Microsoft KB Archive/130603

= How to Use SET PATH to Control Which Table Opens First =

Article ID: 130603

Article Last Modified on 2/11/2000

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual FoxPro 3.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q130603



SUMMARY
Visual FoxPro uses SET PATH to determine which file opens first when multiple files have the same name and no database (.DBC file) is current. This behavior matches the behavior of prior versions of Microsoft FoxPro.



MORE INFORMATION
To see this behavior, assume the following directory structure: C:\MAIN C:\MAIN\ONE C:\MAIN\TWO Directory MAIN contains two .DBC files (d_one and d_two). Both databases are open, neither is current. SET DEFAULT TO C:\MAIN OPEN DATABASE d_one OPEN DATABASE d_two SET DATABASE TO The d_one database contains a T_ONE.DBF table that resides in C:\MAIN\ONE. The d_two database also contains a T_ONE.DBF table that resides in C:\MAIN\TWO.

Given this scenario, no table is opened if the following command is issued: USE t_one This is because the current directory is MAIN where no table named "t_one" resides, and no database container (.DBC file) is current. Visual FoxPro looks for a free table named T_ONE.DBF in the current MAIN directory and doesn't find one, so it generates this error: File C:\MAIN\T_ONE.DBF does not exist. However, if you had used SET PATH to set the path, Visual FoxPro would have located the file in which ever directory occurred first. For example: SET PATH TO C:\MAIN\TWO;C:\MAIN\ONE ** T_ONE.DBF in directory TWO is opened.

SET PATH TO C:\MAIN\ONE;C:\MAIN\TWO ** T_ONE.DBF in directory ONE is opened. To guarantee that a particular table in a database container (.DBC file) is opened, use Visual FoxPro's exclamation (!) symbol notation. For example: USE d_one!t_one However, if the t_one tables did not belong to a database container (.DBC file), the exclamation (!) symbol notation could not be used. This behavior is consistent with FoxPro versions 2.x. For tables that don't belong to a Visual FoxPro database, you must use the FoxPro version 2.x method to open a specific table: USE TWO\t_one    && Assumes current directory is C:\MAIN

Additional query words: VFoxWin

Keywords: kbcode KB130603

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