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ERROR_CANTSCROLLBACKWARDS
the data provider cannot reposition its cursor to an earlier location.
ERROR_CANTSCROLLBACKWARDS identifies the condition that this condition This status concerns cursor movement rather than the act of fetching rows. The provider cannot scroll to a prior position under the current rowset configuration.
Where the result appears
- database rowsets with forward-only cursors.
- stream readers exposed through cursor APIs.
- applications implementing Back or Previous navigation.
- bookmark operations on providers without backward scrolling.
How to interpret the result
Interpret the numeric value in the Win32/LRESULT domain and in the context of the API that returned it. Preserve this result before wrappers convert it to an HRESULT, exception, Boolean failure, or provider-specific message. When recording it, note whether the operation produced usable output; this determines whether the value is completion information, control flow, or a terminal failure.
Diagnostic evidence to collect
- cursor type and supported properties.
- current and requested positions.
- bookmark validity.
- transaction or result-set changes since the position was recorded.
A diagnostic record for this Win32 error should contain the API name, input flags, relevant handles or object identifiers, thread and process identity, timestamp, and the immediately preceding state transition. Those fields are more useful than a generic screenshot because they show which contract and lifecycle phase produced the value.
Handling and recovery
Disable backward navigation for forward-only sources or recreate the rowset with scroll support. Keyset pagination is often safer than numeric offsets when rows can be inserted or deleted concurrently.
Retry after this result only when an external state relevant to this operation can actually change. When it is rooted in object state, unsupported capability, ownership, or invalid sequencing, an unchanged retry repeats the defect and can obscure the first useful diagnostic record.
Common misinterpretation
Fetching cached prior rows in the application is different from asking the provider to scroll. The former can work even when this provider capability is absent.
Guidance for developers
Keep the original this result value and its Win32 domain in structured telemetry. If it crosses COM or another HRESULT-based boundary, store both the source Win32 value and the converted result. If it crosses JSON, RPC, or a database boundary, include error_domain, error_code, operation, and object_state so the receiver does not apply a second conversion.
An automated test should construct the specific state that leads to this result, assert the exact returned value, and verify cleanup on both the normal and exceptional path. The result test should additionally prove that the caller does not collapse this status into an unrelated generic error and does not retry forever.
References
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