Q62829: BOOKLOOK "…Forgot ISAM TSR" Despite PROISAM.EXE Being Loaded

Article: Q62829
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 7.00
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | SR# S900531-18 | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 20-JUN-1990

The BOOKLOOK sample program from Microsoft BASIC Professional
Development System (PDS) version 7.00 displays the misleading error
message, "You forgot to load the ISAM TSR program," when the file
BOOKS.MDB is not in the current directory, even though PROISAM.EXE is
loaded.

To correct for this error, run BOOKLOOK from the directory that
contains BOOKS.MDB, or run PROISAMD.EXE instead of PROISAM.EXE.

This information applies to Microsoft BASIC Professional Development
System (PDS) version 7.00.

The message is shown this way because this is the message printed
whenever a "Feature Unavailable" error (ERR=73) occurs in BOOKLOOK's
error handler. BOOKLOOK is made to run with BOOKS.MDB already created;
therefore, the only reason "Feature Unavailable" would occur in that
case is if the PROISAM TSR is not loaded.

PROISAM.EXE allows you to access existing ISAM files, but does not
allow you to create files, tables, or indexes. To do this, you must
use PROISAMD.EXE. This explains why loading PROISAMD instead of
PROISAM corrects the error with BOOKLOOK.