Hello,

Apologies in advance for my newbie-type grasp of Paradox. Still learning.

I am trying to create a database for event registrants for an annual conference. I have a database that was created in 2004 by my predecessor, and includes a custom form, multiple tables (of course), reports, etc. I need the new one to be essentially the same thing as the old: almost all the same fields, etc.

I am working in Paradox 10, on WinXP. I used the "multi-file utilities expert" to copy the tables, then all of the other Paradox files from the original directory to a new one I created. Then I moved a copy of the original form. Everything is in place in the new directory, but it is not working.

Briefly: I am supposed to be able to enter a conference participant's unique ID number in the first field in the form, which causes all the other fields (name, address, etc) to be automatically pulled from our main database. This works perfectly in the copied form, but when I click back from "edit data" to "view data" the form clears and all data disappears. Checking the main table shows that nothing has been saved there.

Any ideas...?

the coding may involve aliases which need to be changed or recreated. Did you check to see if the data is being saved into the original database. Also there a required primary key which is not being entered in one or more of the tables? All I have for you are questions right now.

Thanks for the reply, and apologies (I'm starting with an apology again!) for the delay in replying. Very busy this week.

I abandoned the new database creation and re-used an older one instead. Tracked down problems one by one -- it was a combination of not having primary keys set correctly, fields that needed defining, and lookup settings. Also learned how to restructure tables and modify the form appearance. It's been a good week of learning! I've begun to create a different database completely from scratch (for our fundraising campaign) to make sure that I have everything straight in my head. So far, so good.

So, for now everything seems to be working correctly with the database I originally posted about, but I do have two new questions...

Right now I have the form located in the WORK directory/alias (along with all of our major database components, including the main member database, history db, and dozens of queries and reports. All of the other files for the new (converted) database -- all tables, queries, reports, etc., are located in a separate alias named "conference 2004." I need to know:
(1) Is there any danger involved in keeping this arrangement of files? It doesn't seem to be affecting the operation of the database, but as I understand it, this is not recommended practice... should I move the form to the alias, or keep it in WORK (this would be my preference; that way it pops up ready to use, along with our other commonly-used forms).
(2) Is there an easy way to rename an alias, and have that change cascade to the related files within it, or is that not possible? I don't see this in the Paradox help file. This change isn't totally necessary, of course. It's just so I don't have to explain to my bosses "well, it SAYS 2004 conference, but this is for 2006..." If this isn't an easy modification, I can live with a misnamed alias.

Thanks,

Philonius

Paradox 10, Win XP, 12-client network using MS SBS2000.

(1) Is there any danger involved in keeping this arrangement of files?....
The only danger is confusion and clutter. I would do it differently by keeping a different alias for each database and keeping all the forms in the working directory. But this would need to be established early on. Which brings me to the second question
(2) Is there an easy way to rename an alias, and have that change cascade to the related files within it, or is that not possible?
It is very easy to rename an alias but it wont cascade in terms of any hard codes already in your database (forms,scripts,reports etc..) It is possible to keep all of the data in the same tables and have an alias named conferences. Your forms could then have a checkbox for each year which would apply a filter (or query your choice) to display only information for that years data. That way you would only need one set of forms and when you modified one it would be standard so any user would never have to know how to interpret more than one form.

Alternatively, you could change your forms and scripts so that instead of using the alias they used the actual path name. Then you could change the alias and it would not matter. It depends on how the alias has been used in your application.

Think of an alias as a nickname. John Smith can have multiple nicknames (Jack, Johnny, Bubba, John, Bignose) and different people can call that person by one of the names and can even add new ones. But when inquiring about Jack Smith if you use a nickname with someone who knows him by another that person will not know who you are talking about. So..., it is better in for formal purposes (your coding) to use John Smith as, short of a court order, that will always be his name while you can use the nick name for talking about him informally. (Connecting to the database)

Hope that helps.