I've set up my Calendar with a "data separation" model. The interface runs locally for many users, while the data is hosted by a Filemaker Pro hosting service (Datatrium).

From time to time the Calendar "looses contact with the host" due to internet connection problems, and displays a Filemaker Pro dialog to that effect. The only recourse at that point is a restart of that instance of the Calendar.

This is especially problematic for an instance of our Calendar whose sole function is to run a script that sends out text messages to our clients reminding them of their appointments, as well as summaries of the next day's schedule emailed to each provider at the end of the day. It may run unattended for many days at a time (up to two weeks, so far), but may go down unpredictably due to connection problems. Sometimes we miss that.

Is it possible to capture this error and trigger a script that effects the required restart? Short of that, to capture this error in order to trigger a script that alerts me via email/text message that our "reminder server" has lost it's connection?

Any guidance you can give on such a recovery will be appreciated.

We are running a Calendar derived from 5.6 and running on Filemaker Pro 11.

Thank you!

Thanks for the description of what you're experiencing. At this point, I'm not exactly sure how to best attack this connection lost issue.

Have you tried to upload the calendar file to your FileMaker Server and access it there? Or is there another reason you're running it locally?

All the best,

"Have you tried to upload the calendar file to your FileMaker Server and access it there? Or is there another reason you're running it locally?"

I separated the interface and data, retaining the interface on the computers of local users, for performance reasons. Mostly, it starts up much more quickly.

I don't see how moving everything to the host would help in any event - Filemaker running locally would still loose contact with the host from time to time, and would need to recover.

That makes sense. I wish I had a better answer for you, but to my knowledge, there is no way to capture that "lost connection" dialog". So, at that point when the dialog appears, scripts won't be able to run, so some kind of manual action will be needed.

As a potential long-term solution, when you're able to upgrade to a current version of FileMaker, you could integrate the new DayBack calendar instead, which is MUCH faster that previous calendar versions. When it's hosted, it can take advantage of Perform Script On Server keeping performance up, so you won't have to manage multiple local copies of the calendar. And then, you can put your test message work in a scheduled server-side script, which should be more reliable than your client robot.

All the best,