How badly damaged is it?

[MorFologist]

I went to a client to make a minor modification and discovered that the main file is in poor health. Symptom: I deleted a field definition and it crashed FileMaker. Yep, live served.

I went offline, made a copy, compressed the file, and still crashed. Compressed Clone crashed.

Experiment: I tried a recover on a copy and it brought back 5 field defs from years ago (when another programmer created this file).

Previous nights backup copy also has the symptom, so it's been this way for sometime.

I thinking I should go back through backups, find a file that does not exhibit the symptom, add back new fields, relations, scripts, and import the text data from the grumpy file.

Meanwhile I left it live, as there is no other choice, and was functioning despite whatever is causing said symptom.

I AM supposed to rebuild this on 8 very soon, but I don't want to rush that.

This is FM5 Windows served, Using FM6Dev on OSX4.

Opine away!

[Genx]

Don't you have an original "virgin" file as these guys love to call it, Or do you simply modify the file live all the time?? If you don't, i suggest you export all data and restore it to an original copy.

~Genx

[gdurniak]

A few comments:

1. if the file still runs as is, consider yourself lucky

2. converting straight to FM8 might actually help

3. see my post here for more info: http://masdevelopment.com:3455/1/57?view=print

greg

[Genx]

Interesting...

[MorFologist]

Apparently she's an old whore - I went back two years in backups, to the file prior to my hire, and same problem.

I had never tried to delete old fields I guess, mainly because I wanted to maintain the old reporting methods in case they were needed.

Yet another reason I kick myself for not insisting on a rebuild rather than work on someone's old files.

Now, considering they've been using that file (I do compress it occasionally) for several years WITH the undiscovered defect...

[MorFologist]

Ha ha! Whether via ESP or good Googling, I had read your link hours BEFORE your reply!

I really wanted to delay this client's migration a few months. And I REALLY want to build from scratch, not migrate this ugly old thing.

Edited April 18, 2006 by Guest

[Lee Smith]

It is a good idea [color:red]Not to delete existing fields, even if you feel they are not needed. I usually just leave them be, or rename them to make them stand out incase I run into a broken relationship, script, or report.

Sounds like you are going to have to recreate your file from scratch. Any reason why not to upgrade to v8 at this time?

Lee

[MorFologist]

I seriously lack the time, and I've yet to create anything as complex in 8 as I have done in 6. I was hoping to have more time getting comfortable with 8 in the smaller client databases before tackling monsters.

Why is there no icon of a chicken?

Bok bok bok! bok bok!

Edited April 18, 2006 by Guest