This is a Foxpro question.

I have a lot of Foxpro for DOS programs and am running them on a
Novell network. Lately, I've been having a lot of programs crashing
because suddenly DBF files which were okay for years are being somehow
corrupted.  

The programs crash when they try to access the given DBF file.
Specifically, we're getting a message, "Not a database file."  To get
the program to work again, we have to delete the file (e.g.
webdb.dbf)and restore it from a backup.

I'm wondering if this problem is being caused by the new faster
computers I've recently bought from Dell -- I never had it in the past
on my slower machines.  We're using mostly Windows 98 on these
machines.

Would going with Foxpro for Windows eliminate these problems?  What is
the correct term for Foxpro for Windows?  Foxpro Visual Studio?  If I
went this route, is there a way to start the Windows Foxpro programs
from Dos batch files?



Can you help?

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Request for Question Clarification by seizer-ga on 20 Nov 2002 18:45 PST

Could you describe a little more about your current setup, please.
Specifically, how are the programs being launched, and more
importantly, how are they being terminated? Database corruption often
occurs when the program modifying the database is terminated abruptly.
You mention batch files - posting a sample may also prove useful to
the researcher who takes your question.

Thanks,

--seizer-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by molloch-ga on 20 Nov 2002 18:48 PST

Hi,

This is a very tricky problem!

There are a few reasons that this can happen, when you went to faster
computers, did you also upgrade the operating system and network? When
this happens again, can you open the .DBF file in notepad and paste
the first few hundred characters into a clarification, along with the
first few hundred characters of a good working DBF file.

Is there anything else thats changed?

Thanks

Molloch

We used to have FoxPro/DOS on Novell and migrated first to FoxPro/Win
( I think it was ver 2.5 or 2.6, then to VFP 5.0 then VPF 6.0.
As far as I recall the original code worked fine.
Of course the old code does not take advantage of many new interesting
features, but it works.
But, as every programmer knows, "If it ain't broke, don't try to fix
it".
Unless, of course, you get paid for the job.
BTW, you can start the VFP programs from batch files.
Index corruption was usual in earlier versions of FoxPro, and is not a
problem nowadays.

Nowadays we use SQL as backend with VFP as frontend and works
beautifully in WAN.

G'Luck
Curepi