PRB: "Couldn't find file 'Unknown'" Error when Language=JScript

ID: Q189206

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual InterDev, versions 1.0, 6.0
Microsoft Data Access Components version 1.5
Microsoft Active Server Pages versions 1.0, 1.0b

SYMPTOMS

When the default language is set to JScript for Active Server Pages (ASP) pages connecting to a file-based database (for example, Access, Visual FoxPro) returns an error such as the following:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80004005'
[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access 97 Driver] Couldn't find file '(unknown)'.

This error occurs only with connect strings that contain discrete or UNC paths such as "c:\newdata\backup.mdb" or \\servername\sharename\backup.mdb, respectively. For example, adding a data connection to a Visual InterDev 1.0 Web Project for the adventure works database from within Visual InterDev 1.0 would create the following connection string in your Global.asa:


   "DSN=AdvWorks;DBQ=C:\InetPub\ASPSAMP\AdvWorks\AdvWorks.mdb;
   DriverId=25;FIL=MS Access;MaxBufferSize=512;PageTimeout=5;");

When trying to open a text file, an error occurs such as the following:

Server object error 'ASP 0177 : 800a0034'
Server.CreateObject Failed

This error occurs when calling GetFile or OpenTextFile as in the following:


   fl = fs.OpenTextFile("c:\\myfile.txt", 1, 0,0);

CAUSE

The error is due to the backslash character (\) being used as a delimiter both in file paths and as the identifier for "escape sequences" in JScript.

Examples of escape sequences are "\n" for a new line or "\b" for a backspace. Two backslashes (\\) resolve to a single backslash. If the character following the backslash is not a known escape sequence identifier, the backslash is ignored.

As a result, JScript resolves the string "c:\newdata\backup.mdb" to "c: ewdataackup.mdb" where the "\n" is replaced with a carriage return and the "\b" is replaced with a backspace. JScript would resolve "\\servername\sharename\backup.mdb" to "\servernamesharenameackup.mdb" where the "\\" is replaced with a single backslash and "\b" is replaced with a backspace.

In cases such as these, the resulting string passed to the Connection.Open method is an invalid file location, resulting in an error.

RESOLUTION

There are several possible workarounds:

Replace all backslashes (\) in your connect strings with two backslashes (\\). For example: "\\\\servername\\sharename\\backup.mdb" would resolve to "\\servername\sharename\backup.mdb."

Use VBScript instead of JScript.

Store all path information in an ODBC DSN and only pass the DSN name to the Connection.Open method as in: Connection.Open "MyDSN."

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

Additional query words: kbADO kbASP kbVisID


Keywords          : kbASPObj kbODBC kbVisID100 kbVisID600 kbGrpASP 
Version           : WINDOWS:1.0,1.5,6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: May 13, 1999