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Every Week a New Glitch ...

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    #1

    Every Week a New Glitch ...

    Hi group,

    Okay ... I now have yet another glitch with my Alpha 5v5 order entry system.

    This is an application that I have used since Alpha 4 [dos] with changes when we went to Alpha 5 ... and now v5.

    After ironing out all the problems in early August with the switch to version 5 ... everything will work fine for a while and then a new glitch will appear.

    At one point, when trying to change a "ship to" address on a tabbed subform, I had to do a "work around" by attaching a button that opened another form [called "customer entry"] into which one puts the changed "ship to" address. Once the "customer entry" form is closed, the new data does NOT show up in the order in progress ... but will show up at printing time and/or the next time the order is called up.

    We don't change "ship to" addresses very often so this work around hasn't been a big problem.

    HOWEVER, this morning, after using the application every day, a new wrinkle appeared, similar to the foregoing.

    My "customer" table has a field called "PO number". This is a user entered field [field rules] and on the form it's a "type in" field. We change PO numbers with regularity ... and up until this morning, with no problems. This morning, whenever the PO number was changed, all the "customer data" would seem to disappear. If one went to print said order, the customer information would be there ... but the old PO number would show up!

    I couldn't figure out what to change to make this work as it always HAS worked since Alpha 4 ... so I did another "work around" by requiring a button to be pressed and another small form ["po number"] to open wherein one could change the PO Number ... and return to the main order entry form. Of course, like the "ship to" work-around ... you don't actually SEE the change until you print or call up the order again ... but it DOES change the PO number.

    What's happening? Any ideas? Why does the application work just fine and then not?

    I tried compacting ... and I tried packing ... neither helped this morning.

    It's running on Win98 second edition ...

    I'd attach the tables in question ... except that I'm on my home computer and the offending application is on the office computer. I have a copy of the application on my computer ... but it's working fine ... and it's not "up-to-date" data-wise.

    What's perplexing is that the operator isn't doing anything to the structure or design of the tables/application. She's just inputting and/or changing data on the forms and printing them.

    Any help would be appreciated!

    Mary E. Lea-Bannister
    Tags: None
    #2
    RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

    If all of these fields are in the same table, that would seem very odd. However, if the fields you are editing are linking fields in a set, that is another situation. Your problem certainly sounds like a indexing problem in the link for a set.

    Normally, linking fields should no be editable, they should be some value established when the parent is saved and never changed. If you are using these fields as linking, they you probably have referential integrity turned on. This works ok until the number of child records increase and then a number of problems can exist. The biggest issue concerns keeping indexes from being corrupted. When that happens, records seem to "disappear" as the link is corrupted.

    Another issue that can cause odd behavior is the use of resynch(). This sometimes causes the record to seem to "jump" to another record. Actaully, it is setting focus back to the last record, which may not be what you expect.

    More details about how the tables / sets are structured and linked would be helpful to give more meaningful information.

    Jerry

    Comment

      #3
      RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

      I think you're seeing the same error that I have been seeing. In my case it's with 1:1 links but to similar effect. Selwyn has been notified as this was fixed in an earlier patch but appears to be broken again in the latest build. There seem to be several new bugs introduced with the latest build. I am sure Alpha is workingon them and will fix them once they are made aware of them. In your case if you can make up a simple example to show the problem and post it I am sure it would help Alpha to fix it.

      Russ

      Comment

        #4
        RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

        Hi Jerry,

        The PO # field isn't a linking field. Indeed, it has no function except as part of the order "stuff" that needs to be quoted on a later invoice. It links to nothing ... and is posted nowhere ... it just "is".

        The child table "customer" is a one to one, linked to that "positive" parent table by the "customer number" ... which never changes.

        In this particular form, the "positive" is called up, complete with the customer information, which includes the PO #. This PO # is what we need to change. And ... sometimes, we need to change the "ship to" of the customer data because the customer has requested that a given order be shipped to another address.

        However, I'll check the indexes of the set and see if something odd is happening there. I checked the set links, but not the indexes.

        I'll also get my operator to send me the backup zipped files so that I actually have the offending [updated] set on my machine.

        Thanks for any ideas.

        Mary

        Comment

          #5
          RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

          Hi Russ,

          You could well be correct. The build that I've got at the office is, I think "44". I've just loaded "51" onto my own machine ... having read that 49 & 50 were problematic in a similar fashion ... and hoping that "51" would have fixed it.

          I'll have to "play" with the backup from the office to see if I can "send" something through that shows it.

          It's nice to know that others are having similar problems! My "customer" database has a one-to-one relationship to the parent table as well.

          Mary

          Comment

            #6
            RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

            I think you need 1498-1050


            Russ

            Comment

              #7
              RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

              I have an order entry program also. I have expereinced similar problems. If you change the ship to address in the customer file, then go back to the order entry file, it keeps the old ship to. Right?
              Very simple solution. After changing any customer info. make sure that you go to the next cuetomer record. This seems to force the save. If you then go to order entry, it will be changed.

              Comment

                #8
                RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

                Hi Russ,

                Yesterday I downloaded the latest version ... 1498-1051. So ... everything is "up-to-date" on my machine. I just have to "update" the actual order entry machine!

                I am presuming that based on having 1498-1051 I also have whatever changes there were in 1498-1050. No?

                Thanks

                Mary

                Comment

                  #9
                  RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

                  My experience is that the newes version 1051 has the error. You need to go back a few until a patch comes out for it.

                  Russ

                  Comment

                    #10
                    RE: Every Week a New Glitch ...

                    Yes, patches are cumulative.
                    Al Buchholz
                    Bookwood Systems, LTD
                    Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

                    Occam's Razor - KISS
                    Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
                    Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
                    When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
                    "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
                    Albert Einstein

                    http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

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