What does HRESULT 0x80040E60 (DB_E_CANTORDER) mean?

 
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DB_E_CANTFILTER MD_E_BADTUPLE

DB_E_CANTORDER

Exact value and result class

DB_E_CANTORDER has unsigned value 2147749472 (0x80040E60) and signed 32-bit value -2147217824. AllStat describes it as “Order cannot be opened”. In this result, the provider cannot open the requested sort order for the current view.

The high bit is set, so this result is a failure HRESULT. Its facility is 4 (FACILITY_ITF) and its low code is 3680 (0x0E60). These fields identify an interface-defined result family; they do not identify the provider instance, method, object generation or partial effects.

Contract boundary

OLE DB view interfaces apply filter and sort definitions to a source rowset. Opening a filter or order depends on the view object, criteria metadata, rowset capabilities and current source state, not merely on the text of a predicate or sort key.

Investigation of this result should start with the IRowsetView-derived object, source rowset generation and filter or sort definition being opened. Capture it before ADO, ATL,.NET or a database abstraction layer replaces the native HRESULT with a generic exception.

Evidence to collect

A useful this result event records provider CLSID and version, process architecture, interface IID and method, object correlation ID, transaction state and the immediately preceding HRESULT. When recording it data involving filter values, sort keys and row identities, use types, lengths, hashes or redacted identifiers rather than secrets or complete business data.

  • Evidence 1 for it: ordered column DBIDs and direction flags.
  • Evidence 2 for it: current source metadata and rowset properties.
  • Evidence 3 for it: provider diagnostics from the sort-open stage.

Conditions that specifically lead to it

  • Cause 1 for it: a sort key is unavailable or not orderable.
  • Cause 2 for it: the provider does not support the requested multi-column order.
  • Cause 3 for it: source rowset changes invalidated the stored sort definition.

Diagnostic sequence

  1. Capture raw 0x80040E60 and symbolic it at the native call boundary.
  2. Identify the exact failing stage for it: the provider cannot open the requested sort order for the current view.
  3. Retrieve all OLE DB error records for it before another COM call replaces thread error information.
  4. Compare the live object state and provider-granted capabilities with the input that produced it.
  5. Reduce the operation to the smallest case that preserves the same view contract.
  6. Apply one evidence-backed correction for it and verify that the result is not merely replaced by a neighboring HRESULT.

Retry and recovery

Retry rule for it: retry after replacing the order with one supported by the current source. A it retry is safe only when the relevant input, object generation, capability or external state has changed. Before replaying a modifying call that returned it, determine whether rows, schema objects or URL resources were partially created or changed.

Do not turn it into an unbounded retry loop. Preserve cancellation for it and use a fresh provider object when the failed call may have left local state ambiguous.

Corrective actions

  • Action 1 for it: remove unsupported keys or directions.
  • Action 2 for it: rebuild the order from current column metadata.
  • Action 3 for it: push ordering into the command only when collation and null ordering remain correct.

Practical scenario

A view attempts to sort an object-valued column; selecting a scalar key prevents it. Keeping it with the method and object state makes this scenario diagnosable instead of reducing it to “database error”.

Developer and operations guidance

Code handling it should release COM objects in ownership order, retain per-row, per-column or per-property statuses, and log granted capabilities rather than only requested options. While handling it, opaque values such as HACCESSOR, HROW, HCHAPTER, DBID components and provider handles must remain scoped to the object that issued them.

Operational dashboards for it should group by provider version, interface, method and normalized failure stage. A it event must not expose passwords, tokens, full connection strings, unrestricted command text or raw row contents.

Difference from nearby HRESULT values

DB_E_CANTFILTER concerns a predicate view, while it concerns creation of an ordered view. Telemetry and remediation for it should keep these outcomes distinct.

Official Microsoft references

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