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From: keithb@hpindda.HP.COM (Keith Broussard)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: dBASE IV Problems
Message-ID: <3520009@hpindda.HP.COM>
Date: 29 Aug 89 17:11:15 GMT
References: <205@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu.edu>
Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 57

Oh yes...this is the same problem I have heard from many, many Dbase
IV v 1.0 users.  Note the following common problems that I have with
Dbase IV:

1.  Indexes seem to get corrupted so that large chunks of data are
often skipped during sequential searches, or cyclical repetitions of
records occur.  I.E.  An alphabetical listing will skip all names
between R and V, for example, or a list will get to Z and start again
at C, over and over and over...

2.  Pointers to memo fields get all mixed up.  Sometimes I go to edit
a memo field and I find another record's memo field there, usually
incomplete or corrupted.  I have not found a suitable way to correct
this problem.

3.  When using relations, sometimes a seek on a database which is
related to another database returns the wrong record (usually the next
record).  This problem occurs when a seek is done on database A when
it is related into database B on a common field: i.e.  

	 SELECT 1
	 USE A ORDER IDNUM
	 USE B ORDER Name IN 2
	 SET RELATION TO Name INTO B
	 SEEK 500

For me this has returned with FOUND() = .T. but IDNUM = 501, NOT 500.


These are my most common problems that I can be specific about, but in
general, I have noticed that sometimes records that I am SURE I have
entered have mysteriously disappeared.  I cannot pinpoint the cause of
their disappearance.

Reindexing all of my databases on a daily basis seems to help problems
1 and 3, but I have not found a solution to 2.  If I encounter a
corrupted database, sometimes reindexing doesn't help, but COPYing the
database to a temporary database and then back again, then reindexing,
helps.  I agree that this should not be necessary and is a pain in the
**FLAME**.  Also, I suffer a lack of confidence in the product, since it
seems to have a mind of its own in causing my data to disappear into 
the "bit bucket".

I can't wait for 1.1, since all my code is already written.

BTW, I am using 1.0 on a Novell network version 2.12.  I suspect that
many of these problems are problems with file updating in a network
environment.  In any case, I don't think that Ashton-Tate has
officially recognized these bugs although reports of them are posted
all over their own public BBS.

If you have written an application for someone else, my suggestion is
to include a routine for reindexing databases, and have them run that
every morning.

Regards,
Keith Broussard