FM4 hangs whenever I try to add a picture

[treysha]

Hello there...

I have a strange problem in my office's FM Pro v.4. The server at my office hosts all my FM documents and domain clients who access any of the documents have to view them as guests. Everyone's using the same version by the way.

One of the documents hosted is a staff personal particulars file which holds all the information about each staff. My job is to simply add in staff pictures into each profile (and I'm doing this NOT from the server but from my own desktop). I did it once about a few months ago by just cutting the picture in photoshop and pasting it in the picture frame in each staff's profile page.

Now, when I tried it again a few days back, the WHOLE FM Pro application in the WHOLE office died, including the one in the server. I had to Ctrl+Alt+Del and End Task in the host server, restart the app and re-host the documents. Only then can other users re-access the FM documents.

Thinking it was a coincidence, I tried the same method a few more times but EVERY single time I did that the whole FM application in ALL the staff PCs as well as the server, hung. And EVERY single time I had to restart the app in the server and re-host as multi-user for others to use.

I am a very fresh beginner user of FM Pro. Can any kind experts plese help me?

[bruceR]

It sounds like you have file sharing turned on on the server. This is an almost guarunteed way to destroy Filemaker files. Also, is the server machine running FileMaker Server or just a regular copy of FileMaker? FileMaker Server is much more robust for mutli-user scenarios. Were the files damaged - did you have to use the Recover command?

[treysha]

No Mr BruceR,

The files were not damaged at all... All I had to do was restart the application in the server and FM will perform consistency checks on the documents and re-host them.

I tried importing the pics from File | Import | Import picture.... the app hung, tries copying pics then pasted them in the picture frame, the app hung. Tried cropping and resizing the pics into many different sizes, the app hung. I am at a lost, but it is imperative that I get the job done. Please give me some advise...

[Neville D]

Hi

Not sure if this helps but......

We are running a similar setup on FM 4 (and 4.1) with main apps sitting on server (not FM server) and 6-8 users. Run real estate businesss with our listings (several hndred) on DB and minimum 4 pics for each proeprty. Previously had problems similar to your problem where the DB grew from a few hundred k to 800+ mb which is when it continually crashed similar to how you describe ie server and users crashing, having to recover db etc. I was just cutting and pasting pics into fields which was why the DB was crashing and growing so big.

I then changed it( thanks to the forum), deleted ALL pics and inserted pics using a script step "insert picture", store only reference to pic, instead and the DB dropped from 800mb to about 80mb and all the problems went away! Magic!!!

All OK for about 18 months but have noticed that the DB has grown to about 350mb since then (at the same time that I upgraded some PC's to FM4.1 so suspect that 4.1 treats insert pic scrip step slightly differently from 4.0 but havn't had time to prove one way or the other, or get answers/explanation from the forum. Not a huge problem as the DB is pretty robust and doesnt crash despite its size.

I know that inserting pics does make the DB grow huge as one of the files (have about 8 related files in the DB) I still use cut/paste (yes I know I am slack, just havnt had the time to moidify!) and it is quite large but only has about a dozen records in it (for rep photos).

Not saying this is the answer but might be somthing to look at. I know at the time of my previous problem the forum said that FM 4/4.1 could support a DB up to 2 gb but was a function of the op system etc. (we are now running Win 2000 server and win 98/ win 2000 clients, but at the time of my problem everyone including server was on win 98 limited memoty ie 128/256mb) and we now have heaps of memory in both server and users. (I guess my suggestions are vaild for MS systems not apple so if you are running apple please disregard)

Hope this helps

Neville

[treysha]

Wow, what a relief to actually hear that someone else had the same problem as I did.

So Neville, just so I got you right, I should actually delete ALL the pics in the database... then insert a script that stores only the reference to the pic, not the actual pic file itself.

This is where I am lost. I am a novice at FM Pro 4, so aside from cutting and pasting the pics, I really do not know how to do as you advised.

Can you help this st*pid fool on how to go about doing that?

I can never thank you enough...

[Neville D]

Yes

Delete the pics. In my case i have a button on a layout which activates a scrip which has only one command "import Picture []"(dont nominate a file in the script)

When i use it, I click on the container field (set up to hold the picture eg field Picture 1, Picture 2, etc (defined as container fields) and then activate the script (the button) it opens up a window allowing me to nagivate to the pic I want (we use .jpg's but FM supports several file formats) and MOST IMPORTANTLY, MOST IMPORTANTLY, tick the box at the bottom left of the window that says "store only reference to the file" and click open. If you dont "tick the box" it imbeds the pic and takes heap of storage (but not as much as cut/paste).

For it to work properly on the clients I have had to change the desktop shortcut to "start in" to the directory where the photos are stored, otherwise on the layout you see "cant draw XXXX.jpg - it apparently doesnt know where to find the file (on the server).

As our reps maintain the photos (even though they are under threat of death if they dont "tick the box!) i regularly go in, change the "start in" directory to something else and go through the listings. Every one should say "cant draw XXXX.jpg". Any that you can actually see the photo usually means that they have forgotton to "tick the box" and the full image is stored rather than just the reference to the file, with the DB growing accordingly, and I delete them and make them put them back in correctly.

Having said this I strongly suspect that FM4.1 (we are running a mix of 4 & 4.1) has a little bug where it actually imbeds the photo even though you have "ticked the box" - consequently I have "back graded some PC's to FM4 to try and elimainate the problem.

FM - great! - have been using it since FM2 then FM3 now FM4. I know that FM 5 and 6 are supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread (by the way do you know was the greatest thing before they inveneted sliced bread???)but the licensing costs are pretty heavy where as now I buy FM4 or 4.1 licenses on e-bay for <$100 brand new still in wrappers as i need them.

See how you go and let me know and check the file size of the DB to see if it is pretty big which would be an indication of this as the problem.

Cheers and best luck, email me if you need further help

Neville Dyke

(visit us on the web at www.cynthiadykerealty.com.au)

[treysha]

Hi there...

I can't seem to find that button which activates the script which has the command import Picture.

I am running FM4.0

You are my best bet for help in this case.

[treysha]

oops.. sorry... found the "Store only reference to this file" checkbox.

Its there when I click "Import Picture".