Microsoft KB Archive/106643

Frequently Asked Questions on PowerStation 11-20

PSS ID Number: Q106643 Article last modified on 01-23-1995

1.00

MS-DOS

= SUMMARY =

These are the answers to an additional 10 of the most commonly asked questions about Microsoft FORTRAN PowerStation.

= MORE INFORMATION =

  Q. I get linker errors that start with LNK. Where can I find more information about these errors? A. The LINK32 errors are available in the ERRORS.HLP Windows Help file and in the ERRORS.TXT ASCII text file. Access to ERRORS.HLP is available only from Windows. You can bring up this file from the Visual Workbench by selecting the Help menu and choosing Search For Help On. Type in “errors” in the Help Keyword text field and then choose OK. You can also access the file by opening the File Manager and double-clicking the ERRORS.HLP file in the directory. The ERRORS.TXT file is in the F32directory. It can be read or printed from MS-DOS or Windows like any other text file.   Q. I am getting some errors that begin with DX. Where can I get more information on these errors? A. The DX errors are Phar Lap DOS-extender errors and are available in the ERRORS.HLP Windows Help file and in the ERRORS.TXT ASCII text file. Access to ERRORS.HLP is available only from Windows. You can bring up this file from the Visual Workbench by selecting the Help menu and choosing Search For Help On. Type in “errors” in the Help Keyword text field and then choose OK. You can also access the file by opening the File Manager and double-clicking the ERRORS.HLP file in the directory. The ERRORS.TXT file is in the F32directory. It can be read or printed from MS-DOS or Windows like any other text file.   Q. In FORTRAN version 5.1 there is an option, /Fs, to create a source listing file. Can I do this with PowerStation? A. No, the PowerStation product does not support the source listing option. Most of the functionality of source listings is available though different options in the Visual Workbench. Source browser information, for example, provides a visual means of locating variable definitions and references.   Q. I created a project with the PowerStation Visual Workbench and several of my source files have include statements. When I modify one of these include files and then build the project, the source file does not recompile. Why isn’t there a build dependency for the include files? A. You are probably using the $INCLUDE metacommand and not the INCLUDE statement in your source files. The Visual Workbench build engine does not create dependencies for files on $INCLUDE metacommands. Change all the metacommands to FORTRAN statements and then force the project to rescan dependencies by selecting Project and then choosing Scan All Dependencies.   Q. I am getting the following error: LINK32 : error LNK2133: Size mismatch for symbol and the symbol listed in the error is the name of one of my COMMON blocks. What is causing this error? A. You probably have a COMMON block declared with arrays of different sizes in different source files. In one source file you are initializing the COMMON block with a DATA statement. You must have the object file from the source file that initializes the data in the COMMON block in the link command before any other object file from a source file that references the COMMON block. Moving the object files in the link order will prevent the error from occurring. If you are using a Visual Workbench project, change the filename of the source file that initializes the COMMON block to a name that is alphabetically prior to all other source filenames. This will force the build to include the object file first on the link command line.   Q. Sometimes when I start up the PowerStation Visual Workbench I can’t see some of the windows I had set up when I closed it; they are listed in the Windows menu, but I can’t see or access them. What happened and how can I see my windows again? A. You probably had the inaccessible child windows minimized within the Visual Workbench frame and then closed the Visual Workbench while it was itself minimized. This can easily happen if you exit Windows when the Visual Workbench is still active and minimized. To avoid this problem, never exit the Visual Workbench application when it is in a minimized state when the Visual Workbench still active. You can make any inaccessible child windows visible by selecting the Window menu and choosing Cascade.   Q. When I try to use the PowerStation Visual Workbench browser I get the error: Cannot open the browser database file. Share is not installed or is not active for this drive. How can I avoid this error? A. The Visual Workbench browse utility requires that SHARE.EXE, an MS-DOS file access arbitration utility, is installed prior to starting Windows. The easiest way to do this is put the statement “C:” in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Make sure that you put the SHARE command before any line in the AUTOEXEC.BAT that says “win” or “dosshell.”   Q. How does virtual memory work under the PowerStation product? Is there any way I can change this functionality? A. PowerStation virtual memory management is considerably different depending on whether you are running your application under MS-DOS or under MS-DOS under Windows. If you run your PowerStation application under MS-DOS, virtual memory is managed by the Phar Lap DOS-extender. When your application loads into memory, all declared data must load into memory. If you don’t have sufficient available extended memory, the DOS-extender will use virtual memory on the disk where DOSXMSF.EXE is located. This process is automatic and requires no interaction on the part of the program. If you want to relocate the location used for virtual memory, you can set the DOSX environment variable with the command: SET DOSX=-SWAPDIR X:\MYSWAP Note that X: is the drive/partition you want to use and MYSWAP is the directory you want to place the virtual memory file in. If you want to turn off use of virtual memory, you can set the DOSX environment variable as follows: SET DOSX=-NOVM If you are running your program under an MS-DOS session under Windows, then virtual memory is managed by Windows. You can control the size and type of your Windows swap file by starting the Control Panel application and selecting the 386 Enhanced icon. Please consult your Windows documentation for further details. </li>  Q. I am compiling and linking in two separate steps from the command-line. When I go to run the executable file I get the error: This program cannot be run in DOS mode. What did I do wrong? A. PowerStation applications use an MS-DOS-extender so there is an additional step required to allow the executable to run under MS-DOS. You need to run the BINDMSF.EXE utility on your executable to install a small piece of code called a “stub-loader.” For example, if you had an executable file called MYEXE.EXE, you would use the command line: BINDMSF MYEXE.EXE </li>  Q. Can I run the PowerStation product under OS/2? A. No, FORTRAN PowerStation does not run under or target OS/2 or the MS-DOS-compatibility session under OS/2. Under the MS-DOS- compatibility session, the MS-DOS-extender has a problem that prevents it from working correctly. </li></ol>

Additional reference words: kbinf 1.00 FAQ swap file PharLap KBCategory: kbother KBSubcategory:

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1995.