Icetips Blog

Today we have discovered a problem in the latest Clarion 7.1 build 6849. This problem affects most of our products and will cause a GPF in the program at runtime. What I found out was that the #PDEFINE template statement, which we have used for years to add defines to the project, doesn't fire in this Clarion 7.1 build so classes that depend on their own defines in the MODULE and DLL attributes are not compiled correctly and will cause a GPF when the classes are instantiated.

I have reported this to SoftVelocity's Problem Tracker and I really hope that this will be fixed in the next build.

If you converted projects from Clarion 6 to 7.1 with our products in them, you should be just fine. This only affects templates that you have added to applications in this latest build of 7.1 and possible some of the latest builds as I'm not 100% certain when this stopped working.

I am also looking into an obscure problem in the SQL browse template that only shows up in 7.1, when the GreenBar is being used and only when a new column has been added. After then app has been closed and re-opened the problem goes away and also if the actions for the SQL browse have been entered after a new column has been added. It could be something in our templates or it could be something that is related to the #PDEFINE issue if some statements are not executing correctly.

Arnor Baldvinsson

My client reported a problem when attempting to run our project that was a bit baffling:

"The procedure entry point _18ProtectedHashTable__ct__@FiP15CriticalSection could not be located in the dynamic link library c60runx.dll"

Since all that we are sending back and forth are the applications and no binary files there was no way that we were mixing any binaries up, besides we are using the exact same builds of Clarion 6.3 - 9059 so this shouldn't be a problem at all.

After asking around I found out that the reason for this is that Clarion 7 includes a Clarion 6 compiled version of Topscan, which is not compiled local so they have to distribute the Clarion 6 versions of the DLLs with Clarion 7. In our case, the Clarion 7 Bin path has been added to the PATH variable, either manually or by an installer (we do not know which one if it has been done by an installer). Not just that, it has been added in front of the Clarion6\bin folder in the path causing the Clarion 6 application to pick up the C60RUNX.DLL from the Clarion 7\Bin folder rather than the Clarion6\Bin folder.

After some experimenting, I found that at least for Clarion 6.3 build 9059 I could have both BIN folders in the PATH as long as the Clarion 7 one was after the Clarion 6 one. The Clarion 6 apps still run without problems and the Clarion 7 Topscan also runs correctly and without problems as far as I can tell.

So, IF you want to put the Clarion 7 BIN folder into the path statement, make sure that you do that after the Clarion 6 BIN folder. Normally you do not need to do this, but if you don't want to copy DLLs to the application folder using the PATH do access the binary files is one way to do it.

Update: It appears that if you are using Clarion 6.3 build 9056 it does not conflict with the C60RUNX.DLL file in Clarion 7.

Arnor Baldvinsson

Roberto Artigas has sent us the latest version of his popular DCT2SQL templates and I have made them available for download on our download page.

According to Robert this new version is compatible with Clarion 7.1. He has fixed some minor issues caused by incorrect placement of #BOXED/#ENDBOXED pairs. And the templates are backward compatible with Clarion 6.3 so you can now use those popular templates on both IDEs

Arnor Baldvinsson

When running Clarion 7 on Vista or Windows 7, some people have run into an issue where they cannot open .hlp files from the IDE. This is not a problem with Clarion 7 as such, but that the templage language still only supports the .hlp file format and Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 do not include the WinHlp32.exe program to open the .hlp files.

Fortunately Microsoft has made them available for download for the past two years or so. Go to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=917607 and download the appropriate program for:

Vista
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2

Note that vendors cannot re-distribute WinHlp32.exe with their products so Softvelocity has to rely on developers downloading and installing the program directly from Microsoft.

Also note that in order to install WinHlp32.exe you must be logged in as administrator.

Arnor Baldvinsson

If Clarion 7.1 crashes on startup with something like:

Clarion Version : 7.1.0.6545
..NET Version         : 2.0.50727.3603
OS Version           : Microsoft Windows NT 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3
Current culture      : English (United States) (en-US)
Working Set Memory   : 38052kb
GC Heap Memory       : 1989kb

Unhandled exception terminated Clarion

Then the chances are pretty good that you do not have the Visual C++ Runtime Library update that is required. To fix this download and install this file from Microsoft: Visual C++ Runtime Library

This installs the VC2005 RTL and Clarion 7.1 will now load properly.

Arnor Baldvinsson