pc FM13v2 says it can't find file that is already open

[MSPJ]

Hi - I recently upgraded to FMP Adv 13, and immediately installed the most recent update.  I open a file that was converted from previous format (last used in FMP11).  Conversion went fine, seems to work fine, no issues other than very minor graphics tweaks.

 

However, a couple of minutes AFTER I open the file, I get an error message that FM can't find/open the file that I have open.  It then locks up and I have to end task.  

 

Any thoughts?  I'm not running any scripts - in fact, both times it happened, I was just looking through scripts in script manager.  

 

Thanks,

Michael

[Wim Decorte]

It sounds like you are doing something that requires FM to look at its file references.  Check the "external data source" and see what is there and what needs fixing.  Do you have a reference in the file to itself?

[MSPJ]

HI - thanks for your reply.  So there are script steps that run and do various saves or save as to create a backup.  Would those require an "open" operation? THere are no actual "open" script steps - but perhaps that's implicit in the save?  But even so, is there something about this operation that has changed in new versions?

[Wim Decorte]

No, saves would not do it.  But any "perform script" that references another file, import script steps,...

[MSPJ]

Okay - I have some more information but still can't make sense of it.

 

First - it happens when I open a script in script manager editor. I'm not running the script - just editing it.  And if I have the script debugger open to trap script steps, no script is running when I get the error.  The script I'm opening is one used to import records from a previous version of the database into a new one.  The problem does not occur when I open a different script.  (Does FMP do some kind of check on script steps without running the script?)

 

Now - when this happens -- if the file is open in FMP Adv 12, it says it can't find the file (same file as one that is running - it's a single file solution). It opens a file dialog, and I can point it to itself, and it's happy.  

 

If the very same file is opened in FMP Adv 13, it locks up after announcing file not found.  It never opens the dialog to find the file, and I have to close the task.

 

None of this happens in FMP Adv 11. 

 

So, I'm left with:

 

Why is this happening at all?  What happens when I edit a script that would make a database look for itself, and why can't it find itself?

Why didn't it happen in version 11, and why does 13 lock up but 12 let's me find the file. 

 

Sheesh.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Michael

[MSPJ]

Correction: version 11 acts same as version 12 - asks for location of file.  Version 13 just locks up.

[Wim Decorte]

 It opens a file dialog, and I can point it to itself, and it's happy. 

 

Don't do that, you're making a reference from the file to itself, so FM try to open that referenced file (which is itself).  It may or may not always work properly.

If you need to import "from itself", always take a copy of the file first and reference the copy.

Or take the long way around and first export to an intermediate file and import from the intermediate.

 

Not sure why 13 would lock up, but it is easy enough to avoid it.

 

 

To answer your first question: yes, when you open a script to edit (not run), FM will evaluate ALL references to other files that are in that script.

[MSPJ]

OKay - that last bit probably is the issue.  I'm not normally importing from itself -- I would normally be doing the import from an earlier version placed in a different directory, but since this is not the installed runtime, it's not running from the normal location - so it sounds like that is the issue.  Strange though it's never come up before, and I haven't changed this aspect at all.  But knowing it's evaluating before I run the script helps a lot. 

Thanks!