Bizarre Selelction Problems

[chris d.]

I'm running FM 7 on XP and I'm having a strange problem with my layouts that i cant seem to figure out or find any info on. It seems to happen at random but it always happens in the following order:

1. First, there will be any of a number of odd selection problems, including an inability to select/deselect certain fields; selection boxes staying put when the field they surround is moved; locked fields disappearing. Once this begins on a layout, it doesnt seem to stop (or spread) even after the computer and Filemaker are restarted.

2. Eventually (and inevitably, it seems), only one or two objects or fields will be selectable at all and even those are unresponsive save for the selection box that appears around them.

3. After a seemingly random while, clicking on the remaining selectable fields crashes Filemaker.

Once a layout enters a stage nothing seems to get it out.

Everything seems fine otherwise. The problem layouts work fine in browse mode, at least those fields that are visible.

My guess is that it's either corrupted or possessed; I've contacted my local priest, anyone here have any suggestions?

chris d

[transpower]

FileMaker freezes in layout mode on my computer, too. By setting XP to optimize for cache, not programs, and setting System Mechanic (an outside program) to write cache every 2 seconds, I've managed to minimize such problems and not lose much work. I think that in layout mode, FileMaker is leaking memory. I called tech support--no help. The only other thing I can think of is that the problem may be insufficient video memory. I've got 8 MB on my adapter, which should be enough...but I'm not sure. How much memory is on your video card?

[MoonShadow]

Disappearing fields can also be a sign of a mismatch between the Layout table and the field's table. If the field has an invalid reference, they will disappear on you if not fixed. Immediately respecify the correct table and file name and they will remain. This may not be your problem, but it is one I've observed.

I would recheck your file references, be sure your layouts point to TOs that exist in your Relational table and are valid. Just because their box appears in the graph, doesn't mean they are valid! If their line between TOs points to the name of the TO and not a field, that's another indicator.

As to the disappearing fields when they are invalid - it's awfully nice of FM to clean up after us.

[Ugo DI LUCA]

I confirm.

Working in layout mode, even with MacOsX brings some issues when drawing and selecting fields and buttons.

shift-slide with lock objects call an "add" action.

Sometimes, thin filled lines wouldn't be selectable. Copying it elsewhere, I can select it !

No, definitely, I'm almost "relief" you bring this thread as I was thinking I had some bizarre OS issue.

I just hope this will be solved.

[chris d.]

Ugo,

A complete DB crash compelled me to do some more work on this today. I *might* have found a solution.

I took the file home and tried it on my Mac (OS 10.3). It behaved exactly as you described above. Sounds like the same issue.

Anyway, updating to Filemaker 7.2 seemed to stop the problem in OS X. Dont know if it will help XP. Guess i'll find out the hard way.

[chris d.]

Well, the 7.2 update seems to have stopped the problem on XP as well. Good luck, Ugo!

UPDATE: Spoke too soon. Problem still there, but now there are new and improved font problems, odd Java-coffee freezing, and entire tables being summarily erased... sheesh

[chris d.]

Well, i have created a file containing one the effected layouts. The original had various and sundry tables, layouts, and relationships; the problem persists without them.

If you go to Layout view and try to SELECT ALL you will notice, among other things, that there is a phantom field between the 'Venue' and 'Presiding' fields. Deleting that field will deleted half of the other fields.

Error_test_db.zip.zip

[Ugo DI LUCA]

Hi,

Well, if you choose deselect from the Menu, this field or object or whatever it was almost disappear.

There are plenty of association in your layout.

This seems pretty close to the oddities I was having too. I didn't worked much on the layout parts these days, but I'm sure I'll run into some others again.

Definitely this could be a major problem IMO if they turned to worsen on the long term, ending to database corruption. With several files, it was pretty easy. With multiple tables in one file only, I suspect it can be problematical to determine which part is corrupted.

[Strouss]

Sounds alot like my post #124355 Buggy Graphics.