At 07:02 AM 21/08/2005 -0400, you wrote:

>I tried IBExpert Personal Edition, placing a copy of the FBEMBED.DLL
>in the same directory and specifying it, but the application refused
>to open the database, even when it was the only one attempting to do
>so and after I set the charset and dialect.

When it comes to connection problems, we can usually get to the source if
we know the actual details of the exception. "The application refused to
open the database" won't cut it. (For one thing, applications don't open
databases, the server does that. We can tell from the exception whether
your problem is due to having no server, which will be the case if the app
can't find fbembed.dll.)

Are you by some chance specifying a Windows peer-to-peer path for the
database file, rather than an absolute drive path?

Suppose your database file is called MyDB.fdb and it is located on the C
drive, which must be *your* C drive, not a mapping, not a share name, in a
directory called databases.

Try to connect as follows:

(Server field must be empty)

c:\databases\MyDB.fdb

Even if the database file is located in the same directory as the app (in
this case, IBExpert PE) *still* supply the absolute path.

(You can put anything you like in the username and password fields, as they
are not used for a connection to embedded)

If you continue to have trouble, do your best to capture the exact message
you are getting - both the 9-digit error code and the text of the message -
and report them back here.

./heLen