OLE Automation Return Codes and Error Information

The OLE Automation system stored procedures return an int return code that is the HRESULT returned by the underlying OLE Automation operation. An HRESULT of 0 indicates success. A nonzero HRESULT is an OLE error code of the hexadecimal form 0x800nnnnn, but when returned as an int value in a stored procedure return code, it has the form –214nnnnnnn.

For example, passing an invalid object name (SQLDMO.Xyzzy) to sp_OACreate causes the procedure to return an int HRESULT of –2147221005, which is 0x800401f3 in hexadecimal.

You can use CONVERT(binary(4), @hresult) to convert an int HRESULT to a binary value. However, using CONVERT(char(10), CONVERT(binary(4), @hresult)) results in an unreadable string because each byte of the HRESULT is converted to a single ASCII character. You can use the following sample sp_hexadecimal stored procedure to convert an int HRESULT to a char value that contains a readable hexadecimal string.

CREATE PROCEDURE sp_hexadecimal
    @binvalue varbinary(255),
    @hexvalue varchar(255) OUTPUT
AS
DECLARE @charvalue varchar(255)
DECLARE @i int
DECLARE @length int
DECLARE @hexstring char(16)
SELECT @charvalue = '0x'
SELECT @i = 1
SELECT @length = DATALENGTH(@binvalue)
SELECT @hexstring = '0123456789abcdef'
WHILE (@i <= @length)
BEGIN
DECLARE @tempint int
DECLARE @firstint int
DECLARE @secondint int
SELECT @tempint = CONVERT(int, SUBSTRING(@binvalue,@i,1))
SELECT @firstint = FLOOR(@tempint/16)
SELECT @secondint = @tempint - (@firstint*16)
SELECT @charvalue = @charvalue +
SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @firstint+1, 1) +
SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @secondint+1, 1)
SELECT @i = @i + 1
END
SELECT @hexvalue = @charvalue

You can use the following sample stored procedure, sp_displayoaerrorinfo, to display OLE Automation error information when one of the OLE Automation procedures returns a nonzero HRESULT return code. This sample stored procedure uses sp_hexadecimal.

CREATE PROCEDURE sp_displayoaerrorinfo
    @object int,
    @hresult int
AS
DECLARE @output varchar(255)
DECLARE @hrhex char(10)
DECLARE @hr int
DECLARE @source varchar(255)
DECLARE @description varchar(255)
PRINT 'OLE Automation Error Information'
EXEC sp_hexadecimal @hresult, @hrhex OUT
SELECT @output = '  HRESULT: ' + @hrhex
PRINT @output
EXEC @hr = sp_OAGetErrorInfo @object, @source OUT, @description OUT
IF @hr = 0
BEGIN
SELECT @output = '  Source: ' + @source
PRINT @output
SELECT @output = '  Description: ' + @description
PRINT @output
END
ELSE
BEGIN
    PRINT ' sp_OAGetErrorInfo failed.'
    RETURN
END

See Also

sp_OAGetErrorInfo