Cannot Load Form!

9 Oct 2005 2:24 PM

Arpan

I have a VB6 application that makes use of 3 Forms & a module. While
working with it, there was an electricity failure suddenly &
unexpectedly. When electricity was restored & I started working with
that application, to my horror, I find VB telling me that one of the 3
Forms could not be loaded although that particular Form existed in
Windows Explorer! Because of this, I had to create that Form again
right from the scratch.

Why did this happen & how can I be spared the task of recreating Forms
again & again when I encounter a similar situation in the future?

Thanks,

Arpan

9 Oct 2005 3:18 PM

Mike Williams

"Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1128867844.376642.43010@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Why did this happen & how can I be spared the task of recreating
> Forms again & again when I encounter a similar situation in the future?

It probably happened because VB was reading or writing to that Form file (or
had it open and had not properly closed it) when the power went off. This
can happen to any file, and the only way to stop it happening with any
degree of certainty is to stop your computer shutting down when the mains
power goes off! What you need is to buy yourself an "Uninterruptible Power
Supply". These are basically battery operated systems that can keep your
system after the power goes down. Obviously the longer you want your system
to stay on its feet the more expensive will be the UPS that will do it for
you, but you can get small UPS very cheaply that are capable of keeping a
single stand alone pc system up and running for the vital ten or fifteen
minutes after the power goes down, which gives you plenty of time to save
everything and to shut down the computer normally.

As for your Form file, these are just text files with a .frm extension. If
it is not too badly currupted then you should be able to open it up in a
text editor and correct whatever is wrong. otherwise you will have to use a
low level disk sector editor which will let you look at the disk sectors
that contain your file, regardless of how badly currupted they have become.
(Unless of course there has been some serious mechanical damage, which can
happen if the power goes down while the read head is moving).

Mike

9 Oct 2005 3:38 PM

Arpan

Thanks Mike.

Regards,

Arpan

9 Oct 2005 3:58 PM

Someone

If you still have the corrupted FRM file, open it with Notepad to see if
there is anything unusual, like binary data. It could also be truncated in
the middle. The general advice is to save often and backup often.

You could also use a UPS as another poster suggested, but you don't have to
get one that last more than what it takes to save your work and shutdown
your computer. If the power goes off for an hour, then buying a UPS that
lasts 15 minutes or more is a waste of money...

Show quoteHide quote

"Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1128867844.376642.43010@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>I have a VB6 application that makes use of 3 Forms & a module. While
> working with it, there was an electricity failure suddenly &
> unexpectedly. When electricity was restored & I started working with
> that application, to my horror, I find VB telling me that one of the 3
> Forms could not be loaded although that particular Form existed in
> Windows Explorer! Because of this, I had to create that Form again
> right from the scratch.
>
> Why did this happen & how can I be spared the task of recreating Forms
> again & again when I encounter a similar situation in the future?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Arpan
>

9 Oct 2005 4:17 PM

Mike Williams

"Someone" <nob***@cox.net> wrote in message

news:C6b2f.2344$MN6.1540@fed1read04...

> You could also use a UPS as another poster suggested, but you don't
> have to get one that last more than what it takes to save your work and
> shutdown your computer. If the power goes off for an hour, then buying
> a UPS that lasts 15 minutes or more is a waste of money...

Hang on. Can you repeat that statement! I don't know where you've been for
the last twenty years or so, but these days a UPS that will keep a single
computer and monitor going for 15 to 30 minutes is very cheap (in fact it is
about the cheapest UPS you can get, which is why I suggested it!). I'm not
sure where you live, but here in the UK you can get a 500VA 30 minute UPS
for less than £30. Most people spend more than that on a meal in a
restaurant!

Mike

Show quoteHide quote

>
>
>
> "Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1128867844.376642.43010@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>>I have a VB6 application that makes use of 3 Forms & a module. While
>> working with it, there was an electricity failure suddenly &
>> unexpectedly. When electricity was restored & I started working with
>> that application, to my horror, I find VB telling me that one of the 3
>> Forms could not be loaded although that particular Form existed in
>> Windows Explorer! Because of this, I had to create that Form again
>> right from the scratch.
>>
>> Why did this happen & how can I be spared the task of recreating Forms
>> again & again when I encounter a similar situation in the future?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Arpan
>>
>
>

9 Oct 2005 4:44 PM

Someone

My comments was targeted to those with limited income, it may not be the
case with the OP though. For example, the only loss of power I experience at
my home is brief power interruption, like a second or so, like during
thunderstorms. In my case, either I have few seconds interruption, or 30
minutes or more(typically one hour), but nothing in between, like 20
minutes. If it's something the power company has to handle, then it would
take 30 minutes at least. So either I buy a 10 minutes UPS, or one hour UPS,
I chose the least costly. It all depends on what you need.

Show quoteHide quote

"Mike Williams" <M***@WhiskyAndCoke.com> wrote in message
news:dibfri$hdi$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
> "Someone" <nob***@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:C6b2f.2344$MN6.1540@fed1read04...
>
>> You could also use a UPS as another poster suggested, but you don't
>> have to get one that last more than what it takes to save your work and
>> shutdown your computer. If the power goes off for an hour, then buying
>> a UPS that lasts 15 minutes or more is a waste of money...
>
> Hang on. Can you repeat that statement! I don't know where you've been for
> the last twenty years or so, but these days a UPS that will keep a single
> computer and monitor going for 15 to 30 minutes is very cheap (in fact it
> is about the cheapest UPS you can get, which is why I suggested it!). I'm
> not sure where you live, but here in the UK you can get a 500VA 30 minute
> UPS for less than £30. Most people spend more than that on a meal in a
> restaurant!
>
> Mike
>
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Arpan" <arpan***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:1128867844.376642.43010@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>>>I have a VB6 application that makes use of 3 Forms & a module. While
>>> working with it, there was an electricity failure suddenly &
>>> unexpectedly. When electricity was restored & I started working with
>>> that application, to my horror, I find VB telling me that one of the 3
>>> Forms could not be loaded although that particular Form existed in
>>> Windows Explorer! Because of this, I had to create that Form again
>>> right from the scratch.
>>>
>>> Why did this happen & how can I be spared the task of recreating Forms
>>> again & again when I encounter a similar situation in the future?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Arpan
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

9 Oct 2005 5:24 PM

Mike Williams

"Someone" <nob***@cox.net> wrote in message

news:bNb2f.2363$MN6.1080@fed1read04...

> If it's something the power company has to handle, then it would take 30
> minutes at least. So either I buy a 10 minutes UPS, or one
> hour UPS, I chose the least costly. It all depends on what you need.

Don't get me wrong, Someone. I wasn't arguing with your statement that you
should not waste money buying a UPS that handles outages for a longer period
than you actually need. It's just that my initial suggestion was that the OP
should buy himself a UPS that would keep his system up and running for ten
or fifteen minutes, and you seemed to take exception to that statement. The
simple fact is that (at least here in the UK) the very cheapest UPS you can
buy will keep your system going for at least that length of time! That is
why I suggested he should buy something that would do that for him. If you
had to actually pay "by the minute" for a UPS (which of course is nowhere
near the truth!) then I would still suggest he buy himself one that would
last for ten or fifteen minutes (certainly no less than that!). You could be
on the toilet for that length of time! (Do they call them "toilets" in
America?).

Mike

9 Oct 2005 5:32 PM

Mike Williams

"Mike Williams" <M***@WhiskyAndCoke.com> wrote in message
news:dibjp5$17a$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...

.. . . oh. I've just realised, Someone. You were suggesting that the OP
should buy himself a UPS which keeps his system up and running for much
longer than 15 mninutes? Is that what you were suggesting? If so (and if
money was no object) then I would agree with you. However, here in the real
world we have to buy "what we can afford", and I believe that 15 minutes is
plenty of time for the OP to hear the "power out" alarm and save his stuff
and shut down his machine. Obviously, if he could afford a UPS that would
keep his sytem up and running for twenty years after a "power out" (which
is, of course, possible) then so much the better! However, most of us have
to a little more realistic than that (just as most of us cannot afford to
live in a castle in Scotland!).

Mike

9 Oct 2005 4:30 PM

Larry Serflaten

"Someone" <nob***@cox.net> wrote
> You could also use a UPS as another poster suggested, but you don't have to
> get one that last more than what it takes to save your work and shutdown
> your computer. If the power goes off for an hour, then buying a UPS that
> lasts 15 minutes or more is a waste of money...

I disagree. I have been through many situations where the power went off
for only a few seconds when some squirrel got too close to a power line, or
a nearby lightning strike somehow cause a power interrution. Not to mention
those odd occasions where the voltage drops below normal levels.

All those occasions were handled just fine by a UPS that doesn't last very
much longer than the 15 minutes you indicated. I don't have a UPS to keep
working in the dark. Like the OP needed, I have a UPS to help keep power
levels to my computer at normal levels, and to provide a means to save
important work when the power does go out.

LFS