Tales From Tech 2 - Issue: 28.2

Today, I wanted to continue my discussion of some of the most common error messages that you might encounter in PowerChurch Plus Versions 8 and 8.5.

Anyway, thinking about vegemite reminded me of that old saying: Stop beating the dead horse because if you can't make a live horse drink when you lead him to water, you should stop wasting time on the dead one and focus your attention on the live, stubborn one.

(Okay, okay. Don't call the SPCA. I'm not really recommending that you go beat a horse.)

API LIBRARY NOT FOUND

Where, oh where has my little API Library gone? Oh where, oh where can it be?

This error is usually caused by a problem with your shortcut to PowerChurch Plus and the easiest way to fix it is to delete the shortcut (not the program) and then run the NETSETUP.EXE program to replace it. The NETSETUP.EXE program is in the directory where PowerChurch Plus is installed.

DETAIL BAND TOO LARGE

I only know of one or two things that can cause this message and it is not that you've put too much data in PowerChurch Plus. No amount of dieting or exercise can reduce the detail band, but there is a simple remedy.

This message is generally seen when printing checks from within Accounts Payable or Payroll and the most common cause is when the printer is set to landscape instead of portrait orientation.

To fix the issue, close PowerChurch Plus, bring up your printer properties, change the paper orientation to portrait, start PowerChurch Plus and then try printing your checks again.

PROGRAM HAS PERFORMED AN ILLEGAL OPERATION

First, let me say that my client, PowerChurch Plus, has not performed any illegal operations and the charges against it are utterly false. There are extenuating circumstances:

Hey, did I sound like a lawyer? Probably not, I guess, but I will stand up to defend the software.

There are a number of reasons why you might see this message and it is entirely possible (probable, in fact) that something outside PowerChurch Plus caused it (like other programs running in the background or an issue with system resources), so don't rush to call the police because you may be able to nab the culprit yourself.

If you get this error, the first thing to try is to simply restart the computer, close any programs running in the background (if you feel comfortable doing this), start PowerChurch Plus, reindex all of the data files and then simply try whatever you were doing again.

If you still get the error, call us.

If you don't get the error, you're probably okay, but since this issue may be system related, you might want to go ahead and have your computer support staff (of course, that might be you) perform a drive scan and a virus check, just in case of problems. You might also want to make a new backup or two soon, just to be safe.

"DO" WINDOW WHEN STARTING POWERCHURCH PLUS

If the executable program file for PowerChurch Plus becomes damaged somehow, you will probably not be able to run the program and you may see a window appear with the word "do" in it when you try starting the software.

If this happens, find and rename the program executable (PCPLUS8.EXE or PCPLUS85.EXE, depending on your version) and reinstall the software.

(By the way, if you reinstall the software, the program files will be overwritten. It cannot harm your existing data files, however. Since reinstalling overwrites the program files, if any Maintenance Releases were made available after the program date on your installation CD, make sure to go back and get the latest Maintenance Release when you get a chance.)

I believe that most every time we've seen this happen, it's been virus or hard drive related, so after getting PowerChurch Plus back up and running (or maybe even before), it might be a good idea to run a virus check and perform a thorough scan of the hard drive that PowerChurch Plus is installed on.

FILE ACCESS DENIED / FILE IN USE BY ANOTHER

Several processes within the program require exclusive use of the data files. In these cases, if any of the files are in use, the program will display a message to indicate that a file is in use or that you cannot access a file.

There are several things that might cause you to get one of these messages. For example, if you accidentally start more than one copy of the program or if you are on a network and you try to reindex while someone is entering data. You may also get one of these messages if someone is accessing the data files through the Database Manager or if a data file is opened outside the program.

The file in use message can come up in some cases when you try to update records while a data entry screen is open. For example, if you bring up the View Posted Contributions screen in Payroll (hey, I'm just kidding, the View Posted Contributions screen is in Contributions, believe it or not) and then you try to post contributions, the program will politely tell you no (and then it will smack you on the hand for trying).

Basically, if you get one of these messages and you're on a network, ask around to see if anyone else is in the program and what they're doing. If they were in a data entry screen when you were trying to post, for example, try whatever you were doing again after they finish. If you're on a stand-alone computer, make sure you don't have two copies of the program running.

If these suggestions fail, the next thing might be to simply restart the computer or network (if you feel comfortable doing so) and then bring up just one copy of the program and try what you were doing again.

XXINFO.FPT MISSING OR INVALID (WHERE XX IS MA, ME, AP, AR, CO, PC OR FA)

The various files ending in "INFO.FPT" contain setup information and they can be damaged if the computer is not shut down properly or if the power goes out while you're in the middle of entering data (which in a way is the same thing, only it's the electricity to blame). These files could also become corrupt if there is a problem with the drive itself or if another program running in the background causes some kind of conflict.

Fortunately, these files only contain program setup information and not actual data, so unless there are other problems, you probably haven't lost anything but setup information which generally can be easily recreated.

If you have a current backup (and I mean an "I won't lose anything by restoring this backup" kind of backup), just restore it and as long as the problem occurred after the backup was made, you should be ready to go (back to work, that is). Before you begin, you might make a backup of your current data to a different disk or set of disks, just in case you have problems restoring the previous backup.

The key is not to restore a backup unless it is recent and you aren't going to lose much or anything as far as data is concerned (unless you are really bored and dying for something to do), because we can usually fix these problems in just a few minutes by phone. In other words, if you have pretty much nothing to lose by restoring a backup, go ahead and give that a try, but if you have entered more than a few records, feel free to give us a call because we can probably fix things quickly and you probably won't lose a thing.

OLE IDISPATCH - ACCESS VIOLATION

This error is printer driver related and generally occurs when running statements within Contributions.

There were some changes made within the program that have prevented this error from occurring in some cases, so make sure you are on the latest program date. If you are and you still get this message, the next thing to try is to reinstall or update your printer driver.

There is another OLE IDispatch error that I wanted to mention. It generally contains the phrase "invalid floating point operation" in the text of the message instead of "access violation." Generally, when we see this error, it is when running either the Accounts Payable Open Items or the Selected Paid Items report with the account distribution.

This issue is also printer driver related and so you may want to try reinstalling or updating your printer driver.

In addition, if you are getting this error when running the Accounts Payable reports as described above, there is a simple workaround that works in most cases. All you have to do is to simply bring up the report without the account distribution, minimize it (don't close it) and then run the report again with the account distribution. It should then work fine.

BROUGHT TO YOU TODAY BY:

Today's newsletter was brought to you by the letters B, A, R, C, O, D, E, R, E, A, D, E, R and the numbers 1, 6, 5, 0 and 0.

If you are using PowerChurch Plus Version 8.5 or higher, it is possible to use a barcode reader to speed up attendance entry. There are details on the barcode reader and how it works on our Web site at http://www.powerchurch.com/hardware/.