Data Source Connection Lost after Windows 2000 update

[Nigel]

I have several mail merge applications running Word 2000
to extract their data from Paradox databases. After
updating the Windows 2000 machines with all the available
updates these applications fail as the link to the data
seems to be deleted. The same applications merging to
Word 2002 are OK. Any ideas what is going on? I really
need to get the Word 2000 machines to work!

Thanks

 

[Peter Jamieson]

It could be that a Paradox ODBC DSN is removed as a consequence of an update
to the MS data access libraries (MDAC). By default, Word 2002 does not use
ODBC and would not need the DSN.

You could try opening one of the Word documents, starting the VBA Editor,
and use the Immediate window to print the value of
ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSOurce.ConnectString, which should tell you the
name of the DSN that Word is trying to use. Then recreate the DSN in the
ODBC Administrator (assuming that the update hasn't actually removed the
Paradox ODBC driver as well).

This does not sound very likely to me (I certainly do not think the upgrades
result in loss of the Paradox ODBC /driver/) but I suppose it is worth
checking.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

If I understood correctly,you may be able to change your templates so that
they are not connected to a data source, but do the necessary OpenDataSource
in an AutoNew macro instead.

 

[Nigel]

Peter,

I am prevented from connecting to a datasource until the
Paradox Lock files are deleted. These only get deleted
when the calling application (which created the Paradox
data)is closed. I have to keep the application open for
the next stage in the routine. I think somehow or other
Word now thinks there is a sharing violation and deletes
the database connection from the word documents. It is
strange that this was not happening before the updates for
Windows 2000. The application has been running without
problems for more than a year!

I re-wrote part of the application again last night to
replace opening a file based on a template with the
application opening the .doc file directly and merging to
another document. This does not seem to help. I am now
losing the connection with Word 2000 and Word 2002. I am
going to have to find a way of getting rid of the Lock
files until the merge is finished.

Thanks for your help.

Nigel

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Well, it may make no difference but if you /are/ using an ODBC DSN, there is
an "exclusive" access checkbox in the DSN configuration box. However, it
seems to be unchecked (which is what you need) by default, so probably a red
herring, but worth a look IMO.

 

[Nigel]

Peter

I seem to have resolved the problem - somewhat anyway.

I have discovered that if I make the database connection
manually on one PC (While the application is not running)
and save the document, the application will open the
document and make the merge without any problems. If I
try to open the document using the application on a
different PC the connection is deleted. I have therefore
decided to be pragmatic and have allocated one PC to make
all the prints at the end of the day. Previously any user
on the network could open the document and make the
merge. At least I can now get the department producing
some work.

It is almost as if the document is checking to see if it
has been created on the machine now opening it before it
agrees to merge while the Paradox lock files are live in
the database.

Thank you for your input. It was good to feel someone
else was thinking about it!

Nigel

 

[Peter Jamieson]

It is almost as if the document is checking to see if it

has been created on the machine now opening it before it
agrees to merge while the Paradox lock files are live in
the database.

Yes, it does sound rather like that.

If you wanted to investigate further then it could be worth making the same
document work on two different machines, save each one as a .doc, then save
each one as a web page - the mailmerge stuff should be much more visible
then - and do a plain text file comparison on each pair of component files.