PC runtime version quits

[michele]

My pc runtime version of a database acts really funny. It just quits when I try to do something.

Even though the database works fine by itself and a Mac runtime version also works smoothly.

Can anybody tell me what might be happening?

Thankyou for reading and eventually answering my question.

[danjacoby]

Check to make sure all the supporting files (.DLL files, for instance) are present.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

FileMaker Developer 5 and Developer 5.5 do not distribute--due to a licensing restriction---2 Microsoft DLL's that are needed for their efficient operation.

COMCTL32.dll and SHFOLDER.dll

You must include them in your runtime file distribution.

HTH

Old Advance Man

[michele]

Thankyou, this was indeed the reason.

I thought (should stop thinking sometimes ) ) that these .dll 's had to be present on your system, so I didn't include them in the solution.

[dynaflash]

Do the missing .dll's also apply to Developer 4?

[Steven H. Blackwell]

That's what I get for answering questions late at night. What I should have said is that these DLL's should be there and if not they should be installed with the .exe installer Microsoft provides. Later system versions usually have them, but even some versions of Windows 98 do not. There are several MS TIL's on this subject.

It is absolutely correct that these dll's should not merely be copied to a Windows OS machine.

Thanks for catching this.

Old Advance Man

[DykstrL]

OAM - I'm sorry - your information is incorrect and even dangerous.

SHFOLDER.DLL and COMCTL32.DLL are already included in the base Windows O/S install unless it was a custom install. Telling people to include those in your runtime solution is courting trouble - i.e., DLL HELL. Which version do you distribute? 95?, 98?, NT?, 2000?, XP? - they're all different versions. Installing the wrong version might do real harm to a user's computer.

True, FileMaker 5.0 or 5.5 does work better with the W2K version of these DLLs, but will still work just fine with older (9X) versions.

You DO NOT need to include those files with your runtime solutions. I have been distributing (and supporting) FileMaker Runtime packages (via CD and Web) for over 5 years and have never had to include those files - in fact, that is one of the really good things about FM runtime solutions - they are very non-intrusive when it comes to the O/S.

[ January 31, 2002: Message edited by: dykstrl ]

[bcwilliams]

You might consider advising your PC users they must have IE 4 or higher on their machine in order to run your FileMaker solution. All needed .dll files are included.