Record creation via DataServer for Microsoft SQL Server fails with "Cannot insert the value NULL into column" after upgrade. 

Error started to occur after upgrading to OpenEdge 10.1B03 or later.

Executing ABL CREATE statement fails with error.

Field (column) referenced in the error message is not included in the CREATE statement.

SQL statement generated by the DataServer references the affected field.

Field is defined with an initial value of ? on the OpenEdge side, but has a function-based initial value on the Microsoft SQL Server side.

Field should receive its default / initial value from Microsoft SQL Server.

Field referenced in the error message is part of a PRIMARY UNIQUE index.

Field and Index definitions are the same in the original (pre-10.1B03) schema holder and in the current schema holder (post-10.1B03).

Field was originally pulled into the schema holder with the MANDATORY flag set.

CREATE statement fails with error 110 with the MANDATORY flag in place.

Removing the MANDATORY flag results in the error "Cannot insert the value NULL into column '<field>', table '<database>.dbo.<table>'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails."

This is expected behaviour, resulting from a product change in OpenEdge 10.1B03. The DataServer only supports initial values generated on the OpenEdge-side. When the DataServer generates an INSERT query, it references all fields in the table rather than only the fields in the ABL query. Since the initial value of the field is ?, this value is sent and interpreted as a NULL by SQL Server, resulting in the error message.

It was determined that the Progress Product is functioning as designed.
 
An enhancement to the product can be requested through the Progress Community via an Ideas submission. Customer feedback is valuable and Idea submissions are monitored by our Product Management team.  Enhancement requests are reviewed during the planning phase of each new product release and a list of the enhancements chosen for implementation can be found in the Release Notes documents that accompany each release.  Once an Idea is submitted the Progress Software Community will have the opportunity to comment on and vote for the Idea.
 
For detailed information on how to submit an Idea, please refer to Knowledge Base article "How to submit an idea for a Progress product enhancement (embedded video)".

Option #1
Create a View on the table in SQL Server that excludes the affected field. Pull the View definition into the schema holder via Update/Add Table Definitions. Modify the code to have CREATE statements reference the View instead of the Table.

Pros: Minimal code changes required; change CREATE statements to run against the View instead of the Table.
Cons: Would need to a) create the View in SQL Server (although this should be easy as it can be done in the SQL Server GUI) and would need to update the schema holder to add the View (also quite straight-forward).

Option #2
Use the ABL RUN STORED-PROCEDURE statement to run a custom SQL INSERT statement that excludes the affected field.

Pros: No changes to the schema holder or SQL Server required.
Cons: Requires bigger changes to code. Writing the custom INSERT statement might be complicated if the table has many fields.

Option #3
Change the data type of the affected field to UNIQUEIDENTIFIER and update the table definition. This should work for creating a record without explicit value. The UNIQUEIDENTIFIER is an non-updatable column, hence applications cannot update its value which will always be generated by SQL Server.

Pros: No code changes required; original code should work.
Cons: Would require changes to SQL Server and schema holder. Would need to assess the impact that the change of data-type might have to a) the OpenEdge application and b) any other applications that reference this data.

References to other documentation:

Progress article(s):
"How to submit an idea for a Progress product enhancement (embedded video)"