Hi all,

I need to have both 765 and 7611 versions of Developer Studio installed on my laptop.

I thought that running the appropriate 'thisfoci.bat' file in between switching would make this possible, but I am having problems...

Once both have been installed, (in different directories) both 765 and 7611 exe's launch only one version, dependant on which was installed last:

If I run the 765 thisfoci.bat and then 765 exe it launches 7611. If I run 7611 thisfoci.bat and then 7611 exe it also launches 7611.

So we uninstalled everything, re-installed in a different order and now the opposite happens. Both exe's launch 765, regardless of the thisfoci.bat runs and I cannot get into 7611.

Any ideas? Can two installs run on the same PC? 765 and 7611 are very different, particularily in the HTML editor and I need access to both for two different environments.

Thanks

Mark

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark66,

thisfoci.bat is supposed to take care of this, but I'm not sure how well switching between two versions would work, as each seems to be very dependent on a particular Java version.

Thanks Francis.

If anyone has any bright ideas I would love to hear them!

I am sure there must be other users with this requirement?

Hopefully someone from IBI can comment?

Cheers

Hi all,

I really need to find a solution to this. So far my only workaround is to re-install the appropiate version I need each time I need to work on either - which is many times a day!

Which ever version is the latest to be installed is the one that launches!!

Mark,

I was told that even you run the thisfoci.bat for a previous installed version, the banner at starting DevStudio shows
the version of the latest installed version (the About-option can also misleading).

Is there a way to see in devStudio itself which version is running (some options might be missing in the old version ??).

-Fred-

Well I never, thank You Fred!

Indeed the splash screens were incorrect, but I wasn't going any further than looking at the 'About' option check - which I am sure most people will agree is the universal standard for checking what version of software you have!

So indeed I am able to run 765 and 7611, even though they both state 765 in the About. I can tell using the HTML Editor which is greatly different in 7611.

HOWEVER - I now have a second and really much bigger problem!:

After being in 7611 and creating an HTML file using the Editor and looking at the differences, I went back to 765 to do some of my normal work. But every time I go to open a 765 HTML file using the 765 editor, Developer Studio crashes back to the Desktop. No error message, nothing! So I am now unable to edit HTML in 765.

We had this same problem a few weeks back when I had 7611 installed on a test PC. I did some testing to see what was different and then logged into my normal laptop. After doing this I found that 765 crashed each time I edited an HTML file. We tried everything, uninstalled and reinstalled but it crashed every time. Yet other users were still able to use 765 and open and edit files as normal.

This suggested to us that it was something in my Windows profile that was broken. So networks deleted and re-created my profile and 765 worked again!

SO it seems that the exactly the same thing has happened again. Using the HTML file editor in 7611 has done something to my profile to stop 765 from working. I now assume that when testing a few weeks ago, the network pulled through my profile from the test PC to my laptop and broke it.

I have been through all the folders in my profile; Application Data etc but can't see anything obvious.

I desperately need a fix for this. I need to use 765 and 7611 on the same PC. I need to be able to edit 765 HTML files again, without deleting my profile.

Thanks for reading and hopefully someone can help me here!!

Mark

Update:

Found that it is something in my NTUSER.DAT file that changes when editing HTML in 7611.

Thankfully, we backed up my profile yesterday and so restored the NTUSER.DAT file and this allowed me to edit 765 again.

After doing this we ran a complete test to prove this concept. So from 765 working, launched 7611, edited 7611 ok, went back to 765, had the crash on edit, restored NTUSER.DAT and then 765 is ok again.

Friday afternoon fun....not.

Fingers remain crossed for someone that knows a fix; surely someone else has come across this?

Many thanks as always!

Mark

I would set up a Virtual PC with the other version of Dev Studio. Windows Virtual PC is free from Microsoft and is fairly easy to set up.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it looks like Windows Virtual PC is just a Windows 7 thing which we are not on and whilst it is a work around it is hardly ideal!

Would be great to hear someones thoughts from IBI.

Please someone have a solution for this!

Mark,

Maybe you can try this:

Switch from 1 version to the other by running the thisfoci.bat and then logoff and logon again before starting devStudio.
Maybe the NTUSER.dat needs to be read again/refreshed (just a wild guess).

-Fred-

Mark,
FYI NTUSER.dat is simply an export of the CURRENT_USER registry hive. When a user logs on the hive is loaded into the registry.

As a result when you state that restoring the ntuser.dat file fixed the issue, what you're saying is that modifying entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER fixed the issue.

There are two likely areas of the registry that would make sense for this problem:
1) DeveloperStudio HKEY_CURRENT_USER settings.
2) Internet Explorer HKEY_CURRENT_USER settings.

I would put my money on #2 if I was to guess what was causing that behavior, but exactly what changed would require more research.

There are a number of good registry scanning utilities that will allow you to take two registry snapshots, and compare them. If you really want to drill into this, that is the step I'd recommend.

Oh, one last thing that might be worth trying. After you've caused the problem, try running:
%windir%\System32\ie4uninit.exe

The above file is what initializes IE for the first time. There is a chance it might overwrite whatever has changed that's keeping things from working.

BTW, have you opened a case with Techsupport for this? If you haven't, you really should.

Hi everyone,
As of 769 we support multiple installations of the same Dev Studio release.
To allow this to function properly you must add a suffix to the program group name during installation e.g. when installing 7611 you may name the program group "WebFOCUS 76 Developer Studio 7611".
This will install Dev Studio in a folder that has the same suffix e.g. ..\ibi\DevStudio76_7611\ and will also create unique registry entries under the HKCU and HKLM keys e.g.
HKCU\Software\Information Builders\Developer Studio\76_7611
The install location can also be at the same drive and root IBI folder as the earlier 76x installation which would have by default the folder name ..\ibi\DevStudio76\
This will allow you to switch releases and properly use components installed with each installation and during uninstall the proper release will get removed.
All this is also documented in the install guide.
Always when switching versions you need to run the file thisfoci.bat from the release you are switching to in order to register the required files from the release you will be using.

Notes for Windows 7 users:
If you are using Windows7 or Vista, you must right click on the bat file and select the option Run as administrator.
Also if you are using Windows 7 or Vista, you need to edit thisfoci.bat and add the following info to your thisfoci.bat file to ensure the files will get registered properly and from the correct location (this is included in the 7611 hotfix):
example of a modified 7611 file:

cls
REM --- please add the following new lines
ECHO OFF
REM The next three lines (following these comments) allow this batch file to be "Run as Administrator" on Vista and higher
REM NOTE: Running as administrator changes the default directory to the system directory which prevents proper registration
PUSHD .
FOR /F %%I IN ("%~s0") DO SET BATDIR=%%~dpI
CD /D "%BATDIR%"
ECHO ON
REM --- end of new lines to be added

regsvr32 /s /c gfa.dll >1
regsvr32 /s /c gfaview.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c gfw.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c gfwview.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c exnode.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c progdlg.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c mrews.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c befocus.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c dragdrill.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c wfscom.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c ax_ug.ocx >>1
regsvr32 /s /c stylepreview.ocx >>1
regsvr32 /s /c ibirootview.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c fpar.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c deployview.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c cdedeploy.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c comctamigrator.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c multidirview.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c gcconnct.dll >>1
regsvr32 /s /c SccInfoSync.dll >>1
type 1
del 1

REM --- also add the following new line
POPD

Dimitris,

Thanks very much for these detailed instructions, I'm sure they will be appreciated.

I do have one further question: does it matter which version of Java is running - can both versions of Dev Studio use the same Java version?

Thank you,

You are very welcome.
Yes all of your Dev Studio installations can use the same java version and we support java 1.5.x and higher. If you have a supported version you do not need to install additional java versions that are packaged with newer versions of Dev studio or WebFOCUS.
With java you can have multiple versions installed and different apps such as TC or Dev Studio can be configured to use a specific java version.
Dev Studio can use any 1.5.x version and higher and the version it will use is configured at install time and stored in the registry in the following location (here I am using an example of a custom folder for a 77 installation):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Information Builders\DeveloperStudio\77_7703\FOCSHELL\DesktopSettings\Shell

Mark run into issues with his installations as both installs were using the same reg keys.

One additional note, due to enhancements of the HTML Composer in newer 76 releases, you must use Dev Studio against the same WF release.

Hi Dimitris,

Firstly apologies for the late reply, I have been away. Secondly thank you for taking the time to investigate my problem and posting a detailed reply!

Networks have uninstalled and re-installed 765 and 7611 but unfortunately I still have the same issue.

I would like to check we have understood your install location advice correctly. I now have the following folders on my C drive:

C:\ibi\WebDeveloper765\ibi\...
C:\ibi\WebDeveloper7611\ibi\...

Do the above install folders look correct to you?

765 was installed first and then 7611.

I run 765 thisfoci.bat, launch 765 and edit 765 existing HTML ok.
I then run 7611 thisfoci.bat, launch 7611 and edit existing 7611 HTML ok.
I then run 765 thisfoci.bat, launch 765 and dev studio crashes on my attempt to edit an existing 765 HTML.

Thanks

Mark

I know this sounds odd, but make sure you have an instance of IE open BEFORE you start your HTML Editor in Dev Studio, or even before you start Dev studio.

Kevin

Hi Mark,

Sorry for my delayed response. I was out the last few days as well.

Something is not done right here.
I don't know how Dev Studio was installed but it would never create a directory called ..\WebDevelopernnn\
Prior to 769 the install folders for 76 releases would always get created as ..\ibi\DevStudio76\ and this forces you to have one install per release.
As of 769 we allow multiple installations of Dev Studio and you can keep a 765 installation under the default program group and folder name C:\ibi\DevStudio76\ and install newer versions using a different folder name.
For example to end up with a folder called C:\ibi\DevStudio7611\ you need to add "11" to the program group name at install time: "WebFOCUS 76 Developer Studio11"
to create a folder name called C:\ibi\DevStudio76_7611\ you would add " 7611" at the end of the program group name.
To verify you have a proper installation, also check your registry keys HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Information Builders\DeveloperStudio\
and in this location you you should have keys for each of you installations e.g. you should gave a folder called "76" and another called "7611"
If you do not have separate keys for each install your releases will end up stepping on each other.
I recommend you remove both installations, clean up the the reg keys for HKCU and HKLM\Software\Information Builders\DeveloperStudio\ and any files on disk and reinstall 765 and then continue to install 7611 by adding a suffix to the program group name.

I use thisfoci.bat to switch between 7.6.0 and 7.6.11 without any issues. I have both installed on my C drive under a folder named IBI. I then open my Developer Studio without problems. Since I do not have problems, I have no solution for your issue but wanted to let you know it is possible.

Hi Dimitris,

Thanks for the update.

I am not back at work until next week now, so will need to wait until then for networks to try the installs again. I will provide feedback as soon as possible.

Cheers!