File references suddenly pointing to wrong file

October 8, 201312 yr

Hi all,

I have a file which points to another file and there's TWO file files in the File Reference.

So, the UI file, points to a data file which is either at:

file:data

The idea being if the local data file can't be found it'll fail over to the remote data file.

So, I have three attachments to this:

1-works.png = that's the basic process of having two files set up in the one file reference. If the UI file finds the first one, it'll use it... otherwise it'll "fail over" to the second one (2-works as well.png).

I've isolated the problem to this...

3-doesnt work.png... If I open a completely separate file which actually references the UI file, the local data file, and the remote data file.

If I open that file first, and it runs some checks which checks data in all 3 files it's referencing... the UI file now insists on opening the hosted data file, completely ignoring the local data file.

It's as if because another file has made direct reference to the hosted file, the UI file isn't interested in the local data file any more.

I'm lost... I've tested all sorts of things and can reproduce the issue over and over again.

What blows my mind is all of this was working perfectly fine. The last thing I did was download from the server the latest data file, replacing the local data file. It just doesn't seem to like this new data file.

If you're still reading at this point, well done... you deserve a medal.

October 10, 201312 yr

Author

I know this is area of the forums doesn't get many visitors and my question was a little convoluted... but I have an answer.

I can confirm that FileMaker does not look up a file specified in a Data Source, in the order they are entered.

So, if you have one data source called "My main file", pointing to 2 files, eg:

file:/myfirst_file.fmp12

file:/my_file_if_the_first_file_cant_be_found.fmp12

And you, or another FileMaker file opens "my_file_if_the_first_file_cant_be_found.fmp12", FileMaker will consider that "My main file" is open, even though "myfirst_file.fmp12" exists.