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DB_S_BADROWHANDLE
OLE DB encountered an invalid HROW while processing other work
DB_S_BADROWHANDLE is HRESULT 265939 (0x00040ED3) from Microsoft OLE DB. AllStat describes this result as “Row handle is invalid.” The high-order severity bit is clear, so this is a success result, but it carries more information than plain S_OK.
The operation reports that a row handle is invalid, typically as a per-row or mixed-status condition rather than a total provider failure.
State boundary that must be proved
The central question for it is whether the invalid handle is identified and no valid row handle is discarded or reused incorrectly. The HRESULT alone confirms neither unrelated work nor the quality of optional outputs.
A reliable interpretation of this result 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.
Where the result is encountered
- This result can appear in ReleaseRows or row update batches; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
- It can appear in consumers retaining HROW values too long; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
- It can appear in dynamic rowsets where handles become invalid; 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.
Evidence and telemetry to preserve
- preserve HROW values and owning rowset.
- preserve acquisition and release sequence.
- preserve rowset generation.
- preserve per-row status array.
- preserve concurrent delete or restart activity.
Also record db_s_badrowhandle_operation, db_s_badrowhandle_object, db_s_badrowhandle_state_before, db_s_badrowhandle_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.
Diagnostic sequence
- capture the raw HRESULT
0x00040ED3immediately after the returning method and record whether the caller usedSUCCEEDED,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 invalid handle is identified and no valid row handle is discarded or reused incorrectly.
- 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.
Correct handling, retry, and recovery
Remove the invalid handle from consumer state, reacquire the row if needed, and audit handle ownership. Do not retry the same stale HROW against a new rowset.
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.
Practical validation scenario
A cache mixes handles from two rowset generations. The provider flags one as bad; the client clears generation-mismatched handles and refetches by key.
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.
Difference from nearby HRESULT values
DB_S_DELETEDROW means the handle identifies a row that was deleted; it means the handle itself is not valid for the operation.
This distinction determines whether the caller should consume partial outputs, stop iteration, wait, reconfigure, notify the user, or perform no error recovery at all.
References
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