Calculator Troubleshooting

When I start the calculator I get a message "Unable to open properties database":

For some reason Calc could not load the properties and constants data. These are stored in files in your installation directory with the extension .PRP. Calc looks for a file called DEFAULT.PRP in this directory, which is where you would store customized properties and constants data for automatic loading. If this file is not found, the file FACTORY.PRP is loaded from the same directory. If both files are missing or inaccessible for some reason, Calc fails to load the data and the properties and constants will not be available. Check if these files have been deleted or moved. If no properties files can be found, they can be replaced from your backup copies of the distribution files, or you can re-run the Calc setup.

What happened to the help files?

Calc98 uses HTML-based help files. These files do not work using the WinHelp programme which comes with Windows95 and WindowsNT 3 and 4. They do work with any HTML browser. Windows98 and WindowsCE both come with HTML help built in, so users of these operating systems should not have a problem. Calc98 tries to find HTML help if it exists, after which it will try to locate the HTML browser. If it can't find either it suggests you run the browser yourself and open the Calc.htm file.
We think HTML help is generally a good idea because HTML is more of a cross-platform standard than WinHelp, and is potentially more powerful. At the moment the operating system support is not so good, and we need to make the help easier to access for users without built-in HTML help support.

What happened to the extra fonts, e.g. Buttons and Minitron?

We now support arbitrary font sizes and that means we need to use standard TrueType fonts. Buttons, Minitron and Sevenseg fonts supplied with Calc95 weren't TrueType so you could not re-size them.

After upgrading Calc, it looks and behaves like the old version:

You may have had Calc running when you ran the installation wizard. As a result, the wizard may be unable to update the taskbar and registry properly. You need to make sure that Calc is not running, and then run the installation wizard again. It is a good idea to make sure that you don't have any applications running when installing any software.