Dropping Back from V9

[Oldfogey]

I desperately need the Script grouping facility and would upgrade just to get it BUT I need my app to run under V8.5. I would not use any other new feature, tempting as it might be. I have tried moving a small DB with grouped scripts from V9 to V8.5 and it seemed to be OK but I need to be absolutely certain - well, 99% anyway.

Does anyone KNOW if it is possible to drop back like that?

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Well if you open it under 8.5 the scripts will not be grouped.

Steven

[LaRetta]

Hi Paul,

I will be recommending to one business (using a solution I built) to purchase one copy of 9 Advanced so I (or any Developer) can more easily group and work in Script Maker while using Advanced (this is full-agency solution with 300+ scripts). But, because of the particular requirements of this business, I won't recommend upgrading all copies to 9 at this time.

As long as you don't incorporate other 9 enhancements (conditional formatting, for instance) then you will be fine. As indicated, when opening in versions less than 9, the scripts loose their grouping but all appears to work flawlessly otherwise.

LaRetta

[Lee Smith]

At least the groups remain together, and the folders become a line that separate the groups.

HTH

Lee

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Remember also that some relationship behavior has changed as well. See Item 11.11 of the Read Me for FMP 9.

Steven

Edited July 28, 2007 by Guest

[Oldfogey]

Thanks for that bit of info, Steven. Fortunately, in this case, ignorance is bliss; I didn't know about that behaviour and wouldn't have used it.

Thanks to everyone else, too. You've confirmed what I thought but I'm sore from many, many bites on the bum so, in the absence of reliable advice, I generally keep to the straight and narrow - where computers are concerned, anyway.

[xochi]

11.11. In the previous versions of FileMaker, some predicates in a relationship would be ignored if they had

an empty value. This could result in finding records which don’t match the relationship criteria,

even finding all records in the related table. Predicates based on empty values will no longer match

to any other records. Any databases which depended on the old behavior will need to be modified to

use a different relational design. This change was made to match standard relational behavior in

SQL databases.

I'm trying to understand this -- does this mean that in FM8.5 that an empty match field would match all other records in the other table that were also blank? If so, I don't remember seeing this happen. And that in FM9 any relationship that has a blank in a match field on either side will no longer match? Or is this saying that in FM8.5 there was a bug that is now fixed, and the behavior in FM9 is what you would expect...?

[Vaughan]

I've just got bitten by this change in behaviour.

A multi-predicate relationship thus to create a dwindling value list:

recid = recid

listrecid <> recid

where listrecid is a calc field that lists all currently selected recids. Under 8.5 and earlier, if listrecid is empty, all records matching the recid are shown. Under 9.0 none are shown, which breaks the system.

FMI are aware of the problems the change of behaviour has caused and are considering their options.

[Vaughan]

Update: The fix wasn't so bad. Don't let listrecid be empty, instead display something (anything) that won't match any real record ids -- a simple "x" was sufficient. FMP 9 seems happy with this.

[Oldfogey]

When Steven mentioned this 'feature', I thought he was describing odd behaviour. Now I see that it is very useful and quite logical and, more worrying, you virtually can't help using it, even if only by accident.

It won't stop me using V9 to group scripts. At least I won't be wasting time trying to find why some relationships suddenly stop working!

Edited July 31, 2007 by Guest