I'm not sure how they are connected, but they are using Windows 2000. They called a little later to tell me they were able to disconnect all users from the app without disconnecting the server by using server manager. This enabled them to update the data files and get up and running again. Unfortunately they wasted half a work day figuring it out.

From years experience with VFP it seems to me that data corruption is a major issue for off-the-shelf apps. Since we don't control the environment the app will run in and we are not there with our development tools to fix things when they go bad, we invariabley get clients with data corruption problems caused by improper shutdowns (e.g. powering off PC without shutting app down first, network outages, blackouts, Windows hang-ups, etc.) I have encountered some system administrators that refuse to install a VFP database on a network because they believed the data will get corrupted. It would be great if the Fox team can somehow address this vital issue in a future release.

Regards,

Mon


>Are they terminaling in to the system? If so, they may have sessions open that are still in the files.
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>Sounds like to me they need a little training on networks - sometimes you have to do maintenance on the servers when you have problems. Their arguments are not reasonable. An email interface will continue to run ok normally when there is a temporary interruption in the network because it is not constantly connected to the server.
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>As for dealing with data corruprion... neither a web based approach nor a sql approach would completely keep the data from being dirty. It may eliminate the problem with corrupting the tables/indexes, but if they are in the middle of a transaction of some sort, and lose the connection, there is nothing that can be done.
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>>We have a client using a VFP7 app with a shared data folder on the network. Actually they have two locations using the database, one in Florida and the other in California! Last night they had a power failure in the FL location (where they have the database), and even though they have UPSs, they said that the connection to the VFP app was lost (their email and most of the other apps kept running). Anyway this interruption corrupted the indexes.
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>>This morning they sent me their data folder and I repaired the files and sent them back. However, they weren't able to replace their data files because the current files were open (they think by hung apps that were using the software when the network went down). I told them this is an OS issue as Windows will not let them over-write files while in use, so they need to either disconnect their server from the network or have users reboot their computers to make sure no hung apps are using the database. They said either solution is disruptive and they don't want to do it. Instead, they want a 'back-door' to get into the VFP software and tell it to 'kick every one out!'. Any ideas?
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>>Also, does anyone have a good strategy for dealing with this data corruption problem which seems to occur everytime a VFP app is improperly shut-down? It seems to me the only way to stop this big problem is to convert the VFP app to a web app or use SQL server. Neither solution is easy to do.
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>>TIA.
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>>Mon