Opening the database without default behavior

[Mandu]

I'm stuck with a bad layout that probably will take hours to finish rendering. It's not abort-able, and the only thing I can do is force-quit Filemaker. Unfortunately, this layout happens to be the one automatically chosen when I first open the database. Are there any steps I can take to deactivate this?

(In case it matters - the layout is a list view, and I think I've got funky conditional formatting on each row. A "find in progress" dialog pops up for several seconds, then disappears, and the next row of my layout appears, then "find in progress" appears again, then another line is rendered, etc. Around 5 seconds per line.)

Thanks for any help -

Chap

[bcooney]

Turn on the Script debugger, then open the file. You'll be able to quit the script.

[Mandu]

I had tried that - the problem is, there's no script running: it's simply attempting to open an initial window. The layout is a list view of 25000 rows - and, apparently because of a grossly inefficient Conditional Formatting formula, it takes approx. 5 seconds to compute the formatting of each row -- of which there are around 25000.

If I could even somehow empty the table it's trying to display, it would at least finish rendering the layout quickly. But FM insists on, at minimum, putting up an initial window before turning the GUI over to me. And rendering the layout is going to take nearly forever (34 hours!).

[Søren Dyhr]

Datamining by simple eyeballing?? ... is in my humble opinion slightly more than dissented from core database tasks, and in particular out of filemaker's realm. Filemaker as well as other relational databases are aiming to become vessels of meaning, not the bare putting together random information to make patterns reveal themselves.

Meaning - means strictly distinguishing between "need to know" vs. "nice to know"

http://www.smallco.net/RestrainYourself.pdf

--sd

[Inky Phil]

That is an excellent link Soren and one which every would be (and possibly some 'expert') developer would be advised to have a look at

Thanks

Phil

[comment]

Under the heading of "need to do now" vs. "shouldn't have done before":

Try creating a brand new file. In this file, define a relationship to the problematic file (preferably to some table other than the one with 25k records, if you have it). Create a script that does Go to Related Record in that table, using a new window. Specify 'Use external table's layouts' and select any layout other than the problematic one.

[Mandu]

:)-) A good point, but not really relevant to this case -- this is just a tool that's in early development, and I just want to be able to retrieve what work I've already done. I had turned off filtering of the table to troubleshoot something else; I had no intention of presenting the end user (me) with a 25000-line list to peruse.

I've just never encountered a situation with FM where I was essentially locked out of my database (other than forgetting the password of course). I was hoping someone could suggest a back door.

Since first posting I've been able to extract my scripts and table definitions, so I'm back in business - and my new database opens with an innocent, do-nothing splash screen.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Guest

[Søren Dyhr]

I was hoping someone could suggest a back door.

Force quitting is on a mac done via ctrl-alt-esc ... then getting into to files defs. is done as Comment suggests provided such a layout exists. Otherwise make a random integer primary key for the relation and execute a GTTR(SO) which hopefully will land you in a fraction of the records. This can be done by looping until only one record matches.

--sd

[Mandu]

Force quitting is on a mac done via ctrl-alt-esc ...

Actually cmd-opt-esc for Mac.

So, what does opening the database while holding key do? It prompts for authentication; does it also provide any way to interrupt or otherwise influence FM's "when opening this file" behavior?