Finding mysterious FoxUser resource file

[RickSchummer]

Problem: starting a VFP 8 SP1 custom runtime EXE, the user gets a message on the client machine to
convert FoxUser from 3.0 to 6.0.

App is run off server from a workstation. Running app on server displays same question.

CONFIG.FPW is compiled into the EXE:
RESOURCE = OFF
ALLOWEXTERNAL = OFF

No CONFIG.FPW in the application folder so it cannot be pointing to a resource file. No -C parameter
on the shortcut. No FoxUser in the application folder, not in search path, no FoxUser is created in
the application folder after answering No to the question to convert.

Doing a SET in DOS window does not show the old FOXPROWCFG or FOXPROCFG environment variables.

Stumped. Anyone have any fresh ideas where the FoxUser could be found? Nothing in the Microsoft KB, nothing in my personal experience.

_RAS

http://www.whitelightcomputing.com

VFP MVP

 

[justamistere]

Just a thought, or two. If the problem is not on the User's Server/PC, it may be on the Development-PC.

1) When you compile this .exe, block out all possible locations of a VFP-6 version of a foxuser.dbf on *your* PC.
By temporarily renaming folders (adding "-OLD") in the folder name. Checking your environment variables. Un-mapping server paths. Including turn off your VFP-IDE's "Options" and "Path".

2) Why not specifically set the resourse to where the .exe is on the user's server.

 

[RickSchummer]

1) The problem is not having a VFP 6 resource file, rather it is attempting to open up a FPD/FPW 2.6 resource file on the users machine, not on my development machine.

2) I don't need a resource file in production. There is no reason for one, and I don't want one hanging out to cause me trouble I am not expecting.

Thanks for the feedback.

_RAS

http://www.whitelightcomputing.com

VFP MVP

 

[justamistere]

The reason I mentioned checking the developer PC is that I have had a similar problem in the past. The users were complaining that my VFP-6 ViewDBF.exe was creating foxuser.dbf files when they used my .ex to view .dbf files in a form-grid-object.

Even after I explicitly "SET RESOURCE OFF" in the .prg and in a ViewDBF.fpw config file.

I have found that if I have a foxuser.dbf in my PATH or in the VFP-Options menu, when I am compiling an .exe, it can interfere and sometimes produce undesirable results.

 

[RickSchummer]

justamistere,

So you are saying if you have a foxuser in the VFP path, despite the RESOURCE=OFF in Config.fpw, FoxPro will attempt to use it? I will be testing this soon, because if this is the case, then it is a bug in VFP that the Fox Team needs to know about.

And the way you fixed it is by SET RESOURCE OFF in the main program?

_RAS

http://www.whitelightcomputing.com

VFP MVP

 

[bobmpalmer]

I must admit Rick this is weird!

MSDN is quite specific.

If the startup application or executable file contains a Config.fpw file, it is always used. Settings in a Config.fpw file that are bound inside an application can be overridden by specifying an external Config.fpw file, using the -C command-line switch when starting an application or Visual FoxPro.

It goes on:-

Visual FoxPro reads the configuration file when starting up, establishing the settings and executing the commands in the file. Settings made in the configuration file override default settings made in the Options dialog box (and stored in the Windows registry).

Implying that what justamistere suggests just cannot happen.

I must say we use the opposite to you, in our app, having set the defaults in the options dialogue and setting our environment with SET lines in the top of our main.prg we distribute a std foxuser with the exe and NO config file whatsover. Works for us so unless somehow VFP is not seeing yr config file and is defaulting its a little inexplicable.



Bob Palmer

http://www.resisystems.co.uk

The most common solution is H2O!

 

[craigsboyd]

I've been watching this thread from the beginning and there are some things that still perplex me and have had me wondering whether there isn't something important missing here. I mean, the app is run from the server on all the workstations. But only two of the workstations appear to present the problem. Though if the app is run from the server then it will present the same undesirable behavior. A thorough search of the workstations and the server appears not to have yielded any results which quite simply means the files are not there. See what I mean, there is something missing and I don't mean some kind of bug in VFP...the whole thing doesn't logically add up to me. I mean if VFP is saying there is a Resource file there to be converted then there must be one somewhere. If it were a bug then VFP application would throw it on all machines (I'm sure some will come back with, "Not Necessarily" but I'm not given to believing in billion in one shots on a regular basis). First thing to do is find the resource file... search should turn it up... this could very well lend itself to finding out how VFP app is seeing the Foxuser files.

A few questions, is user doing the search or are you Rick (users are not the best set of eyes sometimes)? Is search been done computer-wide on all machines exhibiting the behavior and was the search always for "foxuser" or did you look for dbf & fpt files since foxusre can be renamed (yes, long shot but still worth checking off the list)? If convert is chosen, after that does the message go away and then come back or is message there every time they start the VFP app? What other FP apps are running on the machines exhibiting the behavior? Any clear difference between the workstations exhibiting the behavior and the ones not (OS differences, SP differences, installed VFP/FP software, permissions of logged in users, etc)? What have you tried to reproduce the behavior at your end (have you taken Foxuser.dbf and Foxuser.fpt files from 2.6a and tried throwing them in various locations and running your VFP app)? When does the messagebox show up - when the app is first started or some other time? Any possible way that the config.fpw settings are not being applied (perhaps a special debug exe could be created showing the value of Set("Resource") in a messagebox to answer this)? Was there ever a version of this VFP app installed on the server that didn't have Resource = OFF in the config.fpw?

Just some food for thought... like Ramani I'll be interested in what the problem was when you fix this one.

http://www.sweetpotatosoftware.com

 

[RickSchummer]

Good post Craig (as have all the other). I agree with the statement of things not adding up, thus my post. {g}

A thorough search of the workstations and the server appears not to have yielded any results which quite simply means the files are not there.

To be clear, there could be one or more possible FoxUser files on the machine with several other legacy 2.x apps.

Users are doing everything as I have not been onsite. The main tech guy is the owner of the company and has done his own Fox development, but has had other IT companies do some development of his core apps. He is smart and is often more technically competent than the developers he hires (he taught me something about Acrobat this week).

This is the first production VFP app, so no other apps are showing this behavior. Only mine is deployed (I should note that this problem has disappeared, but as the saying goes: bugs that mysteriously disappear, mysteriously reappear).

Same hardware, same OS, same SPs. I did not check the user permissions. The message is displayed before the splash screen and main frame are displayed. When I have seen this message displayed personally (in the past, not with this app), it happens in the internal startup code of VFP itself, before the app is executed.

Since this is not happening it has become a secondary priority. I just finished working with the VFP 9 beta which was consuming much of my spare time and have to finish up checking the writings in the What's New in Nine book. I expect to test this out over the holidays because I think it is a wierd bug in VFP.

When and if I can track it down, you guys will be the first to hear about it.

Appreciate the post. You provided me some more questions to ask.


_RAS

http://www.whitelightcomputing.com

VFP MVP