I have a group of users who have been successfully running Calendar Pro 5.62 for years but last week it was reported to me that it now freezes on opening. After a little time dissecting the cause it appears the database is getting stuck at the following script loop (part of Apply Color Settings {Close, Dont Refresh}), called by the startup script:

Loop
Set Variable [$sc_namedVariable; Value:Let ( [ s = CalendarColors::Name ; s = Substitute ( Lower ( s ) ;["\"" ; "" ] ;["(" ; "" ] ;[")" ; "" ] ;["+" ; "" ] ;["-" ; "" ] ;[">" ; "" ] ;["<" ; "" ] ;["=" ; "" ] ;["≠" ; "" ] ;
["≤" ; "" ] ;["≥" ; "" ] ;["&" ; "" ] ;["^" ; "" ] ;["/" ; "" ] ;["*" ; "" ] ;[" or " ; "" ] ;[" and " ; "" ] ;[" not " ; "" ] ;[" xor " ; "" ] )] ; Evaluate ( "Let ( $$sc_Color" & s &" = " & CalendarColors::ColorRBGValue & " ; \"\" )" ))
Go to Portal Row [Next; Exit after last]
End Loop

If I remove this step then the opening script runs to completion, but of course it doesn't run properly.

I confess I'm not entirely certain what this loop accomplishes and I don't know why it's causing the freeze on start. Could somebody give me a clue what might have been entered into the calendar to cause this problem after years of smooth operation?

If it's of any help there are 10,742 records in the Event List and 8 records in Calendar Color Records.

Thanks.

Colin Hunter

Hi Colin,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks so much for reaching out here, and for the description of what's happening. I've got a couple other initial questions for you:

Does the calendar now freeze on opening for all users?

Were there any recent updates to the OS of the client or server machines? Or were there recent updates to the FileMaker Pro clients or to FileMaker Server?

Thanks again,

Dan

Hello Dan,

Thank you for the quick reply and offer to help.

To answer your questions, FMP Server 11 is running on Mac OS X 10.6.8. I recently installed a security update before the stall-on-start problem began but I figured that was coincidence. All users experience the same problem. I've taken the database off the server and am working on it as a stand-alone database in FMP 11.0v4 on a Mac running OS X 10.6.8. I get the same stall-on-start whether it's running directly on my Mac or via the server. I can exit out of the script with Command-Period and that drops me into the Assign Colors layout.

I don't maintain the other clients' OS but have asked if they've installed any updates and am waiting to hear back. I haven't made any recent changes to my Mac OS but it's been a very long time since I last accessed this database so there could very well have been updates in the intervening year or so.

Thanks.

Colin

Examining my copy, I see that at some point I added the following to that loop:

Set Variable[$Counter; Value:$Counter + 1]
Exit Loop if [Counter > 20]

Apparently as a backstop against being stuck in that loop forever.

(I don't actually recall doing that or why, but it was a year ago).

Hello Dan,

Yes, that breaks the loop and now everything is working properly once more. What beats me is why the Calendar has been working great for years and suddenly it needs this extra exit loop step.

In any event many thanks for your help in fixing the problem.

Colin

Colin,

So glad to hear that the calendar is working properly now. And what a great community we have here, when other users reach out with help from their own experiences! Thank you, wsmiii!

Please keep us posted if you have any other questions.

All the best,
Dan

Yes, this is a really great resource and the fix from wsmiii got us back up and running after minimal downtime. Again, my thanks for his help.

Colin