Informix Error -9781: SLV cannot be an argument to a function invoked explicitly by EXECUTE or CALL.

Reasons / Common Causes

-9781 fires when a routine with an OUT parameter is invoked via EXECUTE or CALL — per the official guidance.

1. A routine with an OUT parameter invoked via EXECUTE/CALL instead of within a DML query's WHERE clause, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause; such routines can only be invoked as part of a data-manipulation-language query's WHERE clause.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Don't invoke a routine with an OUT parameter using CALL or EXECUTE, per the official guidance — invoke it within a WHERE clause instead.

Examples

Invoking an OUT-parameter routine via EXECUTE

EXECUTE FUNCTION my_func(a, @out_var);   -- -9781: my_func has an OUT parameter

Corrected

SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE my_func(a, @out_var);

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check whether the routine invoked via EXECUTE/CALL has an OUT parameter, and rewrite the call to use a WHERE clause instead.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -9780 — "Statement-local variable cannot be an argument to a function called from outside the WHERE clause." The same class of WHERE-clause-only restriction, general to SLV-accepting UDRs rather than specifically EXECUTE/CALL.
• -9752 — "Argument must be a Statement Local Variable or SPL variable or argument for an OUT or INOUT parameter." A related SLV/OUT-INOUT restriction, on the argument's kind rather than the invocation method.

A routine with an OUT parameter was invoked via CALL/EXECUTE — invoke it in a WHERE clause instead.