This is collection of frequently asked questions about filePro Plus and the filePro Internet mailing list. Unless noted otherwise, the answer to the question was supplied by the maintainer of this FAQ, Laura Brody . Additional questions, answers and corrections to this document should be directed to her. You can receive the latest version of this document by sending a blank email to . An auto-responder to email the document immediately. Created: November 2, 2000 Last Updated: March 8, 2004 Q) What is filePro? A) filePro Plus is a 4GL relational database system and application development tool originally written by The small Computer Company of NYC and then Hawthorne, NY. It runs on a variety of platforms and is quite portable between them (i.e. a developer only has to write an application once and it will run on a Windows system just as well as Linux system). filePro was originally written by Howard Wolowitz and sold under the name "Profile" back in 1979. "fileMaker" and "fileMaker Pro" are entirely different products. They are not compatible or similar to filePro in any way (other than they are both databases). Q) What is fileProGI? A) It is an add-on product to filePro v5.0 which adds a GUI Window-like interface to any character-based filePro application without additional programming or changes. fP Technology also offers a fileProGI Toolkit which allows a filePro developer to have more control over how the interface will appear. Q) Who are the makers of filePro and how can I contact them? A) fP Technologies, Inc. is an employee-owned company located in Indianapolis, IN. Visit their web site at . Mail: fP Technologies, Inc. 8383 Craig Street, Suite 270 Indianapolis, IN 46250 E-mail: Support: fpsupport@fptech.com files to Support: files@fptech.com filePro GI Support: fpgui@fptech.com Sales & Marketing: sales@fptech.com Wishlist for new features: wishlist@fptech.com Management: filepro@fptech.com Webmaster: webmaster@fptech.com Phone: U.S. Sales: (800) 847-4740 Sales Fax: (212) 517-5982 International Sales: (212) 517-5963 Support: (317) 570-6490 Fax: (317) 570-6609 Q) What are the current versions? A) filePro Plus: v4.8.16 and v5.0.13. fPGI: v2.0. Note: As of v5.0.10, QuickStart is included with Plus products. Example: Plus Development includes QuickStart Development. Prior to that version, you had to purchase the QuickStart programs as a separate product. Q) How do I find out what version number I am running? A) On DOS, DOS Network and Windows, run choice "? - filePro Directory" from the main menu, then press "F6 - Configuration Editor" then "U-Update", then add the following on an empty line: PFVER ON Press ESC to save the changes and exit out of the directory program. The version number will now appear in the upper right corner of the program you run from the main menu. On Unix systems, the keystrokes may be slightly different, but the steps are the same. Q) How do I find my user limit? A) On Unix systems, to find out what the user limit is for DCLERK, run "B-Inquire, Update, Add" from the main menu. When the list of filenames appears, press ESC and then ?. The user limit will be displayed on the lower left-hand corner. The same ESC-? keystrokes will work for DREPORT (D-Request Output), RCLERK (Quickstart Inquire, Update, Add), and RREPORT (Quickstart Request Output). Q) On what platforms is filePro available? A) Windows (95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP), and numerous Unix systems such as SCO UNIX[tm], Linux (Red Hat is recommended - in theory, all versions of Linux should work), AIX, Solaris and HP/UX. (If your O/S is not listed, call sales at fP Technologies for further information). Q) What is filePro ODBC? A) It is a version of filePro which has client-side ODBC functionality. This allows filePro to exchange data with other ODBC data sources such as MS Access, MS Excel, MySQL, Oracle and SQL Server. For more information, visit: Q) Why does fP Technologies recommend the Red Hat distributions of Linux? A) They compile and alpha test the Linux version of filePro on that distribution. Q) Where can I find a filePro developer familiar with my industry or in my area? A) fP Technologies has a list of filePro developers on their website at . You could also call them and ask. Hudson Valley Computer Associates, Inc. has compiled a list of "filePro Resources" and has posted it as a PDF file. You will need a PDF viewer such as Acrobat Reader or Ghostscript to read and print the list. You can download it from Another option is to post your question to the filePro Internet Mailing List. Q) What is the filePro Internet Mailing List? A) A public mailing list devoted to filePro and affords programmers [and end users] an opportunity to exchange tips, tricks, and troubles; to ask questions and to furnish replies. To subscribe to it, visit: Q) Are there any no-no's that I should know about before I post to this Mailing List? A) Yes, several. 1) Post messages as "plain text" not HTML. (Note: AOL ver 6.0 only generates HTML messages. There is no choice for "plain text messages" - think twice before upgrading to this version.) 2) Don't attach a file larger than 4k to your message. You should instead include a http or ftp address where people can download the file if they are interested. (This is not a hard limit, just good manners.) 3) Stay on topic. If your message is not somehow related to filePro, list members tend to get grumpy. When posting off-topic messages, precede the subject with "OT:" or "ADV:" for advertising posts. 4) If you try to sell something totally unrelated to filePro, don't be surprised if you are immediately banned from the mailing list. (The list manager has a VERY low tolerance for spam). 5) If you are selling something related to filePro, you are allowed to announce it ONCE. Breaking this rule will get you yelled at or banned from the list. (Depending upon how annoying your message was. This is a list to exchange helpful information, not eBay.) You may also mention your service/product if it is a solution to a question that someone else posts. 6) If you are replying to a message, trim the message and bottom-post your reply. Quoting a several page message and tacking a "me too" on it will get you flamed. (Top-posting is considered poor netiquette.) 7) Spell and grammar check your messages. There are several list members who will happily tell you how illiterate you are. Besides, people have only your e-mail to judge you and your level of professionalism. 8) When describing a filePro programming problem, it is better to include more information rather than less. Include operating system, filePro version, the complete version number of the *clerk or *report program in question and any code that is not working as expected, as well as the exact, complete error message if you get one. Linux users should state if they are using Linux Native or SCO/iBCS. Windows users should state if they are using DOS, DOS/Network, or Win32 Native. A description of "my report isn't working" does NOT contain enough information for anyone to even guess what the problem could be. A description of "I got an error message that was something like..." doesn't help, either. Make it easy for others to help you and you will get more help. On the other hand, don't post your entire 500 line processing table. Post only the relevant code. 9) Report possible filePro bugs to fP Technologies. Although fP Technologies employees monitor and participate on the list, this is not the place to report bugs. Send bug reports to: (You can "cc" it to the list, if you wish.) 10) Asking operating system-specific questions are frowned upon (exception: Unix/Linux termcap problems in relation to filePro). These kind of questions should be posted in newsgroups such as: comp.unix.sco.misc, comp.windows.misc, etc. Q) I joined the filePro Internet Mailing List a while ago. I have posted messages before, but now I can't. What happened? How can I get this fixed? A) [From Bill Campbell, List Manager] We automatically block a site when mail comes to certain addresses that haven't been valid for years, but appear on many of the CDs that are being sold to people who want to get rich spamming. The fast automatic blocks go a long ways towards prevent large amounts of spam from coming from any one host. A fast spammer will sometimes get a half-dozen messages through in the few seconds it takes for our system to process the first message, and put up the shields. We typically block about 10,000 attempts a day from sites in our block lists, and in lists such as the MAPS RBL, DUL, and RSS lists. Check out for more information on these lists, and the spamming problems in general. The first message blocks all further traffic from that host by making a DNS entry in rbl.celestial.net, and putting the IP address in a file of addresses to be blocked. After it does that, it then checks the connecting host for an open mail relay (it will accept mail from third parties to be sent anywhere -- a common way spammers try to steal services and hide their tracks), then forwards the message with all headers and an appropriate message to me, and to mail-abuse.org if the relay test was successful. I review the notices in my postmaster mailbox when I have the time, check out the responsible people at the connecting hosts, and those responsible for the sites being advertised if possible. The thing I really look for in these messages is new patterns for our mailing list processor to look for to prevent spam and viruses from getting through to the lists. There are currently about 4,000 different patterns that are checked against every line in the body of a message before it is forwarded to a mailing list. Anything matching those patterns gets bounced to me for approval before it goes out. [Answered by Bill Campbell, filePro Internet Mailing List Manager] To get back on the list, e-mail another member of the list and ask them to forward your message to Bill Campbell asking him to tweak things at his end to get you off his spam list. (Ask nicely and be patient. Getting nasty will get you nowhere.) Q) I want filePro to (take your pick....) generate e-mail messages, dial a modem, generate a file to mail merge with a word processing program, input a UPC code via a laser scanner, print barcodes, generate HTML files on the fly, share data with other programs, etc. A) filePro can be configured/programmed to do all of these things and more. Decide exactly what you want filePro to do, and then post your situation to the mailing list. If the response is something like "yes, filePro can do that, but it is not a small job. You need to hire someone to do the job", continue the conversation in private e-mail or via phone for further discussion or price negotiation. The people on the mailing list are experienced and knowledgeable but they are also in business to make a buck. Don't expect them to do a large or complex job for free. Q) Why was PF used as a prefix for environment variables instead of FP? A) [from Ken Brody, head programmer at fP Technologies, Inc.] The original version of filePro was sold through Tandy/Radio Shack, and was called Profile, and everything was prefixed with "PF". Even the fppath file was called "/etc/default/pfpath". When we started porting to non-Tandy machines, we changed the name to filePro, since Profile is a Tandy trademark. For compatibility reasons, we kept the "PF" prefix on the environment variables. Since version 4.0 (I think) you have been able to use either "PF" or "FP" as the prefix, with "PF" having precedence if both are set. Q) How can I create a copy of one database without retyping all the fields? A1)fP Technologies provides a utility that does this called fpcopy. It is included in Plus Development packages starting in v4.1. A2)[from Tony Lawrence, Unix/filePro expert] For UNIX ONLY: Using Define Files, create XXXX. Do not bother to define any fields; just esc-esc out. Exit filepro, and as "root" or "filepro", cd to your PFDIR/filepro (normally /appl/filepro) . vi XXXX/map. Delete all but the very first line (if you did not define fields, there will only be two lines). Read in YYYY/map (in vi, :r YYYY/map ). You now have 2 lines that begin with "map". They should look something like: map:0:0:1:e917de0:LVm52#VrGbDx6ya! map:37:6:5:35d12624:-ZgZ|H@RB0|EW-L (following these lines are the definitions for the YYYY file). You need to edit the top line so that you end up with: map:37:6:5:e917de0:LVm52#VrGbDx6ya! map:37:6:5:35d12624:-ZgZ|H@RB0|EW-L Note it is the first 3 : delimited section after "map" that has been changed to be the same as the YYYY file (the :37:6:5: ). Delete line 2, and write and quit (:wq). The ZZZZ file structure is now identical to YYYY. [Laura's note: DOS/Windows users can use this technique as well, just use another plain text editor to make the changes.] Q) What is "rcabe?" A) [from John-Claude Hallak, long time filePro developer] rcabe is the name of the QuickStart version of dcabe (i.e. the program which is invoked from the filepro menu by choice 5 - Define Processing. rcabe tokenizes tables at the time of define processing - this saves time on large tables which are usually tokenized at runtime. [Laura's note: with today's computers, the time savings is minimal. I believe that tokenizing your tables simply protects your source code from change and prying eyes. rcabe produces a "tok" file from your "prc" file. dclerk and dreport run only "prc" tables, you need rclerk and rreport (aka "QuickStart Runtime" programs) to execute "tok" tables.] (Note: see the next question.) Q) I tokenized my processing tables, but now I need to make some changes to the code and I can't find my source code. Is there any way to "untok" my tables or am I up the proverbial creek? A) fP Technologies offers this service for a fee. Be ready to prove that you wrote the tok tables or have a legal right to the source code. After you send in your tok files (and all map files), a programmer will look at the files and create a per-file estimate. You then tell fP Tech which files you want to be "untoked" and work will begin on your tables. This may take a couple of hours or several days for the programmer to complete the work. (Please remember that the result will be a functional equivalent to your original prc file, and not necessarily 100% the same as the original source code. However, it will compile to an identical .tok file. All comments are unrecoverable.) Q) Can field descriptions be used instead of field numbers? A1) Yes, the field descriptions can be used in processing in the same manner that you would use a field number. If, for example, field 5 was the "zip" field, the following code fragments would be equivalent: :5 eq "10596":gosub verplnk: :zip eq "10596":gosub verplnk: I recommend that your field names be at least three characters long so that filePro will not confuse them with short dummy fields. If the field name consists of several words, place a "_" character between the words rather than spaces. filePro will only "see" the name up to the first space. i.e. "shipping date" and "shipping address" will only be recognized as "shipping" (and refer to the first shipping field). A better way is to have "shipping_date" and "shipping_address". Q) I am comparing two fields which contain numbers. Sometimes the comparison results are in error. What am I doing wrong? A) [from Ken Brody, head programmer at fP Technologies] filePro will let you perform mathematical operations on any field. For example, you could "add" "24 Berkley Lane" and "120 Sixth Street" and get "144" as the result. Well, not "any" field, as you cannot add two dates for example. But any user-defined edit or "*"-type field can be used, and if the first non-blank characters are numeric, filePro will use that number. If the first non-blank character is not numeric, filePro will treat it as zero. However, filePro will only do numerical comparisons if the field is a numeric type. Any user-defined edit will compare as plain text. (And remember that "#" is _not_ a numeric edit.) [Laura's note: numeric edit types are: .N (n is any number between 0 and 8) . (same as '.2') F (floating decimal. It will have 0 to 8 digits after the decimal) ,N (n is any number between 0 and 8. A comma is added every 3 digits) ,F (floating decimal. A comma is added every 3 digits) all other edit types will be treated as plain text in comparisons] Q) What is the fastest method of transferring a filePro database to another operating system environment? A) [from Paul W. Mehner] You will need the most recent copy of the filePro 'xfer' program for both operating system environments (available from fP Technologies or from a filePro dealer for a fee). Use the xfer program on the source machine to create a 'transfer' file using the syntax: xfer -lf /tmp/transfer.bin -t database [database ...] Copy the 'transfer' file to the target machine using a communications program or magnetic media (diskette, ftp, z-modem, etc.) See note below for MSDOS/UNIX transfers. Just make sure to use a _binary_ transfer method. Use the filePro xfer program on the target machine to extract the 'transfer' file using the syntax: xfer -lf \tmp\transfer.bin -r Note: 1) If you are transferring between MSDOS and SCO UNIX, be sure to use the "-r" flag on the doscp command or you will end up with zero length files on the target machine even though no error messages will appear during the transfer process. 2) This procedure will not work for a Tandy 6000. Q) Is there a book about filePro I can buy? A) STN, Inc. offers a book for developers. It is called "filePro Developer's Reference, 4th edition". Visit their website at for price and availability. Q) Is there a filePro newsletter I can subscribe to? A) Yes, the "filePro Developer's Journal". It is published quarterly and the first issue was published December, 1999. Visit: for more information. To keep production costs down, subscribers download a PDF file and print each issue themselves. Q) I have a filePro Quick Reference Guide for v4.5 from fP Tech. Is there a Quick Reference Guide available for v4.8 and v5.0? A) fP Tech does not have a QRG for v4.8 or v5.0 at this time. Hudson Valley Computer Associates, Inc. offers one which includes all versions of filePro up through v5.0. The product also includes replacement help files which contain much of the information in the QRG. Visit: for more information. Q) Does fP Tech have its own newsletter? How can I get on their list? A) They have a free corporate e-mail newsletter. Sign-up for it at: then click on "Add me" to the corporate e-mail database. Q) Are there other filePro e-mail newsletters? A) Yes. Hudson Valley Computer Associates, Inc. puts out a monthly free newsletter called "Ask the filePro Goddess". It contains news and announcements as well as technical questions with answers, with a humorous twist. Sign-up at: Q) Is there an annual gathering of filePro developers? A) Yes. Since 1998, fP Technologies has hosted a filePro Conference in mid October. The location changes each year, (and the date may also change at any time) so contact them for location, price, exact dates and other details. Q) Is there any filePro gathering places on the Internet? A) Yes. John Esak , the filePro Guru, has created a free 24/7 audio chat room for filePro users and developers. At this time, you must use Microsoft Internet Explorer as your web browser. Here is a description from John Esak: So, anyway, that's the rundown of the room for those who haven't heard about it. It's completely non-profit, run as a helpful resource to the filePro community, and just a great thing. Please, let me encourage you to try the place. All you need is regular speakers (or headphones), and if you have a microphone connected to your computer, you can talk with everyone, otherwise you'll have to type. You should see how fast newcomers go out and spend the bucks on a mic or a headphone/mic combo. It is so much easier to just talk then type! Hopefully, we'll see you there. (on the net, I've found that has some really good mics and headsets for sale... otherwise try your local tech store.) Although planned events are scheduled, the room is always open (baring a power failure or computer glitch). Visit it at or . Q) Does anyone offer filePro training? A) Yes. There are several companies who offer training classes. There are always training classes before (and sometimes after) the filePro Conference. You can find companies who offer training classes at other locations and times in the "filePro Resources" document, available at: There are also occasional listings of training classes at Q) Where can I download utilities and documents? A) The largest collection of free filepro-related scripts, programs and documents are at: Q) Are there any utilities which help a filePro developer to create applications faster? A) There are several free utilities in the public download area at , but the "heavy duty" utilities won't be free. There is a "filePro Toolkit #1" created by Laura Brody and Bob Stockler (Menu Edit II, fP Color Editor, and fP Screen Painter). Details are at . Jeff Harrison wrote import and export code generation utilities for filePro called "JHExport" and "JHImport". Q) Are there utilitities to help me move my filePro application to the Internet so that people can use it via a web browser? A) Yes. There are several. There is fPWeb written by Howard Wolowitz , details are at . Mark Luljak wrote a utilitity called OneGate. You can see a demo of it at . Q) I have ideas for features that I want to see in the next version of filePro. Is there a place that I can submit them? A) Yes. There is an on-line list created by Howard Wolowitz at . The folks at fP Tech will see your suggestions if you post them here. Q) Are there other FAQs? A) There is one at Click on "FAQ". Q) Where can I find descriptions of filePro file formats? A) They were also described in detail in several issues of the Smalltalk newsletter (no longer published, but now available on the "filePro Anthology CD" product). Q) What is in the "filePro Anthology CD" and where can I buy it? A) The CD is available from Hudson Valley Computer Assoc at . It contains all issues of SmallTalk (published by the small Computer Company), The Guru and filePro CookBook (published by John Esak of The Valar Group), plus two filePro/UNIX training manuals from the Guru Conferences, all as every word searchable PDFs. Q) Where can I get a demo version of filePro? A) A single user version for Linux and SCO Unix and a restricted single user version for Windows can be freely downloaded from: The programs are fully functional, but the Windows version has a limit of 100 records and 200 lines of processing (additional records and processing lines will be ignored). Q) I want to download the latest version of filePro. How can I do this? A) Currently, filePro v5.0 and filePro GI may be downloaded from fP Tech's website at: if you have a valid serial number. Earlier versions of filePro are not downloadable. Q) What is the filePro WebRing? A) The filePro WebRing is a group of webpages by filePro developers. They are linked together by some HTML code so that visitors can list all of the members of the ring or navigate around the ring. The ringmaster is Laura Brody of Hudson Valley Computer Associates, Inc. The only requirement to join the ring is to have a page on your website which mentions filePro and to add the appropriate code to your page. Visit: for more details. The filePro WebRing is not maintained or endorsed by fP Technologies (although they are a member of the WebRing).