Weird file in use problem

Hi,

We have a VFP8 SP1 app which is running sitting on a network share, 22
Windows XP users each access this application from this network share.

This application has been running fine for the past 2 years and then all of
a sudden (past 2 months randomly) users have started complaining they can't
get access into some forms. They get 'File in use' error and it is always
the one 'Members' table which gives the error.

We have some debug information which writes out to a log what users have
that "members" table open at the time the user gets the error.

Now my understanding is that this error happens when the file is exclusively
locked, correct? Our logging information shows that the Members table is
open on multiple other workstations while this person is getting this error.
So how can more than one person have it open and are not getting the "file
in use" error. Where as this person is unable to open it.

It is not always the same person that has the problem, so it is not machine
related as far as we can tell. These forms open up other network tables
too, and they never cause problem, so I don't believe it is network related.
The server is not showing any errors for connectivity problems either.

So random machines, random users, but always the same table.

Any ideas what could be going on, its like the file can only be opened by 5
people and the 6th person who tries to open it is getting denied. Is there
anything which could cause this behaviour?

Thanks
Tristan

Fred
Thu Oct 06 00:36:21 CDT 2005

Is this on a a real server OS or on XP acting as a server? (or worse yet
W98 as a server).

The connections in those cases are limited.

--
Fred
Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP


"tristan" <tristan@somebody.com> wrote in message
news:%23mk3k$hyFHA.3700@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Hi,
>
> We have a VFP8 SP1 app which is running sitting on a network share, 22
> Windows XP users each access this application from this network share.
>
> This application has been running fine for the past 2 years and then all
> of a sudden (past 2 months randomly) users have started complaining they
> can't get access into some forms. They get 'File in use' error and it is
> always the one 'Members' table which gives the error.
>
> We have some debug information which writes out to a log what users have
> that "members" table open at the time the user gets the error.
>
> Now my understanding is that this error happens when the file is
> exclusively locked, correct? Our logging information shows that the
> Members table is open on multiple other workstations while this person is
> getting this error. So how can more than one person have it open and are
> not getting the "file in use" error. Where as this person is unable to
> open it.
>
> It is not always the same person that has the problem, so it is not
> machine related as far as we can tell. These forms open up other network
> tables too, and they never cause problem, so I don't believe it is network
> related. The server is not showing any errors for connectivity problems
> either.
>
> So random machines, random users, but always the same table.
>
> Any ideas what could be going on, its like the file can only be opened by
> 5 people and the 6th person who tries to open it is getting denied. Is
> there anything which could cause this behaviour?
>
> Thanks
> Tristan
>
>

tristan
Thu Oct 06 02:19:50 CDT 2005

It is Windows 2003 Small Business Server.

We have been running the hardware fine for about a year before this problem
started happening.




"Fred Taylor" <ftaylor@mvps.org!REMOVE> wrote in message
news:eOBdifjyFHA.2076@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Is this on a a real server OS or on XP acting as a server? (or worse yet
> W98 as a server).
>
> The connections in those cases are limited.
>
> --
> Fred
> Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP
>
>
> "tristan" <tristan@somebody.com> wrote in message
> news:%23mk3k$hyFHA.3700@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>>
>> We have a VFP8 SP1 app which is running sitting on a network share, 22
>> Windows XP users each access this application from this network share.
>>
>> This application has been running fine for the past 2 years and then all
>> of a sudden (past 2 months randomly) users have started complaining they
>> can't get access into some forms. They get 'File in use' error and it is
>> always the one 'Members' table which gives the error.
>>
>> We have some debug information which writes out to a log what users have
>> that "members" table open at the time the user gets the error.
>>
>> Now my understanding is that this error happens when the file is
>> exclusively locked, correct? Our logging information shows that the
>> Members table is open on multiple other workstations while this person is
>> getting this error. So how can more than one person have it open and are
>> not getting the "file in use" error. Where as this person is unable to
>> open it.
>>
>> It is not always the same person that has the problem, so it is not
>> machine related as far as we can tell. These forms open up other
>> network tables too, and they never cause problem, so I don't believe it
>> is network related. The server is not showing any errors for connectivity
>> problems either.
>>
>> So random machines, random users, but always the same table.
>>
>> Any ideas what could be going on, its like the file can only be opened by
>> 5 people and the 6th person who tries to open it is getting denied. Is
>> there anything which could cause this behaviour?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Tristan
>>
>>
>
>

Andrew
Thu Oct 06 03:52:53 CDT 2005

"tristan" <tristan@somebody.com> wrote in message
news:OQPHdZkyFHA.2652@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> It is Windows 2003 Small Business Server.
>
> We have been running the hardware fine for about a year before this
> problem started happening.

Well there's that thing that "Greg" posted about 6 days ago, ie some station
is doing a REPLACE ALL at the same time another is trying to USE the file.

Maybe, if the table is growing, you didn't see this problem before because
the replace was happening quickly but now the table is bigger, it is
FLOCKing the thing long enough to cause a problem.

If so, try replacing your

REPLACE ALL FOR <expL>

with

SCAN FOR <expL>
REPLACE ...
ENDSCAN
which does many RLOCKs instead of FLOCK.

--
HTH
Anrew Howell

Dan
Thu Oct 06 10:24:39 CDT 2005

tristan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We have a VFP8 SP1 app which is running sitting on a network share, 22
> Windows XP users each access this application from this network share.
>
> This application has been running fine for the past 2 years and then
> all of a sudden (past 2 months randomly) users have started
> complaining they can't get access into some forms. They get 'File in
> use' error and it is always the one 'Members' table which gives the
> error.

What changed? "Random errors" don't generally suddenly pop up unless
SOMETHING in the environment changed.

> Now my understanding is that this error happens when the file is
> exclusively locked, correct?

Wrong. According to the help file:

"You have attempted a USE, DELETE, or RENAME command on a file that is
currently open."

Be VERY VERY CAREFUL when reporting the text of an error message. There are
many very similarly worded error messages that mean wildly different things.
("File in use" is very different from "File in use by another", for
instance.)

> So random machines, random users, but always the same table.

Again, this is new. What changed?

Dan

Thomas
Fri Oct 07 02:52:58 CDT 2005

Is this table used in a grid,
possibly "gridded" by many concurrent users ?

HTH

thomas

Neil
Fri Oct 07 13:55:18 CDT 2005

>> Now my understanding is that this error happens when the file is
>> exclusively locked, correct?
>
> Wrong. According to the help file:
>
> "You have attempted a USE, DELETE, or RENAME command on a file that is
> currently open."
>

Assuming you _do_ mean 'File is in use', and not 'File is in use by
another', to expand on what Dan said, this error occurs if you try to USE a
table (without the AGAIN parameter) in one workarea when it's already open
in another. It can be emulated with

USE <MyTable> IN 0
USE <MyTable> IN 0

You could maybe try the USED() function before the offending line of code to
see if this is the case.

Cheers,
Neil