What does HRESULT 0x00040ED4 (DB_S_DELETEDROW) mean?

DB_S_DELETEDROW

OLE DB row handle refers to a deleted row

DB_S_DELETEDROW is HRESULT 265940 (0x00040ED4) from Microsoft OLE DB. AllStat describes this result as “Row handle referred to a deleted row.” The high-order severity bit is clear, so this is a success result, but it carries more information than plain S_OK.

The HROW was recognized, but the row it represented has been deleted and normal row data is no longer available.

Where the result is encountered

• This result can appear in dynamic rowsets; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
• This result can appear in concurrent database changes; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
• It can appear in delayed processing of held row handles; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.

The same numeric success value can be mishandled when a wrapper exposes only a Boolean. Keep the original HRESULT until the code-specific outputs and state transition have been evaluated.

Diagnostic sequence

• capture the raw HRESULT 0x00040ED4 immediately after the returning method and record whether the caller used SUCCEEDED, FAILED, equality testing, or exception translation.
• Identify the exact owner of it: interface, method, object instance, provider or filter version, thread or apartment, and operation phase.
• Validate the decisive contract boundary for it: the consumer reconciles the deletion with its local cache and does not treat stale column data as current.
• inspect every output parameter, count, status array, returned interface, or side effect that the method documentation associates with this success-with-information result.
• Compare the observed state before and after it; do not assume that a success severity bit means every optional sub-operation completed.
• reproduce the smallest request with the same object state and then change only the condition identified by the evidence before repeating the operation.

State boundary that must be proved

The central question for it is whether the consumer reconciles the deletion with its local cache and does not treat stale column data as current. The HRESULT alone confirms neither unrelated work nor the quality of optional outputs.

A reliable interpretation of it names the exact method contract, the object generation, and the outputs that remain valid. This prevents a success-with-information result from being promoted to full success or demoted to a generic error.

Correct handling, retry, and recovery

Remove or tombstone the local row, resolve pending changes according to conflict policy, and reacquire only if a row with the same business key is recreated.

Retry it only when the recorded state can change the documented outcome. Repeating the same call is inappropriate for a stable end marker, cancellation, unsupported format, adjusted property, or partial result whose completed side effects have not been reconciled.

Evidence and telemetry to preserve

• preserve row key or bookmark.
• preserve HROW and rowset identity.
• preserve delete notification or transaction.
• preserve pending local edits.
• preserve per-row status from the failing method.

Also record db_s_deletedrow_operation, db_s_deletedrow_object, db_s_deletedrow_state_before, db_s_deletedrow_state_after, UTC time, process and thread identifiers, and a correlation ID. Keep secrets out of logs while retaining GUIDs, CLSIDs, media subtypes, property IDs, row identities, and hashes needed to distinguish objects.

Difference from nearby HRESULT values

DB_S_BOOKMARKSKIPPED concerns a bookmark during navigation; it concerns an HROW whose row was deleted.

This distinction determines whether the caller should consume partial outputs, stop iteration, wait, reconfigure, notify the user, or perform no error recovery at all.

Developer and administrator guidance

Application telemetry should separate terminal failure, ordinary success, partial completion, continuation, cancellation, and warning-like success. Support bundles should contain the smallest reproducible call and the effective configuration seen by the owning component.

A support report for it should include decimal 265940, hexadecimal 0x00040ED4, the AllStat meaning, the owning API, and the first detailed status or output that explains why the method did not return ordinary S_OK.

Practical validation scenario

A grid holds an HROW while another session deletes the record. On refresh it receives it, removes the row from view, and preserves the user’s unsaved edit as a conflict record.

The negative test should preserve the condition that produces it; the recovery test should alter only that condition and verify the final state as well as the HRESULT.

References

• Microsoft: OLE DB return codes
• Microsoft: OLE DB Driver return codes
• Microsoft: OLE DB error records

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