Newbie Question, please help.

[Mirth]

Hi folks. Can anyone please help me with the following. I am using FileMaker Pro 4.0 at work. We are connecting to a clients database via IP address. A problem occurred yesterday I cannot figure out. There is one specific field called "Project Name" we often use to filter when performing a Find, that I can no longer click on when I attempt to perform a Find. When I click on this field now, simply nothing at all happens, I cannot even get a cursor in the field. Previously when clicking the field, a list of all the current Projects would be displayed and I would select the appropriate one based on what project I want to search for a particular record(s) on. It was working fine earlier during the morning then just all of a sudden without rhyme or reason, it simply stopped working, I'd click Mode then Find and try to click this field so as to filter my results to a specific Project but nothing happens when clicking the field. I am able to click within every other field without a problem.

As this is a clients database we are accessing remotely, Layout Mode is completely unavailable to us so it is not possible for someone here to have gone into Layout Mode and removed the check from the "Allow Entry into field" box, and again, it was working earlier this same day. Also, this is ONLY an issue on one specific computer, 5 other computers do not exhibit this problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling FM on the trouble machine resulted in the same problem still. Is there something that a user could do even inadvertently to change the properties or whatever of just one field that would cause this problem? Any advice is greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance.

Jim

[birdman]

Do you have to enter a password to get into the file? As you say that you cannot access the Layout Mode there must be some type of security imbedded in the system. Perhaps the workstation in question does not trigger the correct privileges.

Just a thought.

[Mirth]

Hey BM. Yes, the database is setup with a password in order for us to access it, hence our inability to view Layout Mode which we do not have access to. However, the password is of course the same for all of us and no other computers in my office are experiencing this problem. To be honest with you, this is occurring on a co-worker of mine computer and I am trying to resolve it for her. So it is possible she did something inadvertently to cause the problem though she is telling me she can't think of even the slightest action she performed that is different from what we do on a day to day basis within the database. She also claims to not have experienced any unusual problems such as being disconnected from the database or crashing or simply shutting down improperly. Because it is her and not me having the problem, I don't have the benefit of knowing EXACTLY what things might have been done inadvertently or otherwise. Anyway, just hoping someone will have seen something similar and have some ideas for me. Thanks for the input.

Jim

[Vaughan]

Could you tell me:

What version of FMP is hosting the database on the server?

What OS (and version) is the server running?

What version of VMP (and patch level) is on the troublesome client machine?

What OS is on the troublesome client machine?

--

Have you tried running a disk fix utility on the client's machine?

Nothing usually stops "without rhyme or reason" so some more investigation might me required.

It might me a sign from God to ensure that the database and server is properly backed up. It might also be a signal to do a bit of preventative maintenance and do a "recover" on the database and see if that helps.