Documentation notes for IBM Informix

The documentation notes provide a list of documentation errata for this release of IBM® Informix® server products. These notes also describe features and changes that are not covered in the manuals or modifications that were made since publication. Only the affected manuals are listed.

IBM Informix Change Data Capture API Programmer's Guide

These notes describe features and changes not covered in the IBM Informix Change Data Capture API Programmer's Guide or modified since publication.

Smart large object read function for the IBM Informix .NET Provider

The following pseudo code, which illustrates the basic structure for reading smart large objects with .NET, contains the correct IfxBlob.Read() function call:

conn = new IfxConnection(..)// to SYSCDC database 
execute function informix.cdc_opensess() // on the same connection 
IfxBlob( IfxConnection connection )// construct it using the same connection 
IfxBlob.Open(ReadOnly) // open it 
IfxBlob.Read(long plofd, byte[] buff)

Amount and structure of data returned by smart large object read functions

Your application cannot depend on a specific number of records being returned by smart large object read calls. The number of CDC records that are returned in a read call is not predictable and might not be an integral number. If a read call returns only part of a CDC record, the next read call returns more data for that record. Your application must merge the parts of the record that are returned in multiple read calls. The Change Data Capture sample program provides examples of merging parts of records.

IBM Informix Error Messages

This note describes a message not covered in the finderr text or modified since the last finderr update.

Warning and error messages for utility security checks

If the security check a server utility performs at startup detects problems, it returns error messages. These messages are returned when the message file and internationalization support are not available; therefore, they do not have error numbers and are not translated.

For the following problems, one of the following messages displays and the utility continues:

INFORMIXDIR or ONCONFIG is too long. Maximum length for $INFORMIXDIR/etc/$ONCONFIG is 255 characters.
INFORMIXSQLHOSTS is too long. Maximum length is 255 characters.
ONCONFIG not set; TBCONFIG set. TBCONFIG will not be supported in future.

For the following problems, the utility exits and displays one of the following messages:

User informix not found.
Group informix not found.
Could not access logical-file filename.
Logical-file filename is not owned by user with id UID.
Logical-file filename not owned by group with id GID.
Logical-file filename has insecure mode mode.
Could not access logical-file filename.

This table defines the variables used in the messages above.

Table 1. Variables and messages used in the messages
Filename	Name of the file or directory
logical-file	either ONCONFIG, INFORMIXSQLHOSTS, INFORMIXDIR, or INFORMIXDIR/xxx (where xxx is one of a number of subdirectories under $INFORMIXDIR). For example, if INFORMIXDIR is set to /usr/informix, the message might read: INFORMIXSQLHOSTS /usr/informix/etc/sqlhosts is not owned by the user with ID 1234.
mode	an octal permissions value.
UID	a number.
GID	a number.

IBM Informix High-Performance Loader User's Guide

These notes describe features and changes that are not covered in the IBM Informix High-Performance Loader User's Guide or that have been modified since publication.

Precedence of the DBONPLOAD environment variable

During load jobs, the ipload, onpload, and onpladm utilities use the value of the DBONPLOAD environment variable that is set in the client environment, regardless of whether the DBONPLOAD environment variable is set on the server. The ipload, onpload, and onpladm utilities use the value of the DBONPLOAD environment variable that is set on the server during load jobs only if the DBONPLOAD environment variable is not set in the client environment.

IBM Informix TimeSeries Data User’s Guide

These notes describe features and changes not covered in the IBM Informix TimeSeries Data User's Guide or modified since publication.

Manual registration

If you manually register the TimeSeries extension by running the SYSBldPrepare() function or BladeManager, the AUTOLOCATE environment option must be set to 0.