[sims] FMS fatal error

[randle]

Hi

 

I'm trying to install FMS on a few Windows 7 computers and on two have been successful however further computers now give me the error

Fatal Error:Unable to load the suppliers focus

&

Fatal Error:Unable to load the Purchase Order Processing

when clicking these buttons under Accounts Payable.

 

I've worked through the install document provided by Capita which even has a workaround for this error. This involves:

1. Log in to the workstation as an Administrator.

2. Select Start | Run and enter regedit to open the Registry Editor.

3. Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE tree.

4. Expand the SOFTWARE branch.

5. Right-click on Borland and select Permissions from the drop-down list.

6. Highlight Users.

7. Select Full Control and click the OK button.

8. Exit the Registry Editor window.

 

The following steps explain how to change the path of the PDOXUSRS.NET file:

 

1. Create a new folder in C:, e.g. C:\BDEShare, and copy the Pdoxusrs.net file into it.

2. Open the Windows Control Panel from the Start menu.

3. Double-click on BDE Administrator to open the BDE Administrator dialog.

4. Select the Configuration tab.

5. Expand the Configuration tree, then the Drivers tree, then the Native tree.

6. Highlight PARADOX and edit the NET DIR setting. Enter the path of the newly created

folder, e.g. C:\BDEShare.

7. Close the BDE Administrator window.

8. Ensure that all FMS users have Full Control permissions to the C:\BDEShare folder.

 

UAC is also already off so isn't an issue.

 

Any ideas as Capita support seem to be stumped at the moment.

[featured_spectre]

are you doing a local install or a network install??

[glennda]

it happens here havn't got to the bottom yet - stick the program in Xp sp3 compatablity mode and it works.

 

Weird thing is it happens on different machines across the school all built from the same image and gpo's etc! some like it some dont!

[bossman]

@randle:

 

Had the same problem when we first moved to Windows 7 back in February, on your Sims server in the Sims dir you should have a folder called lockdir, in this dir you should have the PDOXUSRS.NET file this lockdir folder should have the appropriate permissions on it for the security groups that wish to access it.

 

Then on the client workstation you are required to log in with admin access rights and alter the BDE through the administrator tool (I'm sure you know where this is) once in there you make the necessary changes i.e. the path to the lockdir folder on the Sims server and change the STRICTINTEGRTY to true as in the attached pic.

 

 

 

Hope this helps

 

Let me know how you get on

 

P.S @glennda you too

[glennda]

got a feeling this will have to wait until the next image rollout! i'm not doing that on all the machines in the school (every hod has access to fms for orders)

[randle]

I was wondering whether the PDOXUSRS.NET file could be put somewhere central and all installations pointing to this however the instructions from Capita say to set this locally. Are you saying it can be centrally stored instead?

 

Permissions on this folder are already set appropriately for SIMS users so just need to change the BDE configuration. Interestingly the Capita instructions don't mention to change the STRICTINTEGRTY value to true!!

[randle]

Well that seems to have worked thanks bossman however am concerned as to why Capita support didn't mention this!? What is the purpose of PDOXUSRS.NET?

[bossman]

Well that seems to have worked thanks bossman however am concerned as to why Capita support didn't mention this!? What is the purpose of PDOXUSRS.NET?

 

Explanation of sorts here

 

Happy reading

 

Pleased you are up and running again

[bossman]

Well that seems to have worked thanks bossman however am concerned as to why Capita support didn't mention this!? What is the purpose of PDOXUSRS.NET?

 

And some more reading on Borland here

 

enjoy

[randle]

Many thanks for that

[randle]

Any ideas why this wasn't suggested by Capita support though?

[bossman]

Any ideas why this wasn't suggested by Capita support though?

 

Every installation of Sims within schools is seemingly different and sometimes what is a generic guide to what may be the solution sometimes needs a little tweak.

 

I did have a problem with the dotnet framework 4 which somehow stopped the staff from generating reports, swapped the protocol within Sims through the tools to TCP from http and it just works.

 

I will have a look at the way the IE GPO is delivered when I get round to it hehe!

 

Just be happy that you are sorted and you can now rest easy tonight while you have a glass of whatever and something nice to eat.

 

Enjoy your evening

[Sylv3r]

I was wondering whether the PDOXUSRS.NET file could be put somewhere central and all installations pointing to this however the instructions from Capita say to set this locally. Are you saying it can be centrally stored instead?

 

Permissions on this folder are already set appropriately for SIMS users so just need to change the BDE configuration. Interestingly the Capita instructions don't mention to change the STRICTINTEGRTY value to true!!

 

I've moved the PDOXUSRS.NET file to a shared area and set the necessary permissions and using the Borland Administrator pointed to the mapped drive and works with no problems.

[matt40k]

Scripting FMS installation on Win7 - Scripting #CapitaSIMS FMS installation #Windows7 | Matt40k

[vikpaw]

I was wondering whether the PDOXUSRS.NET file could be put somewhere central and all installations pointing to this however the instructions from Capita say to set this locally. Are you saying it can be centrally stored instead?

 

Permissions on this folder are already set appropriately for SIMS users so just need to change the BDE configuration. Interestingly the Capita instructions don't mention to change the STRICTINTEGRTY value to true!!

 

I've moved the PDOXUSRS.NET file to a shared area and set the necessary permissions and using the Borland Administrator pointed to the mapped drive and works with no problems.

 

I don't fully understand the system, so @bossman 's first link was a really interesting read. It seems the pdox.net file should be in a public shared directory, unless somewhere in the FMS coding they also use the shared network directory as well and control multiple users in their own way. This is key to having multiple users, so i'm confused as to why it's recommended to leave it local.

 

This could have implications with regards to the change that was advised with Spring 11 release:

 

Ability to update FMS when other users are in FMS

Previously when you posted a Transaction Batch or Transferred Bills you needed to ensure all users were out of FMS, this restriction has been removed

 

and also worryingly this alert that came out during the summer:

 

This effects both the Spring and Summer Releases of FMS and is caused when FMS is being updated from Fees Billing.

1. Some schools are getting an error message ‘Period is Closed’ when transferring bills (where the extras are posting into this financial year and fees are posting into the next financial year).
   

If you are experiencing this issue please call the Financial Hotline who can provide you with a patch.

1. If one person is in FMS creating an invoice whilst another user is updating payers from within Fees Billing, in certain circumstances two journals are being created with the same Journal Number. These become apparent when you look at posted journals within the Manual Journal Processing.
   

Our current advice (until a correction is available) is to ensure that no one is logged into FMS whilst posting from Fees Billing

1. On the Summer Release (only) when posting any transactions except Cash or Cheques transaction types within Fees Billing the Journal created is being duplicated with different journal numbers. When drilling into the transactions within the Chart of Accounts review the duplicate journals will be displayed.
   

Our current advice (until a correction is available) is not to post any transactions from Fees to FMS.

 

Some official advice would not go amiss.

[matt40k]

You shouldn't shove the pdoxusr.net file in a shared (network) drive, it should be a local path.

[vikpaw]

So what about bossman's link, and the reference to paradox 4.0 locking protocol concurrency, and the talk of all users accessing the same pdoxusrs.net file?

Are you saying the each have their own local .net file and it is referred to in the central *.lck file , so that's okay?

Incidentally, having made no changes whatsoever, my test machine in the office has pdoxusrs.net on the C: drive root, but nothing on a working station down in the finance office, in fact i couldn't find the file at all, despite it being used for FMS daily. I'm not entirely sure what's going on. Will have to check the 2nd machine i installed later.

[matt40k]

So what about bossman's link, and the reference to paradox 4.0 locking protocol concurrency, and the talk of all users accessing the same pdoxusrs.net file?

Are you saying the each have their own local .net file and it is referred to in the central *.lck file , so that's okay?

Incidentally, having made no changes whatsoever, my test machine in the office has pdoxusrs.net on the C: drive root, but nothing on a working station down in the finance office, in fact i couldn't find the file at all, despite it being used for FMS daily. I'm not entirely sure what's going on. Will have to check the 2nd machine i installed later.

 

Back in the days of SQL Anywhere, you had to worry about .lck files. Nowadays MSSQL deals with all that. pdoxusrs.net is machine specific and MUST be accessable by all users who will use FMS, putting on a network drive would be foolish, you want to limit the number of problems (failed mapped drive) and because the users will need full access, it'll better on a local drive as well to limit the security.

 

With Win 7 (ie Vista, Win 7, Windows Server 2008 (R2) etc), you can't write to a file in protected areas - root of drives, program files etc with either turning UAC off (stupid) or elevated user access (again stupid). So you need to move pdoxusrs.net to a subfolder. Capita I believe are looking at moving it for new installations of FMS from the next release to C:\programdata\Capita or something, I personally, create a folder called SIMS in the root of c:\ - c:\SIMS which I use for the FMS transfer out folder - as if you have a network glitch, you're bursar won't be moaning because they have to redo the orders as the file can't be regenerated, again cutting the risk - and other legacy applications - satellite Nova-T etc. This also makes permissions similar - SIMS Users and SIMS Admins. So the Attendance, SEN, Finance, Timetablers will be SIMS Admins and everyone else will be SIMS users.

 

If you're putting pdoxusrs.net on a network drive you're using old advice that isn't correct.

[bossman]

If you're putting pdoxusrs.net on a network drive you're using old advice that isn't correct.

 

It may be old technology which may or may not be correct in it's entirety but for the past 6 years I have not had a problem with using this method which only utilises the technology for that user on that workstation and we have had not one problem with network glitches or using a mapped drive (all very stable here for the past 10 years) I did try localising the pdoxusrs.net file but different users on different workstations had different structures in FMS and it all seemed too unstable and faults would have occurred had we remained using it this way that's for sure.

 

As for security, well all I can say is that the user group who we have defined as users of FMS are the only group that can access this shared folder and this is fastened down to just 3 individual users who have the access rights and permissions set at this level and below.

 

You pays your money and you makes your choice and for us this works excellently and there is no scripts to run when upgrading FMS as the workstations upgrade through the usual procedure when the server has been upgraded to the latest version.

 

All the transfers both in and out are setup on the server and this just works for all the SIMS modules also like Exams etc so keeping everything central is best in my opinion.

 

@matt40k No disrespect to your good self, you have probably used and developed your own system and I do follow what you are saying.

[matt40k]

Apprete it works for you, I'm not saying do as I say, after all the golden rule is if it works' don't fix it. Just be aware people look on here and it may not work for everyone. My method works for over 350 odd different setups.

[PaulW]

Thanks folks,

just solved my FMS problem thanks to this thread.

Paul.

[vikpaw]

Thanks folks,

just solved my FMS problem thanks to this thread.

Paul.

 

to the wonderful world of EduGeek.net^TM

Stick around for a while - head over to the Newbies thread and introduce yourself, and grab some tea and eduhobnobs

[TheScarfedOne]

Ooh, you providing Mr Paw?

[matt40k]

It may be old technology which may or may not be correct in it's entirety but for the past 6 years I have not had a problem

 

That is a dangerous idea - "but I've always done it like that". Anyway, I digress off topic.

[vikpaw]

Ooh, you providing Mr Paw?

 

Sure, actually I've got a nice Kopi Luwak to try out.