6 Replies Latest reply on May 25, 2012 2:44 PM by BillBoyd

    Problems with BPS Files

    BillBoyd
    BillBoyd Apr 29, 2012 4:44 PM

      Title

      Problems with BPS Files

      Post

      A client is having trouble with the "Business Productivity Solution - Services Edition".  I downloaded that along with a trial version of FileMaker Pro 11 a couple of months ago.  Two days ago I bought FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced.  I was able to convert the six "fp7' files that were part of "BPS - SE" to "fmp12" format.  They open file for me.  I sent them to my client.  He bought and installed FileMaker Pro 12.  Howevever, he can't get them to open properly.  Some questions:

      1) Is "BPS - SE" still available?  I can no longer find it on the FileMaker Web site.

      2) Are the BPS files going to be converted to FMP 12?

      3) When my client tries to open those files, he sees what seems to be just the graphics of the "main menu" but none of the text.  (Screen shot attached.)  Can anyone explain what's going on and how to fix it?

      Thanks for any help.

      Screen_Shot_2012-04-28_at_7.52.43_AM.png

      • 165 Views
      • Tags:
        • 1. Re: Problems with BPS Files
          BillBoyd
          BillBoyd May 17, 2012 8:01 AM (in response to BillBoyd)

          Well, I've given up on the BPS canned solution.  I called FileMaker support twice, once before I had access to the computer with the problem and once with it in front of me.  Even with the files copied via a flash drive and with FileMaker reinstalled on the problem Mac, the database files worked fine on my Mac with FMP12 Advanced but didn't show any field labels on the other Mac.

          {rant on} The support person who handled the second call must have thought I was a clueless ignoramous looking for some free consulting.  I should have told him that I'd probably been working with databases before he was born, spread across a half-dozen database systems.  One of those was FileMaker v3, if I remember correctly.  That may make me rusty regarding FileMaker, but by no means am I totally clueless. {rant off}

          I'm still convinced what I experienced is due to a bug in FileMaker, but I can't waste any more time on it.  I've begun reimplementing a version of the "Business Productivity Solution - Services Edition" based on those table and form definitions but better tailored to what my client needs.  I'll be writing another post on an oddity that I found in there.  Thanks for reading.

          • 2. Re: Problems with BPS Files
            BillBoyd
            BillBoyd May 24, 2012 8:30 PM (in response to BillBoyd)

            When I copied the mostly-implemented semi-clone of the BPS system to the problem Mac, an almost identical problem occurred!  With some experimentation and help from a support line person I've solved the problem and gone back to using the BPS solution.  The problem proved to be some 11-year-old fonts in the user folder on that Mac that had been migrated from two prior Macs.  Once I deleted the old copy of the Arial font file (and the other old fonts) from that Mac, things worked fine.

            I'm a little surprised that FileMaker Pro was susceptible to that problem in the way it was.  I plan to report my final outcome to them on the chance that it will help if someone else has a similar problem.

            • 3. Re: Problems with BPS Files
              philmodjunk
              philmodjunk May 25, 2012 9:21 AM (in response to BillBoyd)

              This sounds like a known issue with fonts installed on the problem Mac. This has been an issue since Snow Leopard as I recall. (I'm going by memory here as I don't use a mac myself.) IF this is the issue, open a copy of the file on the problem machine, go to layout mode and try selecting a different font for some of the fields or layout text.

              If selecting a different font makes it visible, this would strongly suggest that you have this issue. As I understand it, it's usually caused by having a bad font suitcase that must be removed to correct the problem.

              • 4. Re: Problems with BPS Files
                BillBoyd
                BillBoyd May 25, 2012 1:00 PM (in response to BillBoyd)

                I'm sure the problem was a bad font.  Removing those old fonts cured the problem.  One thing that pointed to the solution is that if I selected one of the "empty" field label boxes and invoked the menu Edit > Remove Styles, the text would appear in the box.

                As I mentioned, it's a little disconcerting that something like a bad font suitcase would cause FileMaker to misbehave the way it did without issuing a useful error message.  If that problem has existed since Snow Leopard, it's also disappointing that the support people didn't know about it.

                • 5. Re: Problems with BPS Files
                  philmodjunk
                  philmodjunk May 25, 2012 1:15 PM (in response to BillBoyd)

                  They should have known about it as TSGal has been instrumental in helping quite a few posters over in Report an Issue resolve this one.

                  • 6. Re: Problems with BPS Files
                    BillBoyd
                    BillBoyd May 25, 2012 2:44 PM (in response to BillBoyd)

                    I see some of those.  Some even mention a solution similar to what I was able to use.  I agree that the support line people should have known about that.  I plan to call the support line to give a final report on my problem.  When I do I'll suggest that they're not quite connecting the dots properly.