ROWID columns
Informix®
When creating a table, Informix automatically adds a
ROWID integer column (applies to non-fragmented tables only).
The ROWID column is auto-filled with a unique number and can be used like a
primary key to access a given row.
ROWID usage was a common practice in the early days of Informix 4GL programming. Today it is
recommended to define all your database tables with a PRIMARY
KEY to uniquely identify rows.With Informix, the SQLCA.SQLERRD[6]
register contains the ROWID of the last modified row.
Microsoft™ SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server does not support ROWIDs.
Solution
If the BDL application uses
ROWIDs, it is recommended that the program logic is reviewed in order to use the real primary keys
instead (usually serials, which can be supported). All references to
SQLCA.SQLERRD[6] must be removed because this variable will not hold the
ROWID of the last modified row.
If your existing Informix application depends on using
ROWID values, you can use the IDENTITY property of the
DECIMAL, INT, NUMERIC, SMALLINT,
BIGINT, or TINYINT data types, to simulate this functionality.
ROWID keyword
translation can be controlled with the following FGLPROFILE
entry:dbi.database.dsname.ifxemul.rowid = { true | false }