Shedding Some Light

Today I reviewed a new beta release of the VFP 9 SP2 Help file being prepared by Francis Faure on VFPX. I needed to compare it to the Help file for VFP 8 and when I tried to access the VFP 8 Help menu pad I got the following error:

OLE error code 0x8002801d: Library not registered.

To be clear, I got this error trying to get the Help menu to drop down inside of Visual FoxPro, not selecting the Help option on the menu, or by pressing the F1 key (which failed to bring up the Help file). Puzzled I ignored it and opened the CHM file directly in Windows Explorer. It opened fine and I was able to provide the feedback to Francis. I rarely use VFP 8 these days. Actually I mostly use it to compare behavior to VFP 9, which was exactly the case this afternoon, or to help other developers when I am mentoring or answer questions on the various forums.

I took a shot in the dark and tried using REGSVR32 to register the FoxPro Help EXE found in the Common Files folder. I found out immediately this was the incorrect approach as REGSVR32 barked at me that it failed. Fortunately the Visual FoxPro Wiki came to the rescue as it does so frequently for me. The correct way to register the FoxPro Help executable is to run the EXE with the /RegServer parameter.

FoxHHelp8.EXE /regserver

You can do this via the Windows Command Window, but if you are running Vista, Windows 7, or an earlier OS without Administrator rights, make sure to run the Command Window with administrator access.

[I documented this for my future self in case I need it for another machine - RAS]

I got a call from someone telling me their delete key on their new laptop was mapped wrong. Issue centered around pressing the delete key and getting periods in their word processor documents and email client email editor. The delete key would not delete files in Explorer, and it would not delete emails in the email client. Sounded like a broken delete key or a virus of some sort. Each time I tested out the laptop the delete key deleted characters or files or emails. Strange.

So this time around I had the user show me the problem because it was obvious to me I don’t have much luck with hardware. Sure enough when they hit the delete key it put periods into the word processor.

The difference between the two? I was pressing the dedicated delete key and the user was pressing the delete key on the numeric keyboard. Naturally the user was a bit embarrassed by this, but in reality the laptop is new and it is the first time they have a number pad on the base machine. Once I explained how the delete key on the numeric keypad works all is solved.

The lesson with this tech support call is to not dismiss the user’s observations and for the tech support person to watch the user reproduce the problem when the repro steps are not completely understood.