Greetings,

So, have upgraded to 12.10.FC14 (from 12.10.FC11), thanks to Andreas' suggestion to deal with the ALTER TABLE to ADD column issue I posted about earlier.

However, now I have bumped into this strange behaviour (which I'm really hoping is simply a provisioning issue at my end) where the following statement:

select char_length('') from systables where tabid = 1;

Throws this error (?):

 202: An illegal character has been found in the statement.

The above occurs with 12.10.FC14. But, does not with 12.10.FC11. With 12.10.FC11, I get the expected result of '0' (with no error thrown).

Can anyone please confirm, it's likely just a provisioning error on my part (maybe a locale thing?).

Thanks in advance.
#Informix

Blast.

Looks like it's a known issue with 12.10.xC14:

• https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/informix-server-1210-xc14-returns-illegal-character-error-when-expression-uses-string-function-and-zero-length-string

Sigh ....

I guess my options are, in order of preference:

1. Downgrade to 12.10.FC13
2. Wrap or replace each and every LPAD/RPAD/CHAR_LENGTH call with an equivalent function that deals with a zero length string
3. Request a special build of 12.10.FC14 + LPAD/RPAD/CHAR_LENGTH fix
4. Upgrade to 14.10.x

I'd much rather stay on the same major version as we currently use in production.

Admittedly, C14 appears somewhat faster than C11 for our particular setup, so would be nice if C13 also had whatever speed improvements were present in C14 (but, not essential).

Hopefully, FC13 doesn't have any deal-breaker bugs.
Original Message:
Sent: Fri August 21, 2020 08:58 PM
From: Daniil T
Subject: char_length() behaviour between 12.10.FC11 vs 12.10.FC14

Greetings,

So, have upgraded to 12.10.FC14 (from 12.10.FC11), thanks to Andreas' suggestion to deal with the ALTER TABLE to ADD column issue I posted about earlier.

However, now I have bumped into this strange behaviour (which I'm really hoping is simply a provisioning issue at my end) where the following statement:

select char_length('') from systables where tabid = 1;

Throws this error (?):

 202: An illegal character has been found in the statement.

The above occurs with 12.10.FC14. But, does not with 12.10.FC11. With 12.10.FC11, I get the expected result of '0' (with no error thrown).

Can anyone please confirm, it's likely just a provisioning error on my part (maybe a locale thing?).

Thanks in advance.
#Informix

I've replicated this behavior in 12.10.FC14 on my end. It does not occur in 14.10.FC4W1

------------------------------
TOM GIRSCH
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Sat August 22, 2020 08:17 PM
From: Daniil T
Subject: char_length() behaviour between 12.10.FC11 vs 12.10.FC14

Blast.

Looks like it's a known issue with 12.10.xC14:

• https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/informix-server-1210-xc14-returns-illegal-character-error-when-expression-uses-string-function-and-zero-length-string

Sigh ....

I guess my options are, in order of preference:

1. Downgrade to 12.10.FC13
2. Wrap or replace each and every LPAD/RPAD/CHAR_LENGTH call with an equivalent function that deals with a zero length string
3. Request a special build of 12.10.FC14 + LPAD/RPAD/CHAR_LENGTH fix
4. Upgrade to 14.10.x

I'd much rather stay on the same major version as we currently use in production.

Admittedly, C14 appears somewhat faster than C11 for our particular setup, so would be nice if C13 also had whatever speed improvements were present in C14 (but, not essential).

Hopefully, FC13 doesn't have any deal-breaker bugs.
Original Message:
Sent: Fri August 21, 2020 08:58 PM
From: Daniil T
Subject: char_length() behaviour between 12.10.FC11 vs 12.10.FC14

Greetings,

So, have upgraded to 12.10.FC14 (from 12.10.FC11), thanks to Andreas' suggestion to deal with the ALTER TABLE to ADD column issue I posted about earlier.

However, now I have bumped into this strange behaviour (which I'm really hoping is simply a provisioning issue at my end) where the following statement:

select char_length('') from systables where tabid = 1;

Throws this error (?):

 202: An illegal character has been found in the statement.

The above occurs with 12.10.FC14. But, does not with 12.10.FC11. With 12.10.FC11, I get the expected result of '0' (with no error thrown).

Can anyone please confirm, it's likely just a provisioning error on my part (maybe a locale thing?).

Thanks in advance.
#Informix

True Daniil, either you can request for Special Build on top of 12.10FC14 with the fix of APAR IT32236 or you can upgrade to 14.10.xC4W1.
And I would recommend you to test yous apps on 14.10FC4w1 and I am hoping you'll feel the same or faster speed on this latest version of 14 of what you are getting in 12.10.FC14

------------------------------
Gaurav Kumar
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Sat August 22, 2020 08:17 PM
From: Daniil T
Subject: char_length() behaviour between 12.10.FC11 vs 12.10.FC14

Blast.

Looks like it's a known issue with 12.10.xC14:

• https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/informix-server-1210-xc14-returns-illegal-character-error-when-expression-uses-string-function-and-zero-length-string

Sigh ....

I guess my options are, in order of preference:

1. Downgrade to 12.10.FC13
2. Wrap or replace each and every LPAD/RPAD/CHAR_LENGTH call with an equivalent function that deals with a zero length string
3. Request a special build of 12.10.FC14 + LPAD/RPAD/CHAR_LENGTH fix
4. Upgrade to 14.10.x

I'd much rather stay on the same major version as we currently use in production.

Admittedly, C14 appears somewhat faster than C11 for our particular setup, so would be nice if C13 also had whatever speed improvements were present in C14 (but, not essential).

Hopefully, FC13 doesn't have any deal-breaker bugs.
Original Message:
Sent: Fri August 21, 2020 08:58 PM
From: Daniil T
Subject: char_length() behaviour between 12.10.FC11 vs 12.10.FC14

Greetings,

So, have upgraded to 12.10.FC14 (from 12.10.FC11), thanks to Andreas' suggestion to deal with the ALTER TABLE to ADD column issue I posted about earlier.

However, now I have bumped into this strange behaviour (which I'm really hoping is simply a provisioning issue at my end) where the following statement:

select char_length('') from systables where tabid = 1;

Throws this error (?):

 202: An illegal character has been found in the statement.

The above occurs with 12.10.FC14. But, does not with 12.10.FC11. With 12.10.FC11, I get the expected result of '0' (with no error thrown).

Can anyone please confirm, it's likely just a provisioning error on my part (maybe a locale thing?).

Thanks in advance.
#Informix