Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!hacgate!ashtate!dbase!awd From: awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: dBASE IV problems/questions Summary: 1.1 is coming... Keywords: dBASE Message-ID: <252@dbase.UUCP> Date: 23 Sep 89 20:03:11 GMT References: <234@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu.edu> Organization: Ashton Tate Devlopment Center Glendale, Calif. Lines: 47 In article <234@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu.edu>, coop@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu (Boris Pelakh) writes: > A problem with dBASE IV : > > When a error occurs in a program (still developing ...), and > I choose the Cancel option from the menu that pops up, dBASE occasionally > locks up with an annoying beep, and the only way to get out is with > Ctrl-Alt-Del (pretty ugly). When the system comes back up, some of the files > that were open at the moment (especially .MDX files) end up scrambled > and need to be recovered with CHKDSK (even uglier). Any suggestions ? Ctrl-Alt-Del can do some pretty ugly damage, allright. The lock-up and beep are only indirect causes of the problem. Can you give me more information about how to reproduce the lock-up? You might also want to SET AUTOSAVE ON, which will minimize the damage by flushing files to disk whenever they are written. > A couple of questions : > > 1. I hear all this great stuff about 1.1. And the question is - > WHEN ???!!! > Sorry. Just a little anxious. We're anxious, too. We're in "we will ship no dBASE before its time" mode here--what we have in hand is very good, but we want to ship a product that will completely refute any notions that Ashton-Tate is not committed to quality. Answer: not this month; possibly not next month; soon. We have to go through Beta-test before we ship, and that takes some minimum time. > 2. We are writing a system in dBASE IV that requires security. > The logon security is nice, but what if a person leaves his > terminal unattended for a while - we want to put a screen > that will make him to enter a password after let's say 5 min > with no key press. Can that be done without tying an extra > program to the clock and keyboard interrupt handlers ? This is a good idea for 1.2--we could generalize it to something like: ON TIME