Subj : Borland Paradox Engine 3.0
To   : borland.public.cpp.borlandcpp
From : Doug Nichols
Date : Wed Jun 23 2004 02:02 pm

I wrote, and still support, a multi-user DOS database application that 
uses the Borland Paradox Engine. The various programs have been running 
for some years in a busy office environment, mostly trouble free.

The programs use v2.0 of the engine, which is generally very reliable 
but does have a bug with unlocking tables that causes trouble from time 
to time. With recent more heavy use of the system, this problem has got 
worse.

In an attempt to fix the problem, I am now trying to convert to version 
3.0 of the Paradox Engine - a product that has sat on my shelf for 
years. (I could convert to some other product that is still commercially 
available, such as CodeBase, but this would be more work, which I want 
to avoid if possible.)

While the new version of the engine completely cures the unlocking 
problem, two of the programs in the project no longer work well 
together: they crash unpredictably, sometimes causing a sharing 
violation on the lock control file. I am experimenting with all sorts of 
combinations of swap buffer sizes, overlay buffer sizes, numbers of 
table handles, you name it. Nothing seems to work with complete 
reliability. Yet both programs work perfectly well in the absence of the 
other (multiple instances of either of them are fine, as they should be).

Before I spend any more time trying to work out what is going on, does 
anyone have any experience of Paradox Engine version 3.0. Does it have 
any foibles that I should know about?

I notice in the manual that Borland mention a "specific technical 
information document" relating to memory corruption problems with the 
engine. They give it the title "ti738". Is this still available anywhere?

Doug Nichols

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