Hello,

I've been developing solutions with FMP since its very beginning in 1985, on
my first Mac. I always have considered that program as remarkably stable.
Now, for the first time, I suspect FMP of being unpredictable and insecure,
which is very embarrassing towards clients. I use 8.5 Advanced, and I
encounter abnormal behaviors :

1) the strangest to me is tied with the setting of background colors to
fields. Two examples :
- being in layout mode and willing to apply a custom color to a field, FMP
quits at the time the color is choosen. If I delete that field on the layout
and drag a new one frow the tool bar, it accepts the color change !
- having successfully applied a standard color to a field, I discover that a
script, which make absolutely no use of that field, does not run anymore the
same way (goes to wrong tabs on a layout) ! Replacing the field did not help
this time.

2) as another list member mentioned, it seems that changes made to some
layouts are not saved during idle time. By the way what's exactly "idle" fot
FMP ?

3) Deleting all records of a table makes changes on dynamic buttons on
another table, in a way that they are not operational anymore ! By
"dynamic", I mean multilayer buttons with different colors and text. If I
delete all but one record, the problem doesn't occur.

Did someone encounter similar problems, especially those linked to the color
of a field ?

On Jan 31, 3:29 am, "H. Pierre Robin" <h... (AT) outsiplou (DOT) net> wrote:
I've never had this experience. Do you have the most recent update?


I don't think changes to layouts are supposed to be saved during idle
time. I beleive Layout changes are saved only when swtiching out of
Layout Mode or actively saving the layout. Which I imagine would be
frustrating if you suffering from issue number 1, but I like the
ability to Revert Layout.



I've never had this experience either.

G

H. Pierre Robin wrote:
I use FMPA 8.5 extensively and have never run into any such problems.
Perhaps your file has some corruption or, if it is happening with
multiple files, perhaps you should reinstall FileMaker.

Layout changes are saved to the server as soon as you exit layout mode.
Changes made to layout data while in browse mode get saved immediately
(locally) upon exiting a record, but the cache doesn't get flushed right
away. This is what happens during 'idle' time, which may not be for
another minute or two.

It sounds like you have a portal around the button, or your formatting
calcs are based on a relationship. Either the records you are deleting
are in the local layout table or they are in the portal's related table.
Either way, if you have no records, then there is no relationship; no
relationship and whatever is in the portal will not appear. This is no
different then in any previous versions.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg (818) 883-2846
FM Professional Solutions, Inc. Los Angeles

FileMaker 8 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance