FIX: Installing Newer MSDN Causes Help to Malfunction

ID: Q214560

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 6.0
MSDN Library

SYMPTOMS

After installing the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Library October 98 edition or later, Visual FoxPro 6.0 Help does not function correctly. Specifically, the Help menu Content and Index selections no longer display the Help viewer. Context-sensitive Help, normally accessed by pressing the F1 key within Visual FoxPro, also fails to display the Help viewer.

CAUSE

Visual FoxPro 6.0 contains hard-coded information for the Help file names.

RESOLUTION

As a workaround, make copies of the following two files in the \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN98\98OCT\1033\ folder, and place them in the same folder with the new names (MSDNVS98.CHW and MSDNVS98.COL):

\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN98\98OCT\1033\MSDN830.CHW

\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN98\98OCT\1033\MSDN830.COL

NOTE: The \98OCT folder name will be different if a later version of the MSDN Library is being installed.

Select MSDNVS98.COL in the 98OCT\1033 directory as the Help File in the File Locations tab of the Options dialog box to allow access to the full MSDN Help collection. The Options dialog box is located under the Tools menu. Be sure to select the Set As Default button within the Options dialog box after making this change to ensure the change is saved.

This workaround allows all aspects of Help to function correctly in Visual FoxPro 6.0, and does not adversely affect MSDN functionality or Help functionality in other Visual Studio applications.

NOTE: The directory names above can be used if you accepted the default installation directory when you installed the MSDN Library October 98. Your MSDN directory name may be different if you selected a different installation directory name or installed a version of the MSDN Library later than October 98. Please modify the steps to match your MSDN directory if your particular directory structure differs from the above directory path.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in Visual FoxPro.

This bug was corrected in Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 3.

For more information about Visual Studio service packs, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q194022 INFO: Visual Studio 6.0 Service Packs, What, Where, Why

Q194295 HOWTO: Tell That Visual Studio 6.0 Service Packs Are Installed

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Install Visual FoxPro 6.0.

Install the MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0 edition. Be sure to do a Custom install and select the Visual FoxPro Documentation checkbox in the Options list.

Uninstall the MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0 edition.

Install the MSDN Library October 1998 edition. Again, be sure to do a Custom install and select the Visual FoxPro Documentation checkbox in the Options list.

Select Help/Index from the menu within Visual FoxPro 6.0.

When the above steps are followed, the Help viewer is not displayed and no error is generated.

When the workaround is implemented, the full MSDN collection is displayed in the Help viewer. Visual FoxPro 6.0 also allows you to limit the Help content to the Visual FoxPro Help file only. This is done by selecting the following file as the Help File in the File Locations tab of the Options dialog:


MSDN98\<install directory>\1033\FOXHELP.CHM

The install directory varies for different versions of the MSDN Library. For the October 98 version, for instance, it will be 98oct. Making copies of the COL and CHW files as listed in the RESOLUTION section also allows Help to function correctly if FOXHELP.CHM is selected as the Help file.

(c) Microsoft Corporation 1999, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Jim Saunders, Microsoft Corporation.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbsetup kbMSDN kbDocs kbVFp600bug kbVS600sp3fix
Version : WINDOWS:6.0; winnt:
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbbug