VFP 7 and Windows 7/8 compatibility issues...

[rlawrence]

O.K. You can tell me I've been living in denial, but I now have a significant problem that I'm hoping some folks here can shed some light on. I've read here and other places that VFP9 is the only version compatible with Windows 7 and 8. I've been looking for ways to get VFP9. There seem to be very few outlets, and Microsoft options are only through MSDN subscriptions--which cost thousand$!

So, I'm wondering if anyone understands the nature of those compatibility issues and whether they can be mitigated.

My application is in VFP 7. I have many users successfully running on Windows 7 & 8. I have run into a few problems that seem to be resolved by setting the compatibility mode to "Windows XP Service Pack 2". I have been around the horn on the "OpLocks" issue and am pretty sure that problem has been nailed. (My own summary of the situation: [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.pubassist.com/articles/OpportunisticLocking.asp[/url].) But something seems to have changed over the last few months and a new crop of problems seems to be coming up in networked environments where traffic is high.

The latest problem that has prompted this posting is that a user is complaining of getting bumped out of the application when they attempt to perform a complex operation and others are connected to the database.

Is there anyone else here that is running VFP 7 on a Windows 7/8 network?

 

[TamarGranor]

I can't answer the question you asked, but FWIW, I have an subscription called "Microsoft® Visual Studio® Professional with MSDN," which runs me $799 plus tax for a year. I'm pretty sure that once you have one MSDN subscription, you can continue to use the products you got with it.

Tamar

 

[rlawrence]

Thanks Tamar,

That's a better price than those I saw yesterday. I spent quite a bit of time with a Microsoft Rep looking for ways to purchase VFP 9. MSDN was the only way we found; and the least costly "Professional" subscription that included VFP9 was over $2000. I don't want to turn this thread into a commentary, but that's not money I want to spend, given that Microsoft is dead-ending the product.

 

[DSummZZZ]

I think if you look in the VFP forum rather than this one (old versions 1 to 2.6) you'll find a lot of us are running VFP 6-9 on windows XP-8, and on various server up to and including at least Windows 8 server, even using VMs.
As an FYI, I have never touched any server settings for opportunistic locks, or anything else on the server for that matter.
That said, posting a more specific issues with more details including error messages etc. in THAT forum will probably be a lot more beneficial. It could all stem from how the data is being accessed and manipulated. It's quite possible there is a better or different way of maintaining the records.


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.dave-summers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[rlawrence]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your comments. Actually, I don't have a lot of specifics, because I can't reproduce the problems. It may be helpful to know that this is NOT a client-server application. I'm using the multi-user capabilities of Foxpro to access a database on the network from multiple client machines. Right now, I enforce a limit of 6 simultaneous clients. However, when I first introduced this multi-user version, I ran some tests with 10 old machines, pounding the database with data as fast as the keyboard buffer would process. I don't know if the application could pass that test today. It's also worth mentioning that I am well aware of locking issues, and have gone to great pains over the years to optimize locks--generally on records rather than tables. We're not dealing with a Foxpro locking problem here.

Now, there is one problem I can reproduce. It's a report with a very complex SQL SELECT command. The result set is only a few records, but it pulls data from a large database in a complicated way. I'm not looking for help with SQL, but it may be helpful to know that running on Windows 7, without compatibility mode, the query fails with a "syntax error". This does not happen when running on earlier versions of Windows--including Vista. AND when I set the compatibility mode to "Windows XP Service Pack 2", the same report with the same database runs just fine.

The only other detail I have is that when entering customer payments, a whole lot of stuff happens behind the scenes. Lots of potential financial transactions and potentially inventory transactions too. In order to post these transactions, contracts, and account history must be searched as well. For a couple of users who have Windows 7 networks, when several users access the database various failure occur. One user is kicked out of the application when attempting this transaction. Another user finds their index files getting clobbered.

Both of these users have implemented the OpLocks fix I mentioned in the article above. By the way, turning off SMB2 (as recommended in the article) made a WHOLE bunch of problems go away for these same users. I feel like something new in Windows 7 is throttling access to the database.

What I am looking for here are any support stories of problems encountered and solutions that pertain to this scenario. I'm hoping this will provide me (and others) with new ideas for troubleshooting these kinds of issues. I also hope it prolongs the life of VFP applications everywhere!

Any new thoughts?

 

[rlawrence]

You know what? I just looked back and I guess I am in the wrong forum! Sorry. I think this happened because I was searching for answers before I posted a new thread. Can this thread be moved or do I simply need to repost?

 

[DSummZZZ]

No, posts can't be moved. But rather than me respond here, I would rather you do some copy/paste over to the other forum and I'll respond there. You would most likely get more responses anyway, and hopefully the conversation more relevant and useful to the crowd that visits that forum.


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.dave-summers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[DSummZZZ]

Woops. I reckon I should have checked there first.


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.dave-summers.net/foxprolinks.htm