Paradox 3.0 (SE) Advice Needed!
bla...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
software product) gurus out there? Does anybody still use 3.0 much less
develop commercial applications in it?
I had written a mission-critical (!) application in Paradox SE for a
client, and it keeps crashing at the site (a 286 PS/2 with a 20-30 M hard
drive) yet runs well on my 386SX at home. The crashes always (so far)
caused by either the disappearance of a key from one particular table, or
the corruption of another table (this one luckily used for forms only).
My best guesses:
1) Hardware incompatibility or some PS/2 quirk.
2) Hard drive problems, bad sectors, corrupt data files, viruses - all of
which I check for tomorrow at the client site.
3) SMARTDRV somehow interferes with Paradox's own disk caching system.
4) Lack of RAM memory, solvable by reconfiguring the extended memory as
expanded (1 M total), and taking out SMARTDRV anyway.
5) One of the tables (the one that loses its key) has 3400 records and takes
800 K; many of these records could be deleted.
Any help on this problem would really be appreciated. Thank you.
--
BLAINE GORDON MANYLUK email: bla...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
EDMONTON, AB
Alan Bookman
: Are there any Paradox SE (Paradox 3.0 repackaged as an extreme low-budget
I don't think SE was ever intended for a mission critical application.
If your user's computer can handle it, try Version 4.5 for DOS.
KevinBluck
Way back in the mists of time, I recall that Paradox 3.X's caching should
be turned off if you are using a disk cache. I'd keep SmartDrive and use
the
-cacheK 0 command line argument.
I also seem to remember that Paradox 3.X prefers XMS over EMS memory.
Kevin J. Bluck
KEVIN...@AOL.COM
Paul Tichy
<bla...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca> writes:
> I had written a mission-critical (!) application in Paradox SE
> for a client, and it keeps crashing at the site
> My best guesses:
> 3) SMARTDRV somehow interferes with Paradox's own disk caching
> system.
You put your finger on it.
If you are using a disk cache system you MUST use "-cachek 0" as
a Paradox 3.0 and 3.5 command line option. SE lacks good
documentation (one of the reasons it's cheap) but this is
documented in the original full releases.
Borland altered this in Paradox 4.0, which can be used as-is
with disk caching.
================================================================
Paul Tichy (713) 486-8337
Senior Network Engineer, Phoenix Data Systems
pti...@mailserv.phoenix.net
================================================================
app...@imap1.asu.edu
: I had written a mission-critical (!) application in Paradox SE for a
: client, and it keeps crashing at the site (a 286 PS/2 with a 20-30 M hard
: drive) yet runs well on my 386SX at home. The crashes always (so far)
: caused by either the disappearance of a key from one particular table, or
: the corruption of another table (this one luckily used for forms only).
I have been trying to run Paradox 3.0 on a 286 and have simpilar
problems -- unexplained error messages and crashes. I *also* have the
same problems on a Pentium. In particular, I have an application that
runs alright, but when I make a trivial change (such as changing the view
of a table from toggleview to tableview) the application hangs.
I don't know if you're using the Personal Programmer or not, but if you
are you should look at what's below. Even if not -- I'm not sure this
problem is limited to PPROG. I don't know how the library files
get corrupted, but their recommendation has worked for me. This time.
David
=========================================================================
Subject: PPROG.ASC - Q&A about Pardox personal programmer
PPROG
1. I just modified one of the scripts in my Personal Programmer application.
When I play my application, it appears as if the application has not been
updated.
Whenever this happens after a modification to the Personal Programmer
application, you should go out to Paradox and play a script with the
name "APPNALIB" (where "APPNA" is the name of your application). This
script will rebuild your application library.
2. While running an application I created with the Personal Programmer, I
received the error message "Unknown object type". What does that mean?
"Unknown object type" generally means that your application library file
is damaged. To rebuild the library file, go out to Paradox and play the
script called "APPNALIB" (where "APPNA" is the name of your
application).
3. I'm trying to use the Personal Programmer. After typing "PPROG", I
received the error message "Out of memory". I have 2 megabytes of extended
memory on my PC. How can I possibly be out of memory ?
If you are running Paradox 3.5 in Real mode or running older versions of
Paradox, in order to run the Personal Programmer, you will need a
minimum of 585K (we recommend 595K) of free Conventional RAM. This
applies to the amount of the lower 640K free after loading DOS and any
other memory resident software. To verify how much memory you actually
have prior to running the Personal Programmer, run the DOS command
"CHKDSK". This will return the available free bytes of Conventional
RAM. The only version of Paradox to utilize extended memory is version
3.5. Paradox 3.0 does not recognize Extended RAM; it does, however,
recognize Expanded RAM. There are several programs on the market that
will enable you to convert your extended memory to expanded memory.
Note: If you are running version 3.5 in Protected mode, the minimum
Conventional RAM requirement will be lower. Protected mode is discussed
in the Advanced Topics section of the Paradox 3.5 User's Guide.
4. I am using the Video tutorial in the Paradox 3.0 Personal Programmer and am
trying to create the multi-table application on page 45 of the Personal
Programmer Guide. The manual indicates that there is a form #2 for Orders
and I cannot find this form on my diskettes. Am I doing something wrong?
Form #2 on the Orders table was not included on your version 3.0
diskettes. This was rectified in version 3.5. If you have version 3.0,
call Technical Support and we will be happy to send a new copy of the
Orders table to you.
5. I am using the Personal Programmer and I cannot edit the key fields of my
table. What is wrong?
When selecting records with queries or editing with multi-table forms,
the tables must be keyed and the key fields should not be edited. The
reason for this restriction is that when selected records are edited,
Paradox uses the key fields to return the records to their original
location.
6. I am trying to use the Personal Programmer. I created a directory for my
application and when I typed "PPROG" from that directory, I got the error
message "Bad command or file name".
Modify the path statement in your Autoexec.bat file to include the PPROG
directory. Another approach would be to start PPROG from the PPROG
directory and then change to the directory containing your application.
Selecting {Tools} {Directory} from the PPROG menu will allow you to
change your directory.
7. I am using the Personal Programmer and have created a view where I am using
a tilde variable. I want the user to be able to use a pattern match like
"S..". The Personal Programmer does not accept this
In a query form in PPROG you can type "..~x.." to force a wildcard
search in all cases (the user should not enter dot dot in his request).
8. Upon reaching page 53 in the Paradox 3.5 Personal Programmer Guide, I
followed the directions to select the Films and Filmcat tables for my edit
menu, and I got the message "Table must be keyed". What should I do ?
The primary index file is corrupt. Follow the instructions on page 32
on how to take a break, enter Paradox, change to the directory
containing the tutorial, and re-key the Films table by selecting
{Modify} {Restructure}. You want to key the first field, Film #, by
placing an asterisk next to the field type.
9. Sometimes when I start or exit the Paradox 3.5 Personal Programmer, I
receive error messages like "System: BIOS checksum does not match, please
reconfigure" and "System: Error processing parameters, no action taken".
These messages are telling you that the Personal Programmer is having
trouble running in Protected mode. You should start the Personal
Programmer by typing "Pprog -REAL". Then select {Tools} {Directory}
and change the working directory to PDOX35 (or wherever Paradox 3.5 is
installed). Then select {Play} {Custom}. This will start the Custom
Configuration Program. You should now follow the instructions to tune
for Protected mode (select {Tune} {ProtectedMode} {Configure}). Check
the Paradox 3.5 User's Guide in the Advanced Topics Chapter for more
information.