FIX: Cannot Open Database and No Message Is Displayed (134315)

SYMPTOMS

When attempting to open a Visual FoxPro database (.DBC) by using the menu options or by clicking the Open button on the Standard toolbar, Visual FoxPro does not open the database or issue a message if the database has been open exclusively by another user or in a different private data session.

CAUSE

The database is already open exclusively on a second machine or in another Visual FoxPro session on the same machine. When the database is already open, Visual FoxPro echoes the OPEN DATABASE command to the Command window, but does not execute it.

WORKAROUND

Here are three possible workarounds:

Attempt to open the database by executing the OPEN DATABASE command that was echoed to the Command window. The error "File Access Denied" occurs because the database is already opened exclusively. -or-
Execute the OPEN DATABASE command in a program. -or-
Open the database SHARED on all machines and in each Visual FoxPro session.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem has been fixed in Visual FoxPro 5.0 for Windows.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem

In a network environment:

Open a database exclusively.
From a second machine running Visual FoxPro, attempt to Open the same database exclusively. On the File menu, click Open, or click the Open button on the Standard Visual FoxPro toolbar.

From one machine using two Visual FoxPro sessions:

Open a database exclusively.
Run Visual FoxPro a second time, keeping the first session of Visual FoxPro running. Attempt to open the same database exclusively. On the File menu, click Open, or by click the Open button on the Standard Visual FoxPro toolbar.