Record duplicating on one station only

[Jean-P. B�dard]

I am having a "funny" problem, well not that funny.

I have a purchase order which is on a tabbed form

Tab A is for entering order number, supplier name, etc
Tab B is for entering items being ordered.

Then I use a report to print the actual purchase order.
It worked fine for more than a year or 2, and since recently on one station, all items are being duplicated.

I have reinstalled Alpha, defragmented the computer, tried another keyboard, etc...everything I could think of.

If I open a new purchase order from another station and then complete the item list on the faulty computer, I do not get duplication.

Does not look like being caused by Alpha application, otherwise all other 7 stations would react the same way.

Any idea what could cause the problem?

Thanks in advance for your help

Regards

JP

[Peter.Wayne]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

are you using the same version of alpha five on all computers? are you using the 4.5 runtime or the full version, or are you using 4.03? is there anything at all unusual about the "faulty" computer?

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your reply.

All computers have version 4.5 built 266.
All computers are exactly similar with same programs. We are working with NT4 Workstation as the network and all stations have Windows 98 installed.

The only difference that I can see is hte faulty computer is using Microsoft Outlook and the others Outlook Express.

I have removed Alpha deleted the Shadow files and reinstalled everything and Network optimize my application.

The only thing left, I guess,is to reformat the hard disk and start all over again but I hate do that, too much work I am getting lazy.

What bugs me is that happened only a few weeks ago. That station was working fine then.

On the same application I have another order form for another company and that order form worksf fine.

When we enter,let say, item 1,2 and 3, the printout will show item 1, 2 ,3 and again 1, 2, 3, not 1,1 2,2,3,3. This must be a mystery!!!

Thanks again

JP

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Peter,

..... we are using the runtime on all stations, no application is running with the full version, used only to design or edit the applications.

Regards

JP

[CraigSchumacker]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

JP:

Is the duplication occurring in the report, or in the table itself?

You don't mention network optimization. Have you tried completely re-optimizing (if in play here)?

Does the duplication problem occur when using the default form for data entry on the machine in question?

Craig

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

JP,

Have you actually seen the operator enter a record and did you observe the problem personally?

I ask because:

a) folks have been known to deliberately cause errors; and

b) perhaps by observing the actual flow of the keystrokes and mouseclicks you will discover something that's slightly different from how others do it.

If it's possible I strongly recommend that you visit the workstation and watch the operator enter a few records.

-- tom

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Craig and Tom,

Thanks for your input.

Duplication is in the report only not in the table.
Application is optimized and bering compacted every morning.
The duplication occurs when using data entry form (purchase order entry form). May be I should try to input data in the default form, I did not try.(I will do it when back to the office Tuesday, it is a long weekend in Canada, and at my age I am also taking Friday of.)

And to answer Tom, yes I have monitored the data entry and did it myself.

As mentionned earlier I have reinstalled Alpha 4.5 with the 266 update.

I suspect the computer itself has something goiing on that I cannot see.

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out.

Best regards to all of you

JP

[CraigSchumacker]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

JP:

If the duplication is in the report, but a single record is in the table:

1) Is the report based directly on the table, or is the data placed in a temp table and the report is composed from the temp table. Are the tables all flat, or are they part of a set?

2) I know you said you are network optimized, but have you tried completely re-optimizing the machine with the issue.

From your description so far, it sounds like the problem is with the report, hence, with the shadow...

I don't think this is the computer.

Craig

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Craig,

The report is based on a set that is: Supplier, Items, Job reference. The PO number is auto-incremental

I have removed completely everything from the computer,the shadow file and I have started from scratch, new connection to the server with network optimization.

But again what bugs me is all other stations are working fine.

I will try to rework the report may be.

After a second tought I have a doubt concerning duplication in the table also. This is something i will have to look at.

Thanks again

JP

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Hi,
Just check the table, therecord is shown only once, but the report on the foulty computer shows the record twice.

I entered same order on my computer and the problem does not show.

The problem is with the report, but only on one computer not on the others.

There is a bug somewhere but where??

If you have any other suggestions they are most welcome.

Thanks Again for all your inputs.

JP

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Hi,

One more point:

If one PO is being done on the faulty computer, the report will be wrong on all machines. On all computer , when we open the PO prepared on the faulty machine, the records will be duplicated also, but not in the table.

I will restudy my report very carefuly.

JP

[David Sander]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Jean,

My first guess given the errors shown so far would be that this is a problem with the file handling particular to the one computer or a bad relational link used in the report stored on that computer. This information is then being saved to a common area on the network because the other systems see the same problem once the report has been run. This sounds something like a bad query.

The first thing to look at is any user definable queries that can be used, are these the same as the others? The query might also be run from a corrupted index in which case it will be corrupted as well. Does the local browse look ok and do you need an index rebuild?
You might also find a user query or report that accessed the set with a different linking than is normal to the set and this can cause multiple reporting of records. Did the local report get changed or corrupted in how it reports its records? I can't see how this would happen unless an errant write tagged the report and corrupted it.

It would be interesting if you could remove the offending query or let it get out of date and see if one of the good stations can then come up with an accurate report. This would give an indication of a specific problem.

Dave

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

David,


Thanks for your input. If I read you correctly you suggest that I check the query on the faulty computer and discard it.

If I understand correctly I will do it in the morning when I arrive at the office. Otherwise, please, be more specific.

Thanks again and regards.

JP

[David Sander]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Jean,

Yes, discarding the query would be a good starting point. If you can then run a good report from one of the good systems, there is something affecting the queries on the one system giving bad reports.

Dave

[Jean-P. B�dard]

RE: Record duplicating on one station only

Thanks,

JP