Q.  All of a sudden, I get an error message stating a problem with the Language Driver. What can I do?

The problem you are experiencing seems to be related to the way the DCMS is "registered" in your version of windows. Normally, the installation process automatically registers the program with the "Windows Registry" and that allows your computer to find the various bits and pieces of the program it needs to have to run the DCMS. In your case, it doesn't seem to have done that.

The first thing you should try is to download and install the Re-Installation Update of the DCMS. That will re-install the language drive and re-resister it with windows. In 99% of cases, that is all that is necessary.

However, if Re-Installing the DCMS does not fix the problem, here is what you can do. The following is a step-by-step process which should fix the problem...
 
Step 1 - Updating the Language Drivers  (you have to be on-line for this step to work)
 
1.    Click on the link below, and it will start the download of a file called   LANG.EXE.  When you are asked, you do not want to open it - you want to SAVE it to disk. When asked where to save it, find the C: drive (local drive C:) and in that drive, find the DCMSWIN  folder and double-click on it. In the DCMSWIN folder, find a folder called   LANGDRV  and double click on it. When you do, click  the Save button.
 
Here is the link to start the download          http://www.mydcms.com/lang.exe
 
2.   When finished downloading, you can close your email program (print this message first) Double Click   My Computer.   Log on to Drive C: (local drive)   and find the  DCMSWIN  folder and double click on it.  In the DCMSWIN folder, find a folder called   LANGDRV  and double click on it.
 
3.   Delete all of the files in the LANGDRV  folder  except   the    LANG.EXE   file.
 
4.   When the folder has only one file in it,  LANG.EXE   (you might not see the ".EXE" - but that's OK)  double-click on that file and you should see a number of files appear.
 
Step 2 - Configuring the Database Engine
 
1.   Assuming that you have just finished the last part of step one, click the "Up Folder" button.  (This button will be on the window in which you just double clicked on the LANG.EXE file. It looks like a manila folder, but has an arrow pointing up on it. It is usually near the top of the window) By clicking the Up Folder button, you should be returned to the "DCMSWIN" folder.
 
2.   In the DCMSWIN folder, you should see a file called   BDECFG.EXE  (the ".EXE" might not be showing) It has a blue icon with a wrench on it. Double click on that icon, to open the BDE Configuration Utility.
 
3.   Note carefully the location and file name that immediately follows the title, BDE Configuration Utility. It should be something like   C:\DCMSWIN\IDAPI.CFG    This indicates the name and location of the file which Windows uses to set the parameters for the DCMS. Write this filename down carefully. You will need it in step 3.
 
4.   With the BDE Configuration Utility open, check to make sure that the parameters are right. With the driver name DBASE highlighted in the left window of the utility, the following values should appear in the right window:

VERSION:                1.0
TYPE:                   FILE
LANGDRIVER:             dBASE  ENU  cp437
LEVEL:                  5
MDX BLOCK SIZE:         1024
MEMO FILE BLOCK SIZE:   1024   
 
5.   Leave the rest of the utility alone and open the "File" menu of the BDE Configuration Utility and click "Save", then close the BDE Configuration Utility.
 
Step 3 - Registering the Program in Windows
 
Now we must tell Windows where to look for the database engine which drives the DCMS.
 
1.   Close all open windows on your desktop until you are left with the Start-up screen that you get when you first start Windows. This is called your Desktop.
 
2.   Click the Start button and Choose the (All)  Programs option.  In the list of programs, choose Accessories and from the list of accessories, choose  NOTEPAD.
 
3.   A small, simple word processor will appear. Open the FILE menu  and choose the  OPEN option.  You will be asked which file to open.  Double-Click on My Computer, then on Local Disk (C:), then on the WINDOWS folder.  Below, you will see three menus, one that says File Name, another that says Files of Type: and finally one that says  Encoding:.  Open the Files of Type:  menu and choose ALL FILES. Now, in the windows folder, double click on the file   WIN.INI.
 
4.   The   WIN.INI   file is a resource that Windows uses to make sense of all of the things you have installed in or to your computer. The sections of the WIN.INI  file are all headed by titles in square brackets, such as  [Mail].   Search down the win.ini file to see if there is a heading called   [IDAPI]   which is what we need to run the DCMS.
 
5.   If you find the [IDAPI]  heading, then check to make sure it agrees with the instruction below. If it doesn't, change it accordingly.
 
6.   We need an [IDAPI] heading, so if there isn't one, we'll create one at the bottom of the win.ini file.  So go to the end of the file and start a new line, entitled   [IDAPI].  Below is the exact way that entry should look like if the file name and location we noted in step 2 was   C:\DCMSWIN\IDAPI.CFG.  If it differs, you will have to translate the lines below so that in place of C:\DCMSWIN, you type in the actual location. For instance, on my computer, it's  C:\IDAPI  so I would translate the lines as they appear  to the right.
 
if you wrote down C:\DCMSWIN\IDAPI.CFG     Below is a sample translation
then add or correct the lines:             if your file name and location 
                                           was different
 
 
[IDAPI]                                    [IDAPI]
DLLPATH=C:\DCMSWIN                         DLLPATH=C:\IDAPI
CONFIGFILE01=C:\DCMSWIN\IDAPI.CFG          CONFIGFILE01=C:\IDAPI\IDAPI.CFG
[Borland Language Drivers]                 [Borland Language Drivers]
LDPath=C:\DCMSWIN\LANGDRV                  LDPath=C:\IDAPI\LANGDRV
 
7.   Open the FILE menu on NOTEPAD and choose the SAVE option.  Then close NOTEPAD.
 
8.   Close all the open windows on your screen,  re-start your computer and then try to start the DCMS. If all goes well, you should be able to start the program without trouble.
 
Hope that helps.
 

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