PC Forms: Err Msg: ...No E-forms Available in Shared Mail... (138003)

SYMPTOMS

When Electronic Forms Designer has been installed in a shared Microsoft Windows installation, and the Novell NetWare Map ROOT command has been used to map the Windows directory, MEFBROWSE.EXE will not find the existing E- forms and gives the following error:

There are no e-forms available in the shared Mail extensions directory, or installed on your machine.

CAUSE

This is due to the result returned from the GetWindowsDirectory() function that may or may not return the trailing backslash in the path to the Windows directory. If the Windows directory is the root of the drive, or Novell's Map Root has been used, then the function returns a trailing backslash.

In all other cases, the path returned does not include a trailing backslash. This creates a problem when the MEFBrowse code appends a backslash to the returned path because, in some cases, the path is invalid due to having two backslashes. As a result, Browser fails to locate your MSMAIL.INI.

RESOLUTION

To verify the cause of this problem remap the Windows directory so that it is not the root of a drive. Then change to the Windows directory, and run Windows. See if Browser returns the error above.

You can also modify the code of MEFBROWS.EXE by making the following changes to the BROWSER.FRM file, and recompile the VB project.

In the BROWSER.FRM object Form:

Remove the following line:

      szMSMailIni = Trim$(Left$(szWinDir$, cbRet) & "\" & LOCAL_INI)

Replace the above line with the following lines:

      predir$ = Trim$(Left$(szWinDir$, cbRet))
      If Right$(predir$,1) = "\" Then
          szMSMailIni = predir$ & LOCAL_INI
      Else
          szMSMailIni = predir$ & "\" & LOCAL_INI
      EndIF

Save the project, and recompile the EXE.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in version 1.0 of Microsoft Electronic Forms Designer. We are researching the problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.