GC GYM

Any progress on this? Just spend a frustrating hour trying to figure out what dumb mistake I've made when GetThumbnail returns a ? from a container field with a picture in it. FMPA 18 Mac FMS 18 Mac

Try; 1. Take all updates and restart 2. Reinstall FMP 3. Turn off Add ins 4. Throw out the file Msmapi32.dll and have it recreated; Ensure Outlook is set as the default Mail client Close Outlook (may have to use task manager to make sure it is closed) Delete Msmapi32.dll Run fixmapi.exe from the run prompt Open Outlook (Outlook will replace & register the Msmapi32.dll and then open). 5. The recent Microsoft Office 365 update to 1805 seems to have voided these fixes and created the problem in Office 365. Run this .bat as administrator to rollback to 1804. That seems to fix the Error -1 created by update 1805. Office2016Rollback.bat

I Have a text field Staff::Availability that I use to record staff members' availability to work morning and afternoon shifts. Display/data entry is via a checkbox set. For presentation and ease of use, I have placed two copies of the same field side by side, one using a value list for AM shifts, and the other using a value list for PM shifts. (I arrived at this point because a single value list was too difficult to present in a user friendly way across three OS's and Pro, Go and WebDirect) It works fine everywhere except WebDirect. When accessing with WebDirect I am able to enter values using the checkbox set as expected in either the AM or PM side, but as soon as I switch from one to the other, the first selection I make on the other side replaces any existing contents of the field rather than adding a return delimited item to the list. Continuing to check off items in that side works as expected. Committing the data by clicking/tapping outside the field retains the data. Reentering the last side entered retains the existing data and allows the user to continue adding or removing items from the checkbox set. Making a selection from the other version of the field immediately replaces any existing field data. The field is in a FMS hosted file being accessed via a separation model file, in case that matters.

In the absence of an expert replying to this (we are in a different time zone to most of them) I can only offer this; One of my files runs on a LAN that seems to have some slow/dodgy connections and has sometimes given me <table missing> where data should be. Sometimes it recovers and continues, sometimes it drops off the FMS and has to be opened again. Maybe this is a connection problem for the data you are getting from the remote DB?

Thanks Olger.

I’m running my FM database on a laptop with FMP. I sometimes connect with an iPad or another laptop using FM Go or FMP. I take it to a few different locations. The host laptop gets a different ip address each time I arrive in a new location and connect to a different network. I see that I can also connect with the COMPUTERNAME or COMPUTERNAME.local in place of the ip address. So I’m thinking this is the way to solve the problem of the changing ip address. Is there any problem or drawback with using the COMPUTERNAME or COMPUTERNAME.local on a local network in place of the ip address? Does that change if hosted with FMS?

Are the FMP/FMS host and the iPad both on the 'staff authorised wifi'?

FMS15/FMP15 {{FilePath}} on my hosted files usually returns the expected fmnet:/<server.ip.address>/<myfile> Can anyone tell me why one server returns fmnet:/<server.ip.address> <server.ip.address> <server.ip.address>/<myfile> Yes, ip address three times with a return between? {{HostIPAddress}} just returns the one IP as expected

I leave it open just because I didn't realise there was a reason to close it. I use it to swap old files for newer versions, to see who's connected at busy times and how much WD activity there is, to monitor the WebDirect traffic and see what a larger number of users does to WD performance...I guess I should be learning to use the logs for that :-)

Thanks Wim, I will only keep it open when in use.

Since going to FMS 15 (Win 2008 R2), I often get a webDirect style timeout on the admin console. I used to be able to leave it running and come back to it. Any suggestions? admin console time out.tiff

Just tried replacing "self" with <DateField> in the validation calculation but same result

It is a date field, validated by calculation, Self ≤ Get(CurrentDate) Only during data entry, display custom message. A forward date does not cause a validation error in the separation file. Client machine and FMS have correct sysstem date/time.

I have data validation on a field in the main database, however when I edit that field using a separation model, the validation does not seem to work, it allows invalid values. I can see in the help topic that ODBC data sources do not bring across data validation from the data source. Is this also the case if the data source is FMP? If so, do I just need a script trigger in the separation file to do it's own validation?

Thank you all for this invaluable advice. Glad I didn't learn this the hard way!

Thanks everyone. If I ever needed to update a global field, I have been stopping that file only with the admin console then opening it with FMP locally on the FMS to drop in the new logo or whatever, then restarting the file with the admin console. From what I'm learning here I really should stop all files, and stop the FMS before doing this?

Didn't know that, thanks. Must have been lucky so far.

Thanks Wim, I'm sure you can't even open a live hosted file through network level sharing or on the local machine. So just to clarify this, if somebody wants to look at a backup that is in the scheduled backups folder, they should copy or move it out of the backups folder first, or actually take it over to their own workstation first, not open it anywhere on the FMS?

Thanks Webko

We have Filemaker Server 14. We are hosting about 10 files for local/internal use with Filemaker Pro and public access via WebDirect. We also have a few large backup files that are only accessed occasionally, and only by one person at a time. I would usually keep these in the backups directory along with the scheduled backups. It has been suggested to put them in the databases folder and host them. Is that a waste of computing power, if these files are opened and served by FMS but rarely used, or is the use of resources insignificant if these files are not being accessed? I don't want anything unnecessarily slowing FMP or WebDirect performance. WS 2008 R2, 8Gb Ram

Sorry I didn't see the reply earlier, but thanks again for replying James. Yes it seems the only way I can accomplish this is to add every client's own Data Source, Relationship graph and Layouts to the separation file. And yes, it did make sense at first for a locally hosted file. This was developed over many years for my own organisation using our own in house FMS. It is now quite a large file with 60 tables, some of those with 250 fields. The RG requires a lot of scrolling. A few friends in other companies in our (non-profit) industry saw it and wanted it so I sold them a copy and personalised it for them. Then others saw it and wanted it too, so I made copies for them and made a few mods to suit them too. Now more people want it and I'm finding that as a potentially commercial product it should have been designed differently. Maybe I should put up my own FMS and have as many files as I like? Thanks again for your advice, it has helped me a lot.

Thanks for the reply James. I'm not explaining this very well. "Is there a particular reason that you're separating out each Clients records into their own file?" By "Client", I mean a distinct company with their own own (similar) database. I don't need a separate separation file for each of their customers, just for each company database. "Just pass the name of the Client's database in the name of the link used to connect to the server. Each Client would have their own unique link that they need to use, but at least it would get the job done." I can get the name of the required data source to the separation file via the url. I can set a field or a variable with it in the separation file. I just can't get the separation file to change the external file reference without manually opening define external data sources and editing the filepath.

I have a separation model file that I use to display some information from my client's main data file via web direct to their customers (customer portal if you like) . It's only external data source is the main data file it reads from. Each of my clients have their own customised main data file, but the separation file is the same for all of them, except for the external data source. Rather than host 10 separation files, one for each main data file, I would prefer to only host one, for all to use, and simply change the external data source depending on which file is required. Now that we can again pass scripts and script parameters in a url (in FMS14), I thought I would use a script parameter to set a global field or global variable on opening and change the path to the external data source accordingly. It seems that external data sources will not accept variables in the filepath? Am I trying to do the impossible? Is an external data source not like a global field, specific to each session? Would that cause any other connected users to suddenly switch to the new data source? I know, read the manual, answered ny own question http://www.filemaker.com/help/12/fmp/html/odbc_ess.20.5.html Any suggestions for a work around?

Thank you so much, that looks like just what I'm after. I will report back when I have used it.

So I have a few versions of my solution out there, which is nice, but when I want to fix a bug or add an improvement or update to a whole newer version, I have to either add the changes individually to the customer's file, or make a clone of the new version then import all of the tables, update the scripts and value lists, rebuild the accounts....sigh. I suppose I could write a script to import from each table to the clone, but what about the other items? I could find the differences with FMDiff, but I am hoping there is some kind of updater tool out there that will make this quicker and easier. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.