>>>Hi everybody,
>>>
>>>There are couple of internal VFP things, which lead me to some frustration and problems with new versions.
>>>
>>>First problem is: When application (.app) executes on user's machine, it automatically resides in memory, so there is no way to update this application, without kicking everybody out. I know about different "launcher" approaches, but we haven't implemented any of them so far, so this is still a real problem for me (and my colleagues) as developers.
>>
>>I believe the best approach is to use a launcher. This gives you two HUGE advantages: 1) Your problem above is solved. You don't have to kick everybody out. 2) Users can go back to previous versions of your executable. Very useful is the latest update has unexpected side-effects.
>>
>>Code available on request.
>>
>>HTH, Hilmar.
>
>What if application change also involves adding/changing some tables (and their structure)?

I don't see a way to upgrade the structure while the users work - apart from using a database server, like Oracle, that supports that feature.

Therefore, I do the update at midnight, with an automated procedure.

>
>BTW, how about the second problem?

What, exactly, is the problem if the database remains open?

Hilmar.