Hello all,

Just started a new job where paradox is used extensively, which i like because
i've used Paradox a lot before. Problem is the environment is very cluttered,
with files and folders spread out all over the network, multiple clients
having different aliases defined, different network drives mapped, and using
separate copies of the data. i think we need some central location for all
the data files, databases, scripts, forms, etc. I'm attempting to get it
so that we are all on the same page.

My question is - what runs automatically when paradox starts? We have a
lot of problems with it when we start, sometimes it's very slow to start
and i wanted to check and see what it's doing behind the scenes at start
up. I know it's doing stuff automatically on start up - e.g. sometimes
when i do nothing other than start it, it will pause a long time, and sometimes
a whole bunch of new aliases that i never heard of will suddenly appear in
my alias list.

Does BDE tie in to this? Is that the route to go to centralize all our files
and make sure everyone is accessing the same files in the same place using
the same aliases?

Thanks for any replys

if there are no default aliases defined in BDE, and there's no startup
script or form running, then there really is nothing running at all..

--
Steven Green - Waldorf Maryland USA

Diamond Software Group
http://www.diamondsg.com/main.htm
Paradox Support & Sales

Diamond Sports Gems
http://www.diamondsg.com/gemsmain.htm
Sports Memorabilia and Trading Cards

"RickM" <rick_ipc (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Thank you, i see what you mean.

i guess what i'm asking, is if there are any default aliases defined in BDE,
how would find where they are hidden?


"Steven Green" <greens (AT) diamondsg (DOT) com> wrote:

Rick,

I suspect you are not getting a bunch of responses because your question is
vague. Your problems could be simple or they could be very complex.

Multiple aliases.... Hmmm... Alias can be created during an applications
startup based on certain criteria or the application could simply use
existing Alias's that are static and expected to pre-exist. Aliases can
depend on what kind of data source you're using... SQL, Paradox, etc...
Some Aliases could be pointing locally for a specific reason.

Depending on how the Paradox application was written... successfully
changing the Aliases for the data sources could be simple or very complex.

Some of your applications code might be pointing to directories in a "hard
coded" manner... and some might not be....

No one here really knows... and if you just started to mange this system...
chances are that you don't know either.

I'd recommend this... if the system is running OK.... don't do a thing to
it!

Instead, reproduce the application on a separate system and then start
reverse engineering it so you can get a better understanding of what it is
doing. On your replicated system, then try changing Aliases, etc. if you
still want to consolidate the data.... test it there first. Once you get
it working correctly... then transfer the changes to your working system.



--
....
`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·-> rodney

Also... slow starting could be any number of things... if your applications
Forms, Reports, Scripts, etc, are stored on a networked Server verses
locally, then loading may take longer.... There are also known issues with
XP networking concerning shared Printers that don't exist anymore and also a
whole host of other potential issues that can slow it down.

Being new to the system is going to require you to examine these known
issues and determine what the problem(s) is.


--
....
`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·-> rodney

good response, Rodney..

Rick.. there are many possible answers, as Rodney said.. without an better
understanding of your app, we can only guess..

--
Steven Green - Waldorf Maryland USA

Diamond Software Group
http://www.diamondsg.com/main.htm
Paradox Support & Sales

Diamond Sports Gems
http://www.diamondsg.com/gemsmain.htm
Sports Memorabilia and Trading Cards

I have several things to add, but no time now. I will respond again in about
5 hours (after work).

Liz


"RickM" <rick_ipc (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

ProjectAliases are stored in a file named pdoxwork.cfg, and the file is
saved in your working directory. If you change working directory, you can
see aliases not seen earlier dureing a session.

During startup, Paradox makes lots of calls to the BDE.

--
Bertil Isberg - CTECH
Paradox buglist:
online: http://hem.bredband.net/bertilisberg/

"RickM" <rick_ipc (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> skrev i meddelandet
news:45ef0713$1 (AT) pnews (DOT) thedbcommunity.com...

A meeting got cancelled, so I'm early....

Make sure to visit http://www.thedbcommunity.com/ and look at the
articles available there.

Slowness can be caused by:

1. Slow computers / network (Paradox will want a 100MB or faster network).

2. Anti virus program scanning Paradox files real time - exclude Paradox
files from the scan.

3. Printers which are installed but not physically available.

4. Network drives which are installed but not physically available.

5. Windows XP computers trying to access Paradox tables on Win9x boxes.

6. Problems or incorrect configuration (below). Paradox will be the
first thing to tell you that your wiring, NIC, RAM, HDD, processor,
switch, or what-have-you is going bad. Your network/tech support people
will deny it vehemently until something else starts telling them their
precious hardware is going bad.

Correctly configuring Paradox and the environment for shared Paradox
table access:

1. http://www.thedbcommunity.com/faq/13.htm

2. Oplocks:
A. NT:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q129202
i. UseOpportunisticLocking should be 0
ii. EnableOplocks should be 0
iii. The rest don't matter
B. Win2K/XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q296264
i. OplocksDisabled should be 1
ii. EnableOplocks should be 0
iii. The rest don't matter
C. Win9x: Control Panel, System applet, Performance tab, File System
button, Troubleshooting tab, CHECK the boxes labeled:
i. "Disable new file sharing and locking semantics."
ii. "Disable write-behind caching for all drives."
iii. On the Hard Disk tab, you may wish to try setting Read-ahead
optimization to None, but I think that should only make a difference on
the server machine.
D. Windows Server editions should have settings similar to B,
possibly identical.

3. Any other server operating system (NetWare, Linux/Samba, etc.) also
needs to have oplocks disabled.

4. LOCALSHARE (BDE, Configuration tab, Configuration > System > INIT)
must be set to TRUE for all users.

5. Disk caching on Win2K (presumably XP, but I can't check that):
Properties for the drive, Hardware tab, select the disk of interest,
click the Properties button, on the Disk Properties tab, UNcheck the
"Write cache enabled" box if it'll let you.

6. Make sure the machine serving the .DB files isn't being used as a
workstation.

Look in the Paradox help file (not the ObjectPAL one) for 'command-line
options' - When Paradox starts with items in the command line, they will
run on start up and could create aliases, among other things. In
addition, Paradox has options for saving the desktop on exit and
restoring it on startup - this could cause code to be triggered when
Paradox starts.

Go to Tools > Settings > Developer Preferences and set the ObjectPAL
level to Advanced and enable Developer menus.

In the BDE, on the configuration tab somewhere, there's an option for
"Auto ODBC" you may need to play with this for ODBC-created aliases to
be visible by default in the BDE. Otherwise, aliases cannot be "hidden"
- if they're not in the BDE, they don't exist (at least not in the
config file the BDE is using).

Note that aliases can be defined in code and last for the duration of
the Paradox/BDE session (or they can be saved). Look in the help file
for project aliases as well as public aliases to read up.

There's no way to cover the myriad issues which can be cause by system
design flaws, esp. in a shared-data environment.

I second the recommendation to duplicate your Paradox application(s)
away from your Production network (physically disconnected therefrom if
at all possible*) and fiddle with them there until you've got a good
understanding of what they're doing.

* If you're not physically disconnected, what's to stop one of these
apps from creating an alias to an existing data source on your
production network and messing it up? Until you know what's happening,
it's safer to have an isolated workstation...

That should do for now.

Liz


RickM wrote:

Wow, very informative, thank you very much Liz

Thank you everyone else too for the very helpful hints. i now have a lot
to go one to investigate further.

-Rick

Liz McGuire <liz (AT) paradoxcommunity (DOT) com> wrote: