Simple problem, but annoying....

[finsys]

Used to have VFP 7.0 on Win2k. If I double clicked on a .prg or .pjt etc it would open the file in the instance of VFP that was currently running, or if VFP wasn't running at all, open an instance of it.

Just upgraded to XP and now every time I double click on a project file (or any VFP linked file) it opens a new instance of VFP and it's really starting to pee me off!!

I've searched through the options and can't figure out why it's doing it. I did exactly the same thing on each VFP install yet the behaviour is different. I've also seen this happen on an older Win98 PC, so I don't think it's an XP problem.

Any help appreciated before I rip all my hair out!

 

[StewartUK]

finsys,

I am also running VFP7 on W2000 and find that double clicking on a prg file always opens a new instance of VFP.

I was going to say that this is the standard behaviour but then realised that Photo Editor didn't run a new instance of itself when I double click a linked file.

In Windows Explorer, I looked in Tools\Folder options & then the File Types tab. There is the list of file extensions. I went down to prg and found that VFP was called with the keyword _SHELLOPEN but when I looked at jpg, Photo Editor was called without _SHELLOPEN.

Maybe that's the difference?

Hope that helps, obviously be careful what you change!

Stewart

 

[Mike Lewis]

FWIW, this behaviour doesn't occur in Win 98. I suspect it's application-dependent and OS-dependent. Some apps will open a new instance, others won't.

In the Edit File Type dialogue that Stewart mentioned, there is a checkbox labelled "Browse in same window", which might be related to this problem. However, it is greyed out for all VFP-related file types.

Mike

Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

 

[finsys]

Mike, it does happen in Win98!! There is a Win98 PC 2 rows away from me that does the very same thing. It was the only PC in our Dept that did it (until mine started), but it's not my PC and generally not used often so no one has bothered to investigate.

Now the good news is I've fixed it! Thanks Stewart for making me go back and relook at the file options. I'd already looked at them and compared them with my old Win95 PC. I noted that it used -SHELL instead of -SHELLOPEN and had Open("%1&quot in the DDE Message, where as my XP had nothing in the DDE message. I added Open("%1&quot to mine but it still didn't work so decided that wasn't it.

But after your comments I queried my collegue who had just upgraded to XP and reinstalled VFP. Guess what...? Yup, his PC only opened one instance!! So I looked at his settings, there again was Open("%1&quot, but this time I noticed the Application line said Foxpro, not VFP like on my PC. So this time I added Open("%1&quot to the DDE message and change my Application name to Foxpro and hey presto, only one instance of VFP opens when double clicking files!!!

The burning question now is, WHY?!?! 2 identical spec PCs. Both had XP installed from scratch. Both then had VFP installed. But then one created different file associations from the other!?! This is the first time I've had it happen on a PC that I've personally installed VFP on (and I've done it a fair few times). So, thanks Bill Gates for another class bit of programming.