Common Causes of "Feature Not Available" Error

ID: Q94811

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0
Microsoft FoxPro for MS-DOS, versions 2.0, 2.5x, 2.6x
Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5x, 2.6x

SUMMARY

The error message "Feature not available" indicates that the feature attempted is not supported in the version of FoxPro that is currently being used. This error is most often seen in the FoxPro Distribution Kit.

MORE INFORMATION

The main causes for the "Feature not available" error message are listed below:

Use of commands that require the execution and compilation of source code. These commands require the development version of FoxPro and therefore are not available in a distributed .APP or .EXE file.

Examples of these types of commands are BUILD APP, BUILD EXE, BUILD PROJECT, COMPILE, FILER, CREATE/MODIFY MENU, CREATE/MODIFY QUERY, CREATE/MODIFY SCREEN, SET VIEW ON, and SUSPEND.

Features specific to the interactive development environment of FoxPro, such as the Trace, Debug, Command, and View windows.

FoxPro menu commands available only in the development version. For the reasons mentioned above, many of the original FoxPro menu commands are not available for distribution. In addition, since there is no Command window in the Distribution Kit, any menu command that is echoed to the Command window is not available.

Menu commands that ARE available in a distributed .FXP, .APP, or .EXE file are listed below. This information can also be found in the "Features Not Available" section of the FoxPro Distribution Kit manual.
```
      Menu       Available commands
      -----------------------------------------------------------

      System     About, Help, Calculator, Calendar/Diary,
                 Special Characters, ASCII Chart, Capture, Puzzle

      File       Close, Save, Save As, Revert

      Edit       All menu commands

      Window     Hide, Hide All, Show All, Clear, Move, Size,
                 Zoom, Cycle, and all the names of open windows 
```
NOTE: For more information about how to list the names of open windows, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q97635 How to List the Currently Active Windows in a Menu No other menu options are available.

Commands containing macro substitution for the command verb in a stand- alone .EXE file. When a stand-alone .EXE file is being built, the programs are scanned for FoxPro commands. When commands are found, the code to execute these commands is built into the .EXE file. However, if there is macro substitution for the command verb in a line of code, that entire line is skipped, resulting in the code to execute that command not being built into the .EXE file. For example:
```
x="REPORT FORM test.frx"
      &x PREVIEW 
```
In this instance, the REPORT FORM... command would be skipped and the code to execute a REPORT FORM command would not be built into the .EXE file. To resolve this, include a "dummy" program in the project that never gets called, containing the following:
```
REPORT FORM test PREVIEW 
```
This command contains no macro substitution; therefore, the code to execute the REPORT FORM command would be built into the .EXE file.

For more information about about this, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q133358 PRB: Feature Not Available: Macro Substitution & Command Verbs

Additional query words: VFoxWin FoxDos FoxWin 2.50 2.50a 2.50b 2.60 2.60a errmsg err msg menu grayed greyed dimmed unavailable

Keywords : kberrmsg FxprgMacrosub
Version : 2.00 2.5x 2.6x | 2.5x 2.6x 3.00
Platform : MS-DOS WINDOWS
Issue type :