PRB: Active Documents Flash and Disappear When Run (207952)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows 6.0
This article was previously published under Q207952

SYMPTOMS

Active Document applications start and then immediately end. This may happen so quickly that the application does not even appear to start.

CAUSE

Here are three known causes for this behavior:

  • There is not a READ EVENTS command in the Run method of the ActiveDoc class.

  • The ActiveDoc class is not the main program in the project. This normally causes the READ EVENTS in the Run method of the ActiveDoc class not to be encountered.

  • The Windows' file association with the .app file extension is something other than "Visual.FoxPro.Application.6".

RESOLUTION

To troubleshoot the problem, verify the following:

  1. Make sure that the ActiveDoc class is the main program in the project. To do this, select the ActiveDoc class in the Project Manager Classes tab and choose Set Main from the Project menu. The class should now appear in bold face.

    Make sure there is a READ EVENTS command in the Run method of the ActiveDoc class. It should be after the menu (if any) and form is run.

    If the ActiveDoc application still will not run after verifying both of the above, check the file association for the .app file name extension in the registry. Look under the following two keys:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.app HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.app

    Both should be set to "Visual.FoxPro.Application.6" for the Active Document applications to run properly.
  2. Make sure there is a READ EVENTS command in the Run method of the ActiveDoc class. It should be after the menu (if any) and form is run.

    If the ActiveDoc application still will not run after verifying both of the above, check the file association for the .app file name extension in the registry. Look under the following two keys:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.app HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.app

    Both should be set to "Visual.FoxPro.Application.6" for the Active Document applications to run properly.
  3. If the ActiveDoc application still will not run after verifying both of the above, check the file association for the .app file name extension in the registry. Look under the following two keys:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.app HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.app

    Both should be set to "Visual.FoxPro.Application.6" for the Active Document applications to run properly.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Active Document applications are like other FoxPro executable files. They need a READ EVENTS to keep them from ending. This concept has been in FoxPro for many years with the Foundation Read in FoxPro 2.x and then with the READ EVENTS command in Visual FoxPro.

When Active Document applications are run either in the Browser or Standalone, they use the Visual FoxPro runtime files, vfp6r.dll, vfp6run.exe and vfp6renu.dll. The runactd.prg file that is set as the default ActiveDoc Launcher in the Options dialog box, File Locations tab is what the Tools menu, Run Active Document command calls. This program has code to start the Active Document in the Browser or Standalone. If the .app file extension is not associated properly, the runtime files are not used.


Steps to Reproduce Behavior

  1. Use the steps in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article if you do not already have an Active Document application:

    182579 HOWTO: Getting Started With Active Documents

  2. Set the form in the application to be the main program or remove the READ EVENTS in the ActiveDoc class' Run method.
  3. Build the project into an application.
  4. From the Tools menu, choose Run Active Document. Locate the application that was just built. In the Hosting drop-down list box, select either In Browser or Stand Alone.
  5. Alternately, instead of step 2, change one of the registry values referred to in the RESOLUTION section to "FoxPro" or any other text string and then follow steps 3 and 4.

REFERENCES

For additional information about Active Document applications, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

182579 HOWTO: Getting Started With Active Documents

182580 HOWTO: Setting Up a Quick Menu for an ActiveDoc App

186015 HOWTO: Pass Parameters to an ActiveDoc

197861 SAMPLE: ADOCtl.Exe Demonstrates Active Documents, RDS and ADO

190771 FILE: Vfp6rt.exe Distributing Run-Time Files w/ Active Document

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/11/2001
Keywords:kbActiveDocs kbprb kbprint kbReportWriter KB207952
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.