Reporting to the MAX-Tech Tips-Tech Tips CMS Windows 4.5

For Cougar Mountain Software Support's
Professional Version (V2012, V2011, V2010, V2009, V12-V6)

Tech Tips-Backup/Restore for the Reporting to the MAX

Accounting for Windows and Point of Sale for Windows, version 4.5 is equipped with a backup/restore utility for backing up and restoring data files. The feature uses PKWARE’s PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE to compress and store the data in a user-specified path. Backups and restores are initiated by a menu option within the company desktop. The software automatically backs up or restores the data for the current company code. The backup/restore feature can archive the data on the computer’s hard drive or a network drive, or on floppy disks, removable media drives such as JAZ drives, or a writeable CDROM. This feature alone makes it worthwhile for your clients to move up to version 4.5. There is no substitute for good backups and we still encounter too many customers who don’t have them.

Version 4.5 also includes a new utility for adjusting the Vendor Balance in the AP Master File. If you discover Control Report errors and find that the balance in the Open Item File is correct, you can run this utility to make the balance in the master file equal to the balance of the open items. This is a useful utility if you have to restore the AP Master File from a backup. Without the utility, you would have to restore the open, line, and history files with the master file and reenter all invoices, payments, and adjustments since the backup.

Occasionally we encounter an installation that will not run Data Exchange because of a "Can’t Find Installable ISAM" error. This error can be caused by one of several problems, and you might have to look a while to find the cause. Most ISAM errors can be solved with the following information.

ISAM is an acronym for Indexed Sequential Access Method which is utilized by indexed databases such as dBASE, FoxPro, Btrieve, and Paradox. The Microsoft Jet database engine and therefore Data Exchange can access these different databases through user-installable drivers. If Data Exchange is unable to find these user-installable drivers, it generates the "Can’t Find Installable ISAM" error message.

The paths to the installable ISAMs are stored in the [Installable ISAMs} section of the DX.INI file which is found in the folder where CMSMAIN resides. Following is an example of the [Installable ISAMs] section of the DX.INI file on an NT Workstation.

[Installable ISAMs]

;MS-Access 2.0 Engine DLL’s (requires 1994 version of VBDB300.DLL)

FoxPro 2.0=C:\WINNT\SYSTEM\xbs200.dll

FoxPro 2.5=C:\WINNT\SYSTEM\xbs200.dll

dBASE III=C:\WINNT\SYSTEM\xbs200.dll

dBASE IV=C:\WINNT\SYSTEM\xbs200.dll

Paradox 3.X=C:\WINNT\SYSTEM\pdx200.dll

Btrieve=C:\WINNT\SYSTEM\btrv200.dll

Paradox 4.X=C:\WINNT\SYSTEM\pdx200.dll

The first thing to check is that each .DLL can be found in the drive and folder specified. If the file is not there, or the drive letter is wrong or not connected, or the folder does not exist, Data Exchange will not find the Installable ISAM. Verify that the database name is spelled correctly and that there are no extraneous spaces or characters in the name. For instance, verify that a space separates dBASE and IV, and that only one space separates them. If two spaces or no space separates them, Data Exchange will not find the Installable ISAM.

If the paths and database names check out, look for the MSAES110.DLL, MSAJT110.DLL, and VBDB300.DLL files. These files must exist in the WINDOWS/SYSTEM or WINNT/SYSTEM folder and have a date of 04/28/93 or newer. If one of these files is an older version, Data Exchange will not find the Installable ISAM.

Larry Sweat
Technical Support and Information Systems Manager