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Blinker Support and FAQ
NOVLIB Support and FAQ
Shrinker Support and FAQ
Submitting a Technical Support Query
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Blinker Technical Support Before submitting technical support requests, please check the section Submitting a Technical Support Query to ensure that your request is answered as quickly as possible. |
Q: I am getting a GPF in my application when running
under Windows 2000 or Windows XP that did not occur under DOS or other versions
of Windows.
A: There is a problem in the Windows 2000 DMPI host that
can cause GPFs, particularly when the mouse is moved or bumped, even
if your application does not make use of the mouse. The
solution is to upgrade to Blinker 7.0, which incorporates a fix
within the Blinker DOS extender to circumvent this problem in
Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Q: I have just started using Blinker 5.1/6.0/7.0 with
Clip-4-Win and TopClass and my program always GPFs at startup.
A: Unfortunately, TopClass 3.06 and prior are not able
to set up or handle CA-Clipper memory variables outside of
DGROUP.As a service to out customers we are providing a
replacement .OBJ file to address this issue. Click here
to download the file BL5TOPCL.ZIP (8Kb).
Q: I have just started using Blinker 5.1 and am
getting 'VM Integrity failures with CA-Clipper 5.3a.
A: When using Blinker 5.1 with CA-Clipper 5.3, you must
use the 'B' patch version - i.e. CA-Clipper 5.3b, and you must
also remove all references to 5.3 'fix' OBJs (such as DBGAPI.OBJ)
from your link script.
Q: I have just started using Blinker 5.1 and am
getting a '5.1 requires a later version of BLX?????.LIB.
A: You have the path to the protected mode libraries from a previous
version of Blinker in your LIB environment variable, or the path
is hard coded in your link script. Make sure that your LIB path
points to the Blinker 5.1 supplied libraries, and that your link
scripts have been modified similarly.
Q: I have just started using Windows 95 and the
Blinker SwpRunCmd() function appears to keep failing.
A: The swapper works fine under Windows 95 provided the correct
command processor is set in the COMSPEC environment variable. As
a test try swapping to the DOS command line by running
COMMAND.COM instead of the child program. This test will usually
fail as well. In your AUTOEXEC.BAT file you should ensure COMSPEC
is set to the correct COMMAND.COM. For example: SET COMSPEC=
C:\WIN95\COMMAND.COM, instead of SET COMSPEC=COMMAND.COM.
Q: I have just installed my Blinker and keep getting
Error 1109 `Unable to open file' on the Blinker libraries. I have
checked the LIB subdirectory and there are no library files
there.
A: Occasionally the Blinker library creation utility is not able
to complete successfully at installation, often due to lack of
disk space. Change to the Blinker root directory, where you
should see BLIBLD.EXE. Run this .EXE and the libraries should be
created successfully.
Q: I'm getting GPFs on some , but not all DBCOMMIT() and
DBUNLOCK() calls in my DOS extended CA-Clipper programs. BLIGPF
consistently reports __BMOVE as the offending function, which is
called by a module within the DBFMDX database driver.
A: The problem that you are describing was reported to CA in
December of 1995. They said that the problem seems to be in the
DBFMDX RDD and that it exists in versions 5.2e and 5.3 of
CA-Clipper. CA development is apparently working on the problem.
“There is not a foolproof workaround but on certain files,
adding a blank deleted record at the beginning of the file
prevents the record that you are updating from being the first in
the index.”- George A. Oldridge-Compuserve, Clipper
Forum/Linkers, 8/27/96 #581703-Blinker & __BMOVE GPFs
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NOVLIB Technical Support Prior to submitting a technical support query, please check the section Submitting a Technical Support Query to ensure that your question is answered as quickly as possible. |
Q: CA-Clipper programs using NOVLIB 3.x don't see the
network when linked with EXOSPACE, but only under Windows 95/98.
A: EXOSPACE does not handle certain interrupt calls
correctly under Windows 95 in protected mode (but appears to work
fine under DOS and Windows 3.1). Switching to Blinker as your
linker will resolve this problem completely. Alternatively, click
here
to download a correction for this situation.
Q: I recently upgraded to Novell 4.1 and now I am having problems
with my NOVLIB print queue functions. I can't seem to capture a
print queue. Is there something different with NOVLIB concerning
Novell 3.x vs 4.x that I should know about?
A: The later versions of the Novell VLM drivers are more specific
than earlier versions as to the order in which queues are
captured. In particular, you must ensure all previous captures
are closed before trying to open a new one. The order should
therefore be CAPEND(), then all of the capture setup functions,
and finally the CAPSTART() function.
Q: I have just upgraded to NOVLIB 3.x from NOVLIB 2.1 and
I'm getting Unresolved Externals on some of the NOVLIB functions.
A: To incorporate the new features of NOVLIB 3.x there are two
libraries that you will need to add in your link script in
addition to NOVLIB.LIB. They are NOVLIBCL.LIB and either
NOVDOS.LIB for DOS programs or NOVWIN for Windows programs.
Please see the NOVLIB README.TXT file for details. If you are
using CA-Clipper, please note that due to the CA-Clipper
limitation of 10 significant characters for function names, the
CA-Clipper function names are slightly different from the
C/C++/VB and Delphi function names. The CA-Clipper function names
are documented in the 'Notes' section for each function in the
manual and help file.
Q: I have clients that use database software such as
Visual Foxpro and Visual dBase. Will they be able to use NOVLIB
3.x?
A: NOVLIB 3.x comes both as a static library and a DLL written in
C. As long as the software in question is able to make calls to a
C .DLL then it will be able to use NOVLIB 3.x, so both Visual
Foxpro and Visual dBase are supported, although 'headers' or
interface declarations are not provided.
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Shrinker Technical Support Prior to submitting a technical support query, please check the section Submitting a Technical Support Query to ensure that your question is answered as quickly as possible. |
Q: I'm using Shrinker 3.30 and having a problem.
A: Download the Shrinker 3.40 free update (Click here!).
Q: My compressed WIN32 program faults immediately at
startup before displaying anything.
A: Run a VIRUS CHECK. It has been determined that the
virus identified as 'W95.CIH.1075' by Norton AntiVirus 4.0 can
cause this problem. Similar viruses that insert themselves into
the WIN32 header will also cause this problem.
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Useful Downloads The files mentioned in this section are provided as a service to our customers. These files are provided on an 'as-is' basis, and without technical support! |
CA-Clipper 5.x / NT / Windows 95 / CPU timeslice release
CA-Clipper's keyboard handling causes excessive CPU usage under Windows NT and Windows 95. The CA-Clipper Forum Toolkit, a collection of public domain functions for CA-Clipper, addresses this problem with a function called FT_IDLE(). Source included.
Download Forum Toolkit Library (450K)
CA-Clipper Tools III / AMD K6 / CYRIX / PENTIUM II / R6003 integer divide by zero
CA-Clipper Tools III contains a software timing loop that does not operate correctly on certain 'fast' CPUs, leading to a runtime error 'R6003 integer divide by zero' when your program starts. This file corrects this problem. Note that CA-Clipper 5.3B already includes an official correction for this problem (WAIT_4.OBJ).
Download R6003FIX (2K)
Only one registered user per registered product is entitled to technical support.
The versions of our products currently supported are Blinker 6.0, NOVLIB 3.3, Shrinker 3.5, and DeltaPatch 1.2 and we can only certify that those particular versions are Year 2000 compatible.
Purchasers of new products are entitled to 90 days free technical support from the date of purchase of the product.
Purchasers of product upgrades are entitled to 30 days free telephone technical support from the date of purchase of the update.
Once the free technical support period has expired, you may join the Blinkinc Developers Club for a nominal fee, which entitles you to free fax and email support and interim updates mailed as they become available. Please call (804) 784-2087 for further details.
Submitting a query to technical support
If you are using a non-current version of one of our products, please download the latest free update from here and test with that. If the problem still occurs please download the latest demonstration version (available here) and test with that. If the problem does not occur with the latest demonstration version then you will need to upgrade your product to the latest version by contacting Blink, Inc. at sales@blinkinc.com or 1-(804) 784 2087.
Registered users entitled to technical support may contact us at:
Email (the preferred and most efficient
form of technical support):
blinkersupport@blinkinc.com (For Blinker support)
novlibsupport@blinkinc.com (For NOVL:IB support)
shrinkersupport@blinkinc.com
(For Shrinker support)
Tel: 1-(804) 784-2347
Fax: 1-(804) 784-2357
In order to provide prompt, accurate and helpful replies to technical support questions we will need a minimum of the following information:
Additionally, for Blinker support we will also need (if sending an email, please provide this information in a ZIP archive file, or its equivalent, rather than in the text of the message):
Once you have assembled this information, please email Blinker Support (blinkersupport@blinkinc.com)
Additionally, for NOVLIB support we will also need:
Once you have assembled this information, please email NOVLIB support (novlibsupport@blinkinc.com)
For Shrinker support we will also need:
Once you have assembled this information, please email Shrinker support (shrinkersupport@blinkinc.com)
Free updates
The following product updates are available for free download from here, and we strongly advise upgrading to the latest in the series for each version. Although we continue to make these updates available, please note that we only offer technical support on the very latest version for each product.
Blinker 3.01 -> 3.1 -> 3.2 -> 3.3
Blinker 4.0 -> 4.1
Blinker 5.0 -> 5.1
NOVLIB 3.0 -> 3.1 -> 3.2 -> 3.3
Shrinker 3.01 -> 3.2 -> 3.3->3.4
Demonstration versions
The latest demonstration versions of all our products are available for free download here
If you are not using the very latest version of the product we recommend downloading the latest demonstration version and testing with that to see if the problem is solved in a later version.
 Blinkinc P.O. Box 29858, Richmond, Virginia 23242, U.S.A. Sales: 804-784-2087 Support: 804-784-2347 Fax: 804-784-2357 |
Copyright © Blink, Inc 1996-2003. All rights reserved. 'Blinker', 'Blinkinc DeltaPatch',
'NOVLIB' and 'Shrinker' are trademarks of ASM, Inc.
Blinkinc is a trademark of Blink, Inc. Other names and
products are trademarks of their respective owners.
