational condition, not a fault requiring action.

  1. A nested chain of UDR calls, per the official guidance's own example — a UDR executes a SQL statement calling another UDR, and so on; when an error occurs, each level in the chain contributes its own message, and if the chain is deep enough, the total exceeds the internal display limit.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. No special action is needed, per the official guidance — this message itself is purely informational, noting that some messages from a deeply nested error chain were truncated.
  2. If the underlying error itself needs full diagnosis, review the messages that were shown (the ones not truncated) for the root cause, since the truncation affects only how many messages display, not which one is first/most relevant.
Examples
N/A

An informational truncation notice — no special handling needed beyond reviewing the messages that were actually shown.

Diagnostic Checks
  1. Review whichever messages were actually displayed for the underlying error's root cause, since -939 itself just notes that the full chain wasn't shown.
Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -939 in this set yet.

Purely informational — no action needed; review the messages that were actually displayed for the underlying error.