Chapter 1: Who This Book is for and What You Need to Bring Do you need to install or maintain legacy FoxPro for MS-DOS and Windows applications on today’s Microsoft and Novell networks? Do you need to get them set up, running, sharing data, and printing without headaches? Do you want to know the tricks and tips involved? If you do, this book is for you. Some things to keep in mind A brief history of FoxPro on the PC A brief overview of MS-DOS and Windows 16-bit and 32-bit operating systems The Windows API Chapter 2: How Windows Runs FoxPro I showed you how Windows is split into two codebases–the Windows 95 Kernel and the Windows NT kernel. Now look at how those kernels provide support for legacy applications like FoxPro–and some of the problems that can occur. An overview of how MS-DOS and Win16 applications run in the Windows 95 kernel Windows core components User Graphical Device Interface (GDI) Kernel Other Components Virtual Machine Manager An overview of how MS-DOS and Win16 applications run in the Windows NT kernel Kernel Mode User Mode The MS-DOS NTVDM WOW–Win16 on Win32 Chapter 3: Configuring FoxPro and Windows Back in the day when we only had MS-DOS and Windows 3.1, people had to spend large amounts of time tweaking both the operating system and FoxPro so they would work together. With FoxPro applications running on emulated DOS machines these days, does this mean we still have to worry about things like file handles and MEMMAKER? The AUTOEXEC and CONFIG files and what they do Editing the files in Windows 95/98 Editing the files in Windows ME Editing the files in Windows NT/2000/XP The AUTOEXEC.BAT/NT file The CONFIG.SYS/NT file What happens under Windows Millennium Edition? Environment variables and other AUTOEXEC.BAT items Settings in CONFIG.SYS The CONFIG.FP and CONFIG.FPW files MVCOUNT, MEMLIMIT, PROGWORK, EDITWORK, SORTWORK and TMPFILES FoxPro for DOS Memory Considerations FoxPro for Windows memory considerations MS-DOS Paths, SET PATH and SET DEFAULT Chapter 4: Networks—How to Survive Them Many legacy FoxPro database applications are intended to run in a shared network environment. The many combinations of network Operating System, client Operating Systems, and network hardware provide many opportunities for problems to occur. In this chapter, I look at some preventative measures to take in network configuration and some troubleshooting steps for when things go wrong. How FoxPro applications run “over a network” Problems with file access Opportunistic Locking Anti-virus software, data access, and speed problems Novell networks and clients Data corruption problems with the Novell Client UNC paths and the NET command How to determine computer name and shared resources How to map network drives and printers on Windows Networks The foolproof method How to map network drives and printers on Novell networks Methods for running networked FoxPro applications Network protocols NetBEUI Binding Order Common Miscellaneous Networking Problems The ‘Unable To Process Error’ error message Chapter 5: Printers and How to Make Them See Things Your Way Printing from legacy FoxPro applications is an area people can have severe problems. It can be very frustrating when someone has spent a lot of money on a big new networked laser printer only to find the legacy FoxPro-based payroll package can’t print to it. How FoxPro prints in general terms Printing to dot matrix printers in FoxPro for DOS Printing to dot matrix printers in FoxPro for Windows—using “Windows-Type Printing” Printing to dot matrix printers in FoxPro for Windows—using “DOS-Type Printing” Printing to laser/inkjet printers in FoxPro for DOS Printing to laser/inkjet printers in FoxPro for Windows—using “Windows-Type Printing” Printing to laser/inkjet printers in FoxPro for Windows—using “DOS-Type Printing” Other ways of printing from FoxPro Printing to serial devices The various types of printers and their suitability More network printing Miscellaneous printing issues Port problems and disappearing print jobs with shared printers under Windows NT/2000/XP Strange occurrences with early Hewlett-Packard PCL6 drivers Problems printing to LPT1 on Windows NT/2000/XP workstations Errors writing to LPT1, incomplete pages or printing does not start until an application is exited under Windows NT/2000/XP Novell NDPS printing Three real-world examples Chapter 6: Thin Client If you were involved in computing before the PC boom of the early 1990’s, then the words ‘dumb terminal’ either create a warm, nostalgic glow in your heart or more likely fill it with dread. All these years later, the industry is starting to come full circle as people realize there are benefits to having computing power centralized and using simpler terminals as opposed to each user having a Pentium 4 workstation and not using a fraction of its power. Enter Terminal Services and Citrix. The Theory of thin client on Windows networks The history of thin client on Windows Networks FoxPro on thin client Server memory and CPU considerations FoxPro for Windows Screen Redraw Speed FoxPro for DOS CPU usage considerations Access to client devices Printing Chapter 7: Miscellany In this final chapter I run through some miscellaneous issues that can arise and didn’t fit in anywhere else. Also, I list what I think are the best online resources to get help with problems you encounter when running legacy FoxPro applications. Error 15 (Not A Table/DBF) and Error 41 (Memo File Is Missing Or Invalid) Problems caused by corruption of indexes or other files Watcom Win386 Read error Fatal Exception Errors in SYMEVNT Device Does Not Exist On Network error Problems Printing To LPT1 on Windows NT/2000/XP The Big One–Division By Zero Error In FOXW2600.ESL starting FoxPro for Windows on modern platforms “Cannot Read From Drive” or “Device I/O” errors Useful Resources