Layout crashes application

[Vaughan]

Whenever FMP cashes or is forced to quit the computer needs to be restarted. I'm not sure why but I suspect that the network copy protection scheme is a separate applicatin thread that is independent of the main program. When FMP crashes or is quit the NCP is still running.

Regarding the layouts, first check your copy of FMP is patched to the latest level: go to the FileMaker web site and download the free updater. When you've done that make a secure backup of the db before you do anything else, then try the file again. If it still crashes try these things one at a time:

if on a Mac, give FMP more memory

recover the file

save a compressed copy

save a clone (no records).

[Charlie]

Vaughan -

Many thanks for your suggestions. I have gone through your suggestions and applied them, but the problem remains, unfortunately. When I go to the layout, I either get kicked out of the program with a type -2 error message or it crashes my whole system (frozen pointer syndrome).

At any rate, I believe that the problem (NCP issues aside) resides on the specific layouts that cause the crash. I have experienced similar difficulties in the past (not often, and on different files), but usually it just gave me bizarre behavior and did not take the app down. Deleting the layout in the past fixed the problem, and I only had to recreate the offending layout.

[More info: The layouts in question, by the way, have the common element of a pasted graphic from Freehand. These are not new layouts, so Freehand-pasted graphics are not generally the problem, but I was in the middle of importing a new, similar graphic when I first crashed and the problem started. I can now briefly see the layout before it crashes, and the new pasted graphic is not visible on the page. The problem also occurs, however, even on layouts that have the old FH graphic but which I was not modifying.]

The problem seems to occur when it tries to display whatever element on the layouts is causing the crash. This happens whenever I'm in browse or in layout mode. It is not the layout "location" itself (if I am showing 0 founds records, I can go to the layout in browse mode), but something on the layout that causes the crash.

Is there any way (undocumented?) of deleting a layout without being in layout mode? (I could go to the layout with 0 found records and kill the layout this way.) Or a way of killing a layout from the Layout Order menu? I'm beginning to have that sinking feeling.

Many thanks for any further ideas you might have.

Charlie

[Charlie]

Greetings.

Does anybody know of anyway out of this problem:

When I go to two layouts in my solution, the app crashes. (To make it more fun, when I try to restart the app, it gives me the message that I have exceeded the number of users. I have to restart.)

I have gone to the layouts with 0 records and it doesn't crash, but as soon as I go into layout mode on the layouts, it crashes.

Basically, I just want to kill those two layouts and rebuild them, but I can't get in there to delete the layouts. Any ideas?

I really don't want to rebuild the entire file, so any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks.

Charlie

[Kurt Knippel]

Charlie,

You are correct in some of your thoughts in that this is definately a problem with one of the elements on those layouts.

What I suggest is that you goto a good layout, go into layout mode and scroll all the way to the bottom, as far down as Filemaker will allow. This should be a greyish area far below the actual layout area. Now goto your bad layout and delete it. Filemaker should allow this without problems.

I would then suggest that you follow some of Vaughan's advice and recover, save as a clone and import the data into it.

[Charlie]

Kurt and Vaughan -

Many thanks for your help. I've fixed the problem using the scroll-down-the-page method. I've worked with FM for, well, a long time, and I don't think I ever noticed that switching layouts in layout mode keeps the scroll bar in the same place. Learn something new everyday.

Thanks to you both. And yes, I've copied the file and backed it up, as Vaughan recommended.

Charlie

[Anatoli]

RE: Whenever FMP cashes or is forced to quit the computer needs to be restarted. I'm not sure why but I suspect that the network copy protection scheme is a separate applicatin thread that is independent of the main program. When FMP crashes or is quit the NCP is still running.

You are right. How annoying for legitimate users! On PC version you can kill the thread so FM is completely discharged. Maybe with some memory utility on Mac can be done the same.

[Vaughan]

Regarding the Freehand graphics: I suppose they are postscript? Convert them into a bit-mapped format for your layouts.

[Moon]

RE: Whenever FMP cashes or is forced to quit the computer needs to be restarted.

Wait a minute or so and you can usually restart FileMaker without restarting your computer. This applies to Macintosh. I don't know if it is the same on Windows, but I suspect it is. I seem to remember reading a FAQ on the FileMaker site stating the same thing but I could be having a senior moment.

Up to you whether you find it better to just restart or tp go to some other task on your computer.