"Permission Denied" error

[Richard Kreiss]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Boaz Bezborodko [mailto:boaz at mirrotek.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 11:45 AM
> To: Richard Kreiss
> Cc: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Subject: Re: "Permission Denied" error
> 
> On 10/8/2013 11:40 AM, Richard Kreiss wrote:
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: filepro-list-bounces+rkreiss=verizon.net at lists.celestial.com
> >> [mailto:filepro-list-bounces+rkreiss=verizon.net at lists.celestial.com]
> >> On Behalf Of Boaz Bezborodko
> >> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 11:28 AM
> >> To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> >> Subject: "Permission Denied" error
> >>
> >> I've gotten this error a couple of times, but this is the first time
> >> I know what was running that probably caused it.
> >>
> >> I was running a long job that was processing payments on a few
> >> thousand invoices at once.  (One check for about 9,000 invoices and
> >> can take as much as an hour to run.)  As it processes it accesses a
> >> control record for invoice numbers and does a protected lookup. While
> >> I was running this someone else start running a billing operation
> >> that generates invoices and accesses this same record. Both access
> >> the record in protected mode and I was seeing where each program was
> occasionally
> >> waiting on the other for the record to be unlocked.   I got the error
> >> "Permission Denied" about the time that I think the billing program
> finished.
> >>
> >> In the programing I lookup 'fln -p' each time I want to get a number,
> >> read the number, increment it, and then use 'WRITE fln' to release the lock
> like this:
> >> lookup inv = invno  r=("1")   -ep
> >> com(5)=inv(167) ; inv(167)=com(5)+"1" ; WRITE inv
> >>
> >> When a program ends it will close the file.  Is there something in
> >> the process that allows Filepro to return deny access instead of
> >> returning a record locked response such that this error occurs? Even
> >> if this is a relative rarity, it still happens to me quite often when
> >> I happen to have these checks paying off large numbers of invoices.
> >>
> >> I'm running Windows Filepro 5.6.10R9 to a Samba file server.
> > Use -w option with your lookup - sample for 5.7 help file
> >
> > Example:
> >   getzip if:
> >        then: lookup zip=zipcode k=ky i=a -npxw
> >          if: LOCKED(zip)
> >        then: goto ziplkd
> >     ......
> >   ziplkd if:
> >        then: p = "Press \r Y \r or \r N \r"
> >        then: msgbox "Zipcode \"" { ky { "\" is locked.\nTry again?",p,"YN"
> >          if: @BK eq "Y"  ' Pause for 5 seconds and try again.
> >        then: sleep "5000" ; goto getzip
> >
> > Is this the type programming you are looking for?
> >
> >
> > Richard Kreiss
> > GCC Consulting
> >
> > Office: 410-653-2813
> >
> 
> Not really.  To my mind Filepro shouldn't be giving me this error at all.  The
> lookup -p should simply have to wait for a record lock. Which also begs the
> question of what Filepro will do in a situation like this when the -w option is
> used.  Will it still give a "Permission Denied"
> error?  Or will introducing a SLEEP delay reduce the chance of the error
> because the program that is still running is less likely to be doing a lookup
> during the time when the file can't be accessed.
> 
> Boaz

In the sample above, the sleep is just a wait state before looping back to see if the record has been released.  What your program does when locked() is true, is your choice.   I would surmise that checking to see if the record is locked prior to performing your write could eliminate your problem.  This may very well be the source of your problem, trying to write to a record that is locked by another process.


Richard Kreiss
GCC Consulting

Office: 410-653-2813