Gordon,

<< I would expect an error/exception in that case as well, not an
application just hanging.  (Note that by the time the main screen is
displayed, the tables have been created, and I display a progress bar as
they are being created so the user knows this is happening.)

I'm using EurekaLog as well, so if I'm not displaying some kind of message
when a problem occurs, I would expect that some kind of exception screen
would be displayed - even the standard Delphi message that gets displayed
for unhandled exceptions. >>

If you want to send me the application, I can install it here and trace it
to see what is going on.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:
>
> If you want to send me the application, I can install it here and trace it
> to see what is going on.

Thanks for the offer.  You can get the application by clicking on the
following link:

  http://www.mycroftcomputing.com/download/timeoffadmsetup.exe

(You will need files associated with the EXE to run the application.
Let me know if you'd rather I uploaded it to Binaries.)  Keep in mind
that it works fine in hundreds of other locations.  It is something
specific to the problem location (I'm almost positive) that is causing
the hangup.  I'm not even sure why it is hanging without an exception
message, let alone how to resolve the problem.

--
Gordon Turner
Mycroft Computing
http://www.mycroftcomputing.com

Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:
>
> If you want to send me the application, I can install it here and trace it
> to see what is going on.

Tim, I'm getting close to loosing this customer, and am getting a little
desperate to resolve the problem.  Anything you can tell me about the
application would help.  I don't even know what to look at or try
differently.

Are there permission settings on a shared folder that might cause DBISAM
to produce this behavior?  (The second workstation hanging until the
first workstation closes the application.)  Temp files are stored on the
individual workstation.  I do use semaphores to track connections.  What
else should I be thinking about?

--
Gordon Turner
Mycroft Computing
http://www.mycroftcomputing.com

Have you tried MadExcept? I seem to recall that it has an option to
generate an exception & stack trace when an application hangs.

Do you have any retry loops anywhere for getting exclusive or shared
access to a file or checking your semaphores? Sounds a lot like the
second application is looping waiting for access to something the first
application has locked.

Good luck..
Sean




Gordon Turner wrote:
> Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:
>>
>> If you want to send me the application, I can install it here and
>> trace it to see what is going on.
>
> Tim, I'm getting close to loosing this customer, and am getting a little
> desperate to resolve the problem.  Anything you can tell me about the
> application would help.  I don't even know what to look at or try
> differently.
>
> Are there permission settings on a shared folder that might cause DBISAM
> to produce this behavior?  (The second workstation hanging until the
> first workstation closes the application.)  Temp files are stored on the
> individual workstation.  I do use semaphores to track connections.  What
> else should I be thinking about?
>

Gordon,

<< (You will need files associated with the EXE to run the application.  >>

So, does that mean that the link doesn't have all of the necessary files, or
it does but I need to install the .exe for each workstation ?

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Gordon,

<< Tim, I'm getting close to loosing this customer, and am getting a little
desperate to resolve the problem.  Anything you can tell me about the
application would help.  I don't even know what to look at or try
differently. >>

I'm afraid that you're going to have to be patient.  I'm stretched pretty
thin right now, so it may be a few days before there is any resolution to
the issue, or it may be that I can't reproduce it here, in which case I'm
not sure if I can resolve the issue for you.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Gordon


Since it seems to be the logon/startup of the app which causes the problem why not try a special version which writes out log messages to a file. You can make it as fine as you like, even after each line of code. That at least should allow you to pinpoint where the problem is.

My only other suggestion is to get them to change the machine used as the fileserver (use one of the workstations for experimentation) in case its the network setting and not releasing a lock.

Roy Lambert

Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:
>
> So, does that mean that the link doesn't have all of the necessary files, or
> it does but I need to install the .exe for each workstation ?

The link is the setup file for the application.  It will install all the
necessary files.  The application creates the data files when it starts
up for the first time, so the files are not installed.

--
Gordon Turner
Mycroft Computing
http://www.mycroftcomputing.com

Sean McCall wrote:
> Have you tried MadExcept? I seem to recall that it has an option to
> generate an exception & stack trace when an application hangs.
>
> Do you have any retry loops anywhere for getting exclusive or shared
> access to a file or checking your semaphores? Sounds a lot like the
> second application is looping waiting for access to something the first
> application has locked.

EurekaLog has the same features, including a hang exception, but for
some reason it is not displaying a dialog.

There are only three times the application requires exclusive access:
when the tables are first created, when attempting to delete a base
record (application enforced referential integrity), and when the
database backup/restore functions are selected.

When setting semaphores, I do something like this:

function SetSeat: integer;
var
  SaveLockRetryCount,
  SaveLockWaitTime: integer;
  CurrentSlot: integer;
begin
  with TimeOffDataMod.TimeOffSession do begin
    SaveLockRetryCount := LockRetryCount;
    SaveLockWaitTime := LockWaitTime;
    try
      LockRetryCount:=0;
      LockWaitTime:=0;
      with TimeOffDataMod.tblEmps do begin
        CurrentSlot:=1;
        while not LockSemaphore(CurrentSlot) do
          Inc(CurrentSlot);
        Result := CurrentSlot;
      end;
    finally
      LockRetryCount:=SaveLockRetryCount;
      LockWaitTime:=SaveLockWaitTime;
    end;
  end;
end;

but from what logging information I've been able to gather, the second
workstation never gets to the point where it calls this function, and
the first application gets past it.

--
Gordon Turner
Mycroft Computing
http://www.mycroftcomputing.com

Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:
>
> I'm afraid that you're going to have to be patient.  I'm stretched pretty
> thin right now, so it may be a few days before there is any resolution to
> the issue, or it may be that I can't reproduce it here, in which case I'm
> not sure if I can resolve the issue for you.

Tim, I'll be appreciative of anything you can tell me.  I know how it is
to be stretched to almost transparency, so let me know what you find out
when you can get to it.  I'd like to know why this is happening, just
for my own peace of mind, let alone resolving the problem for the customer.

--
Gordon Turner
Mycroft Computing
http://www.mycroftcomputing.com