The SQL Communications Area (SQLCA) is a collection of host language variables whose values provide status and error information about embedded SQL database statements. (The status of forms statements is not returned in SQLCA variables.) If your application does not have an SQLCA, the default is to display errors and continue with the next statement if possible.

Two variables in the SQLCA contain error information: sqlcode and sqlerrm. The value in sqlcode indicates one of three conditions:

The sqlerrm variable is a varying length character string variable that contains the text of the error message. The maximum length of sqlerrm is 70 bytes. If the error message exceeds that length, the message is truncated when it is assigned to sqlerrm. To retrieve the full message, use the INQUIRE_SQL statement. In some host languages, this variable has two parts: sqlerrml, a 2-byte integer indicating how many characters are in the buffer, and sqlerrmc, a 70-byte fixed length character string buffer.

The SQLCA also contains eight 1-byte character variables, sqlwarn0 - sqlwarn7, that are used to indicate warnings. For a complete listing of these variables, see the table titled SQLCA Variables.

The SQLCA is often used in conjunction with the WHENEVER statement, which defines a condition and an action to take whenever that condition is true. The conditions are set to true by values in the sqlcode variable. For example, if sqlcode contains a negative error number, the sqlerror condition of the WHENEVER statement is true and any action specified for that condition is performed. For details, see Trapping Errors Using Whenever Statement (see Error Trapping Using Whenever Statement).

The SQLCA variables can also be accessed directly. For information about using the SQLCA in an application, see the Embedded SQL Companion Guide.