An open operation on table '[TEMP Table]' errors

Sometimes Microsoft Dynamics GP reports unusual errors with temporary tables. Here are some example error messages that you might see:

An open operation on table 'IV_Reconcile_PO_TEMP' has an incorrect record length.

An open operation on table 'PM_Inquiry_Summary_TEMP' failed because the path does not exist.

While these errors can seem confusing and not make any sense at first, there is one important fact that will help explain how the error can be generated.

Not all temporary tables used by Microsoft Dynamics GP are SQL tables created in the tempdb system database. Many temporary tables used for quick processing in windows use local ctree temporary tables.

These ctree temporary tables are implemented as ctree files in the local workstation's temp folder as pointed to by the %TEMP% environment variable. The files will be named TNTXXXX and will have the extensions .dat, .idx and .tmp.  These files are created when the related table buffers are first referenced in the code and are usually deleted when the table buffer is no longer being used. However, sometimes the files are left behind in the temp folder.

The errors can occur when

• the temporary folder as specified in the %TEMP% environment variable does not exist.
• the temporary folder as specified in the %TEMP% environment variable does not have write permissions.
• the drive that contains the temporary folder as specified in the %TEMP% environment variable is full.
• the temporary filename selected by the runtime engine matches one or more existing files with the same extensions (.dat, .idx or .tmp).

The solution to issues with these temporary tables is to cleanup the temporary folder. Please exit all applications on the workstation and delete as many of the contents of the folder as possible. Some files will be in use and cannot be deleted.

Note: the Dexterity system can also use ctree memory tables which will be stored with their actual names in a TNTXXXX folder.  These tables remain available to the instance of the application until it is shut down.

David

21-Apr-2010: Also look at Allan Cahill's Unexplained Temp Table Errors post on this blog.

Comments

• Anonymous
  September 05, 2010
  Posting from Steve Endow at Dynamics GP Land dynamicsgpland.blogspot.com/.../dynamics-gp-blast-from-past-local-temp.html

• Anonymous
  December 16, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 17, 2011
  This is a great article! Thank you. Kerri Reinholtz Crestwood Associates

• Anonymous
  October 19, 2014
  Hi David, I encounter different massage but i think this is related. this is what i get "An operation on table 'MBS_trigger failed' because the path does not exist". i've tried to what you recomend and we still encounter the issue. can you help us to resolve this. Thank you.