This is the least of the issues. Remember, installing beta software on a production machine is never really recommended. And a complete uninstall of the beta is not painful compared to betas of earlier versions of VFP (and other M$ products) where they wanted you to format your hard drive to remove the beta software (no joke). I don't even mind the uninstall of VFP 9 and reinstall of it before installing SP2. What worries me are the problems popping up for people after installing SP2. I still don't have a sense that SP2 is something I want to install. But, hopefully, any issues will either be worked out, turn out to be unlikely to affect my clients, or turn out to be nonissues and I can go ahead with it at some point.


>Rick,
>
>According to the VFP SP2 page (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=a28ddec6-ba3c-49d0-8176-8c0b3fca06d1&displaylang=en), it requires either VFP9 or VFP9 SP1. The "Additional Information" says Make sure you uninstall CTP or Beta versions of SP2 before installing the final release.
>
>If what you recommend is required, why is it M$ could not determine that and reduce the pain for the rest of us?
>
>Mike
>
>>As I understand it, the recommended installation procedure for VFP 9.0 SP2 is to completely uninstall VFP 9.0 (SP1 or otherwise), including all Betas or CTP releases of SP2. Then re-install the original VFP 9.0 RTM (release to manufacturing) version from the DVD, then apply the SP2 update.
>>
>>The SP2 update is released as a Windows Installer patch file (.msp). Because it is Windows Installer, files are updated based on Windows Installer's file versioning rules. For files that do not have version information, such as .vcx files, Windows Installer looks at the file's creation date and date modified. If the dates are different, Windows Installer assumes the file has been updated since it was installed, and does not install the version from the update package. This is standard Windows Installer behavior and has nothing to do with VFP or SP2 per se.
>>
>>The way this affects the SP2 update is in regards for example to the FFC class libraries. If any of them have been recompiled since they were installed, say for example because you've used them in an app and done a Recompile All, then their date modified is different than their creation date. In this case the SP2 patch does not install the newer ones (if any), which is why it is recommended to do a complete uninstall and reinstall. Again, this is not a fault of the VFP team, it's just the way Windows Installer works.
>>
>>-Rick
>>
>>
>>>Although I downloaded SP2 on 10/16/2007, it was the original SP2 tha thas since been repalced. Okay, so based on what you're saying, I will need to download SP2 once again. Doing it now! and thank you for setting me straight on this.
>>>
>>>Oh, one more question, Sir (as Detective Columbo says): Someone said that we should do the following:
>>>
>>>(1) completely un-install VFP 9.0
>>>(2) install VFP 9.0
>>>(3) install VFP 9's Service Pack 2
>>>
>>>Is this correct? I think they said that the installation script checks dates on something and if you don't do it this way, you lose those changes in SP2.