Roger Cigol

Embarcadero have not dropped support for MS SQL Server. It's just not in "Professional". I think "Professional" has always been limited to local databases only. MS SQL Server would rarely be expected to use just for a local database.

I think you are being a little unrealistic here in terms of business costings.

I use PostgreSQL and all seems good to me.

And yes, the viewing of data at design time using a 64bit database does work with 12.3 (certainly with 64bit versions of postgreSQL which is what I work with). The 64bit IDE is a first step. Of course we would all like it to work perfectly and to have had it a year ago but at least this shows it is coming. I am very much in favour of Embarcadero releasing stuff with limited functionality but which works rather than trying to rush too much out too quickly and therefore it all being very buggy. They have gone down this route in the past but seem to have learnt that this puts customers off. They do now seem to be releasing smaller changes at a time but smaller changes that work. I think this is much better for us users.

Thanks @Uwe Raabe I knew it had to be somewhere - and I have now found both with the help of your hints!

It seems that Embarcadero are encouraging C++ (new tool chain) users to save source code as UTF-8 with BOM. Can anyone find an option in the IDE set up to force files to be saved in this format ?

It's great to be able to use 64bit PostgreSQL interface in the 64bit IDE - You can see the database contents at design time.

Side note: very much off topic: but I love sending postcards and still send about hundred to different friends each year as I travel around.

Many thanks to all who helped - learning about the sysintern functions (handle.exe was the life saver) etc much appreciated. Special thanks to @Kas Ob. @Remy Lebeau @Der schöne Günther @Lajos Juhász

POSITIVE RESULT Having got the error code 1450 and then, very helpfully, being pointed in the direction of the "handle.exe" utility on sysintern this got us to a much better position: we could run our software and use "handle" to confirm that something was generating this continuous stream of unwanted (and presumably unused) handles which was eventually reaching some kind of windows out of resources threshold. This enabled us to (temporarily) remove parts of our code that talk to different bits of hardware and then repeat the test to check for unwanted handle production. We found that it was calls to a commercial driver for a specialist PCIe card that is used by our system that was the cause of the problem. This comes from a large respected scientific corporation, who's products we have worked with for a good many years (previously without any problems). Even better news: As part of this commercial package comes a separate test utility that allows you to check that card and driver have been installed correctly. This, too, gives the same stream of unwanted handles. So we are now able to go back to designer/manufacturer of the card/driver and show them how to spot the problem, which exists just using their own software. Fingers crossed that they will come back with a fix quickly!

Why would this kind of problem mean that only my application is affected? When the problem happens it is still possible to read and write files to the directories using windows explorer (eg right click and create a new text file).

Auto run: If I look for coloured entries - which are the ones with "not verified"..... In Services I see one: Sense Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Service: Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection service helps protect against advanced threats by monitoring and reporting security events that happen on the computer. (Not Verified) Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection\MsSense.exe Mon Feb 10 16:31:35 2025 In Drivers I see three: BthA2dp Microsoft Bluetooth A2dp driver: Bluetooth A2DP Driver (Not Verified) Microsoft Corporation C:\Windows\System32\drivers\BthA2dp.sys Sat Dec 7 09:07:47 2019 BthHFEnum Microsoft Bluetooth Hands-Free Profile driver: Bluetooth Hands-Free Audio and Call Control HID Enumerator (Not Verified) Microsoft Corporation C:\Windows\System32\drivers\bthhfenum.sys Sat Dec 7 09:07:47 2019 Adobe Type Manager File not found: atmfd.dll The first two are in subcategory: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services The last one is in subcategory: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Font drivers

Running SFC did not sound dumb to me (either at the time you posted it, or now). This was done at end of January, after we had done a full "check for updates" iteration round a few times (until it said "all up to date").

So is this suspect driver related to file handling ? or could it be any driver on the machine ?

Thank you, Kas. I have downloaded WinObjEx (exe) and run it. I click on the search (magnifier glass) icon and then enter MyMutex1 and click on Find. It says no objects found. I get the same result if repeat but with search only for "Mutant" in the drop down.