Problem opening DBF's under Vista

[jimstarr]

My client is having a problem viewing DBF's under Vista. Here's the communication I received:

We're running Visual FoxPro 9 on Windows Vista. We frequently view DBF files that arrive via email, and occasionally export to Excel to organize data in different ways for research projects. Unfortunately, we can only open DBF files in FoxPro when logged into Windows as a Domain Administrator. When J... logs into her computer (as a computer administrator, but not a domain administrator), we consistently receive the error, "unrecognized command verb" when opening DBF files. If we click "Suspend", then the file remains open, but data appears to be scrambled (see image attached).

If she logs off, and the domain administrator logs on, the same DBF file opens without errors.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Jim

 

[Mike Lewis]

Jim,

First question: Are you sure the problem is specific to Vista? The client doesn't actually say that it is. Have they tried opening the same files under XP?

Secondly, the fact that they are seeing an error message with a Suspend button suggests that they are running some code that opens the tables -- not doing it from the command window or by double-clicking on the file within Windows Explorer. If that's right, the obvious place to start looking for the problem is in that code.

In short, I'm suggesting that the problem is something other than opening files under Vista. Does that sound reasonable to you?

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[dgrewe]

2 thinks come to mind. Both are WAGS.

1. The Domain Administrator account has the Extension .DBF associated with another program .

or

2. The files are being saved in a location in Windows where the Domain Administrator account does not have full rights.


David W. Grewe (Dave)

 

[jimstarr]

Hi Mike,

They've been handling these files for years under XP with no problem. I believe they just double-click, but will ask to make sure. Thanks for your reply.

Jim

 

[jimstarr]

The client's reply:

I open DBF files by double-clicking to get the errors I described.....

Files are associated with FoxPro under all user profiles....

It's possible that the process of opening a DBF file uses some sort of
temp file location that not all users have access to! I'll look into
this idea.

Jim

 

[Mike Lewis]

Jim,

Double-clicking on a DBF will open Visual Foxpro. When you do, VFP tries to write to certain files, such as Foxuser.DBF. If the user does not have write access to the folder containing those files, you'll see an error.

It could be that VFP is trying to write to these files in its own directory, which is within the Program Files directory, which of course is off limits in Vista.

That might explain the behaviour your client is seeing. But, of course, you wouldn't expect the error message to be "Unrecognised command verb".

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[jimstarr]

Thanks, Mike. I'll forward your idea to the client.

Jim

 

[Mike Lewis]

Jim,

One other thought ...

When the client says that DBFs are associated with FoxPro, could he mean they are associated with a FoxPro application? (At least one of my own clients does not appreciate the difference between VFP itself and an application written in VFP.)

If that's the case, you would need to look at the code in the application in question.

Another possibility is that DBFs are associated with VFP itself, and that VFP runs some startup code whenever it is launched (for example, from a Config.FPW file, or from a program specified in Tools / File Locations / Startup Program). If so, it could well be the startup program which is generating the error.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk