I have Pdox 10 and wrote a set of forms and reports to handle order processing for my 3 person company. I have a LinkSys network attached file server on my LAN where I have stored the working folder for Paradox. I have Wordperfect Office 2002 installed on 3 computers on the LAN and all can access the files and open, edit data, etc...

The problem comes when 2 computers try to access the same data at the same time. Often it's not a matter of both wanting to write data. I might be looking at a form that shows data from several tables and won't be in data entry mode. But somebody else can't access the same tables at the same time from one of the other computers until I close the form.

I can't run programs on the file server. It is purely for storage (It is a closed Linux with Samba system made by LinkSys).

I read somewhere that Pdox can be used multiuser with files on one PC while others access the db via a LAN. But I don't want to have to have a specific PC on all the time. The file server is already on all the time and want to store the files there (plus that already works fine as long as only one person at a time accesses it).

So is there a way to tell Pdox that it's OK to share the db at least to some degree when the files are not on one of the PCs?

Basically, as long as the individual workstations share a .NET file on the network server, then they can coedit data tables. There are some BDE settings to be checked and possibly changed, and you will need to alter aliases to reflect the new location(s) of your data.

Here's a quick and dirty example: You have an address book with one table on a standalone machine that you want to make networkable.

1. Create a directory on your network where the table can be moved. Make sure all workstations can see it and have full access rights to it. Map a network drive to it and assign the same letter to each workstation (drive letters are important to Paradox).

2. Copy the table (and forms, reports, etc..., if you like) to the directory.

3. Open the BDE administrator on each workstation and set the NetFile location to the directory you created on the network.

4. Open Paradox and change any aliases to reflect the new drive letter/location of the data.

5. Turn off opportunistic locking on the server and write behind caching on the workstations.

6. Launch your application normally and go to work. If you've moved your forms to the network, then adjust your links to point there.

7. Check for performance issues and adjust the BDE settings as needed.