FIX: SourceSafe File Not Found Error When VB Deletes .FRX File

ID: Q148892

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows, versions 4.0, 5.0
Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows, 16-bit and 32-bit, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

In a Visual Basic project, if a form at one time contained graphical information and that graphical information is removed, then the .frx file may be deleted by automatically Visual Basic, or deleted manually by the user. This causes the following error message to appear in the Source Code Control Results window when you check the Visual Basic project back into SourceSafe:

   File "<path to .frx>.FRX" not found

CAUSE

Visual Basic stores text information for a form in the .frm file and binary information for a form in the .frx file. Every time it saves a form, Visual Basic determines whether or not the .frx file is needed. If it is not needed, the .frx file is deleted.

The problem is Visual SourceSafe stores the current and historical copies of the Visual Basic form (.frm and .frx) files. Visual SourceSafe does not detect that Visual Basic has determined that the .frx file is no longer needed. Visual SourceSafe sees the missing .frx as an error.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Visual SourceSafe version 6.0 for Windows.

WORKAROUND

Use one of the following to work around this problem:

Set an icon for the form. This will force Visual Basic to always keep the .frx file without increasing the amount of resources used or the size of the form.
Start the Visual SourceSafe Explorer, and delete (do not destroy) the .frx file when it is no longer needed. This will remove the .frx file from SourceSafe without destroying the history.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic 4.0.

2. Add the Visual Basic project to Source Code Control.

3. Check out the entire project (including the .vbp file).

4. Add a new form (Form2).

5. Add a bitmap to the Form2 picture property to create the .frx for Form2.

6. Save and check in the entire project.

7. Check out the project.

8. Delete the bitmap from the Form2 picture property.

9. Save the project. (The .frx for Form2 should be automatically deleted by

   Visual Basic.

10. Check in the entire project. In the Source Code Control Results window,

    the following message appears:

    File "<path to .frx>.FRX" not found

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kbSSafe400bug kbSSafe500bug kbSSafe600fix kbVBp400 
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

Last Reviewed: September 29, 1998