How to Find Which Files Are Referenced as Visual FoxPro Starts

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SUMMARY

To troubleshoot configuration problems effectively, you need to know which files Visual FoxPro looks at when it starts up and what information those files contain. That information is given in this article and in the Visual FoxPro Help file.

MORE INFORMATION

Foxpro.ini

The Foxpro.ini file is located in the Windows directory and contains the information for the main FoxPro window. It is saved each time you exit Visual FoxPro, so when it restarts it looks the way it did when you closed it.

Config.fpw

The Config.fpw file contains optional settings you can make to your environment. It is located in the Visual FoxPro working directory, unless otherwise specified with a startup command switch. Many of these are duplicates of the Registry settings. For more details, please see the Help file topic on this file.

Reg.dat

The registry information is found in Reg.dat. This is where the product saves the Options dialog box settings. The Options settings are mostly a subset of the possible Config.fpw settings. The Config.fpw overrides any Options settings saved to the Registry, which would indicate that the Config.fpw is opened after the registry. This is an assumption. See the Help file for information on the Options dialog.

Foxuser

The Foxuser file is the generic Resource file. It is Foxuser.dbf by default, although you can set it to any .dbf file. FoxPro creates it if it doesn't exist. You can set it ON or OFF. It is mostly a table of preferences, such as Browse window size, location, and attributes. See the Help file for more information on the Foxuser.dbf file.