Paradox settings in networks – Sharing problems.

After having installed the Paradox Database Engine (BDE) on a workstation in a network, it is normally not necessary to do anything in order to make simultaneous use of data work properly.

In the following a problem that may arise when using GartPlan in a multi-user environment is described.

In some networks it may occur that only one workstation is able to open the GartPlan program. The next workstation trying to do the same is met with the message: “The database is locked by an other user (DBE).” This is due to the program not being able to initialize the use of the database completely. It is the information about, where the sharing control is located, that is unable to sink through.

In Paradox, sharing of data among more workstations is controlled by the file: “Pdoxusrs.net”. The location of this file is important as all workstations operating on the same data must refer to the same file.

If the program is not capable of doing this itself, the configuration of where the file is located must be done manually.

First a folder (directory) for the file “Pdoxusrs.net” must be created on the server on which data are located. The name of the folder is not important and may be e.g. “BDEShare”. Create the folder at the same level as the folder “Gartplan”.

Next all workstations must be configured manually in order to use the new “sharing folder”.

This is done in the Windows control panel, where a configuration tool for the “Borland Database Engine” called: “BDE administrator” can be found. Prior to the configuration you should verify that no other programs using the BDE is running on the current workstation.

On the tabsheet “Configuration” the configuration tree must be expanded to the path Configuration/Drivers/Native. In the “Paradox” attribute set, edit the uppermost setting: “NET DIR”. In this, the path (seen from the workstation) of the newly created folder is entered. “UNC”-paths are not allowed. Access to the folder must be through a logical drive. The drive letter may vary among the workstations. The rest of the path must however be exactly the same on all workstations.

Valid paths:

The paths H:\BDEShare and F:\BDEShare will not conflict depending that the two different drive letter assignments are referencing the same physical location.

Invalid paths:

The paths F:\BDEShare and F:\Temp\BDEShare are not valid as a pair and will produce a conflict where only one workstation at a time will be able to access data. This is also the case even if it is the same physical location that is referenced by the two paths.