Error Locking

[Al Buchholz]

Re: Error Locking

Something else I just noticed..... When I moved some of the older records to reduce the overall size of the table, that worked fine, but I also have one memo field contained within the table for comments. This file, which is the ".FPT" table is still over 2 gigs. It did not reduce when I moved the files. This could also be a part of the problem I would think if tables can't be over 2gigs.

What is your latest backup where the .fpt file is much smaller?

You may need to go back to that for the memos.

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

So, I appended all the records to a new table without field rules or indexes. I recreated the indexes and then renamed my original table to another name. I then renamed the new table to the old name of the original table. Got everything working except a "comments" field which is a memo field. When I try and save something to it, it gets the "error locking" message. There is something definitely wrong with the fpt file. Is there any way to fix an fpt table? I don't want to lose it because it has comments on the older files, but something has corrupted it I'm afraid. Is there any way to recreate the FPT file again? I would assume it's not as simple as deleting it and work compacting the db. Any thought are appreciated. Leaving for the day now but will be back in tomorrow morning around 10 PST. Thanks guys.

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

Something else I just noticed..... When I moved some of the older records to reduce the overall size of the table, that worked fine, but I also have one memo field contained within the table for comments. This file, which is the ".FPT" table is still over 2 gigs. It did not reduce when I moved the files. This could also be a part of the problem I would think if tables can't be over 2gigs.

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

Yes, I tried both. Something is corrupt either in the Data Dictionary or the CDX file. Just not sure which, or why..... At least I think that may be where the problem lies......

[preston2]

Re: Error Locking

Thanks Preston, I'll check it out. There is definitely some kind of problem because the table will not pack.

Have you tried "Compacting the Workspace" instead of "Packing" the tables?

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

Thanks Preston, I'll check it out. There is definitely some kind of problem because the table will not pack. I think I'll append the records only to a new table. Recreate all the indexes, then recreate the field rules. Then rename the old table and rename the new table to the old name and see if that clears things up. Our field rules are not complex or equations. The field rules are only simple lists to act as a drop down for my people to choose one of. Just a shortcut to aid in inputting data. Any thoughts on trying this?

[preston2]

Re: Error Locking

There was one file I noticed that I've never seen before. it had a $$M suffix. I know it's a temp file created, but do you know what from?

If I am not mistaken those are created when a query is run.

Attached is a function I got from Cal that you can call from your autoexe script and it will delete those so they do not keep piling up.

[Al Buchholz]

Re: Error Locking

Duplicate the table to a new name. Choose all options including records.

Also control panel, tables sets tab, right click the table name and look at the last tab for size.

From Windows, look at the size of all the files for the table.

Post images of those to this thread.

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

I moved some of the records and now it's down to just a little over a gig or so. I wonder if being over 2 gigs was the problem in the first place. I did not know about the size limit. As for wide fields, we do have just a few, probably 98% are less than 15 characters in length. This app has been in development for 19 years, since A5v4.5. Everything is actually not in one table. There are approximately 10 or 12 other tables linked to this one. We work in the legal industry and there is just a ton of info we have to input and track., plus it is also doing our billing. It's been a labor of love, and hate....lol. I have never liked any of the software available to our industry and many times our clients will request custom reports that could never be run from predetermined software, if you catch my drift. Thanks for the help. There was one file I noticed that I've never seen before. it had a $$M suffix. I know it's a temp file created, but do you know what from?

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Error Locking

Move some of the records, yes.

125 fields in one table would indicate to me that you have a lot of wide character fields and/or need to normalize the data and not keep everything in one table.

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

You know what Stan, it is just over that. Perhaps I should move some of the files to a new archive table and see if that works.

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Error Locking

See above post.

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

I tried appending all records to a new table but it did not work. I then tried copying the records only to a new table and got the same result. The error message states: "An attempt was made to move the file pointer before the beginning of the file". I've never seen this error before. Any of the "masters" ever seen this before? Could my A5 developer possibly be corrupt and need to be reinstalled? Something is definitely corrupt somewhere.

[Stan Mathews]

Re: Error Locking

The main table is very large

There is a two gigabyte file size limit for dbf's. Doesn't sound like you would have hit that but you might check. Depends on the field definition widths.

[draxx2755]

Re: Error Locking

So I tried your suggestion Dave. No luck. I've tried restoring a backup from a week ago. It still will not let me pack the main table. The main table is very large, 101,000 records and about 125 fields in each record. When I try and pack the table, it goes through the complete process until the very end and then tells me "Cannot open table". If I try and open the table after that I get an error message letting me know it's in use by another process. All other computers are offline and there is nothing accessing the table as far as I can tell, but Alpha sure thinks there is. I checked in the file directory, and there are no temporary ($$) files. I'm thinking what I may have to do is append all records to a duplicate table and then rename it to the original. Wondering if that will work. Any input?