The alias I was using has worked fine for months but prior to preparing to
deploy the application using install shield, I decided to give the alias a
more meaningful name.  Accordingly I amended the Database Name property of
each table and query component on the form to the new alias and recompiled.
When the application was run it continued to look for the original alias
which had now been removed from the BDE.

Can anyone explain why this happens and offer a solution?

I have not added my own Database component to the main form since my needs
were simple and it appeared that table and query components would use an
implicit Database if one was not separately declared.  The alias for each
table and query component was therefore entered in their respective Database
Name properties.  I assumed that this was okay since the aliases available
on the BDE were in the drop down list for the Database Name property in the
IDE.

Any help gratefully appreciated.

BDE aliases are a convenience, but you do not *have* to use them. You can
opt to instead use a TDatabase component to locate and connect to the
database. Set up the connection using parameters specified in the Params
property of the TDatabase component. Other properties like DriverName,
DatabaseName, and LoginPrompt provide basic TDatabase attribute definition.

Use of a TDatabase instead of a BDE alias has the advantage that changing
the designated database is much simpler. You just disconnect the TDatabase,
change the connection parameters in the Params property, and then reconnect
the TDatabase.

Connecting to a database using a TDatabase component is described in the
Database Developer's Guide part of the Programmer's guide. In the Delphi
online help table of contents, navigate through the topic titles:

  Developing Database Applications
    Connecting to databases
      Controlling connections

HTH,
Dan

On Tue, 7 Sep 1999 12:58:38 +0100, "syberad" <sybe...@email.msn.com>
wrote: