Help with Designer 2000 and Visual Basic FrontEnd

I have about 30 machines running a 16bit Visual basic frontend, maybe written in VB5? I am not sure, the guy who wrote thre frontend has left the company, and my VB experience is as a user only. The frontend connects using ODBC to my Oracle 7 database. Commands are then passed to the 16bit Oracle Reports 2.5 runtime engine. Although all the machines are now running WIN95, this was not always the case, hence the development in 16bit. No problems.

I'm trying to switch to the 32bit version of Reports 2.5. On my machine, this went off without a hitch. I uninstalled the 16bit Oracle software, reinstalled the 32bit and setup the new ODBC source. Again, no problems. When I went to do the 2nd machine, the VB frontend refuses to connect to the database.

All versions of the software on both machines are the same. I am using the Oracle73 driver, version 2.03.1.1, filedate is 2/4/97, 181,248 bytes. SQLNet is version 2.3.3.0.0. The tnsnames.ora file, which translates the ODBC sources to IP addresses, I think, are the same on both machines. The VB frontend uses an .ini file which points to the location of the Reports runtime engine, and contains the ODBC source names. This file is the same on both machines as well.

I can connect to the Oracle database fine on the second machine using the ODBCTest utility, so I think the machine is setup correctly. However, for some reason, the VB frontend doesn't like the setup. It pukes immediately upon trying to connect to the Oracle database with a runtime 3151 error message, "cannot connect to datasource".

Examining the two machines further, I notice only one glaring difference. On the machine that works, the ODBC Administrator appears to be an updated version. It has a bunch of tabs across the top. On the machine that doesn't works, ODBC Adminstrator is the "older" looking box with buttons. This does not surprise me as I have applied several Windows 95 and Office 97 updates to my machine which have not been applied to the second machine. Also, my machine runs IE5, the second machine runs IE4.

So, my question is twofold. One, what did I install on my machine that gave me the "new" looking ODBC Adminstrator? Two, is it possible this is my problem? Was there something in the updated ODBC Adminstrator that allows 16bit apps to "talk better" to 32bit drivers and apps?

Thanks for any ideas and/or pointers you may have.

CactusButt Received on Mon Jun 21 1999 - 05:40:52 CEST