Testing Environment?

[kyleknapp]

I'm using FMPro 5.5 with FMServer 5.5 in a multi-user environment. Making modifications to our application is always a pain, because I have to either make changes and do testing in realtime on the system while it's in use (dangerous, if the changes are at all complex), or I have to isolate a copy of the database files on a computer not connected to the network.

I can simply copy the files to my local computer, and then disable the network connection, but the instant I re-enable the network connection, I risk having the application accidently open one of my test files (even though the active copy is already open!)

I suppose there's an expensive "Developer's Edition" that avoids this problem, but I'm on a budget. Anyone figured out a reasonable work around?

Thanks,

~kyle

[Dane]

You might want to take a look at the notion of a Separation model-- see http://fmforums.com/forum/showforum.php?fid/20/

[Ender]

Hi kyle,

I'm afraid the Separation Model is rather unpleasant to implement in versions prior to FM7.

If you are experiencing issues where your hosted files are attempting to open local files, or local files are attempting to open hosted files, then you likely have a mix of old file references that are causing the confusion. File references are internal pointers, which tell the application where to look for the file, based on where you looked previously. In versions prior to FM7, they cannot be manually adjusted. If you want to clean up the file references, so they only look in the same directory (or specified directory,) you'll need Metadata Magic:

http://www.nmci.com/index.php?submenu=Developer_Software_MetadataMagic&src=directory&view=products&srctype=display&id=10&category=MetadataMagic

Metadata Magic is also a great tool for analyzing your solution, to aid in removing unused elements and seeing where every element is referenced. It's a very useful tool if you're planning on converting a large solution to FM7/8.

That aside, you may find it helpful to keep any local versions of your files archived as .sit or .zip archives when they are not being used.