PRJ2000: Project Crashes When You Create a Custom Formula (254392)

SYMPTOMS

When you create a custom formula, Microsoft Project may stop responding (crash) and you receive one of the following error messages:

Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98:

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

When you click Details, you receive the following error message:

WINPROJ caused an invalid page fault in module MSJTES40.DLL at address.

Microsoft Windows NT or Microsoft Windows 2000

The instruction at address referenced memory at number. The memory could not be "read".

CAUSE

This problem occurs when you do the following:

In a custom field (point to Customize on the Tools menu, and then click Fields) you use a formula that contains a Microsoft Project function that has more than one argument.

NOTE: Microsoft Project functions are those that have "Proj" as a prefix, such as ProjDateDiff.
In the Microsoft Project function, you use another function for one of its arguments.
You click OK in the Customize Fields dialog box.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use any of the appropriate methods for your situation.

Method 1: On Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000

NOTE: On Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT, this method is suggested as a temporary workaround until you can complete method 2.

Use an additional custom field to store the values calculated by the function used in the argument. Then, in the formula for the original custom field, change the argument to refer to the additional custom field, instead of calling the function directly.

For example, if you use the following formula in the Text1 field, you experience the problem described in this article:

ProjDateDiff("1/1/99", Month([Late Finish]) & "/22/99 5:00pm", "Standard")

NOTE: In the example above, Month is the function used in the argument.

To use an additional custom field to store the values from the function in the argument, remove the argument that contains the function and place it in another custom field. Based on the example above, you would create the following formula in the Text2 field:

Month([Late Finish]) & "/22/99 5:00pm"

Then, in the Text1 field, change the argument in the formula to the following, to refer to the formula in the Text2 field:

ProjDateDiff("1/1/99", [Text2], "Standard")

Method 2: Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT

Install the updated version of Microsoft Jet 4.0 from the Microsoft Download Center.
For additional information about the updated version of Microsoft Jet version 4.0, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

239114 ACC2000: Updated Version of Microsoft Jet 4.0 Available in Download Center