Unable to open this helper application error

Notes on our latest calendar for FileMaker 13,: DayBack
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:12 am
PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 12:00 pm
Can you give me any insight as to what the attached error might be about?

The client works with real estate so most of the text is from instructions about accessing the property. According to them, this appears periodically when moving an event on the calendar. The calendar lets the record move but the data doesn't get updated in the actual database. They would be moving the event between resources or to different dates / times.
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dayback error.jpg
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SeedCode Staff
SeedCode Staff
Posts: 357
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2016 1:54 pm
PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 12:30 pm
Hi jmundok,

This looks like an issue with the FMP URL protocol: https://www.seedcode.com/pmwiki/index.p ... ker.FMPURL

DayBack uses FMP URLs to perform scripts, passing in the event data as a parameter, anytime an event is modified. The interesting behavior here is that the calendar is loading in the first place, which uses the FMP URL.

Does this happen only when modifying specific events or on all of them? If only on specific events, it could be that some of the data in the event details is throwing of this FMP URL request.

Does this happen only on certain machines? If so, which version of Internet Explorer is installed on those machines?

Thanks,

KC
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:12 am
PostPosted: Wed Jun 26, 2019 5:35 am
KC,

It's only been reported on one machine, but that machine is likely the most used for this functionality. The calendar loads and runs fine for the most part and this only happens on certain events, but they said it's happening more frequently. I will check on the event details. Are there illegal characters I should look for?

Jason
SeedCode Staff
SeedCode Staff
Posts: 357
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2016 1:54 pm
PostPosted: Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:10 am
Thanks, Jason.

I'm not sure exactly what character might be causing this issue, so it might be worth first verifying if the issue can be narrowed down to a specific event, then we can analyze the data.

Also, could I have you verify which version of Internet Explorer is running on that machine (DayBack needs IE 10 or higher to function properly)?

Thanks,

KC
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:12 am
PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2020 12:33 pm
KC,

I recognize that this is almost a year old, but the client in this post has continued to have similar issues and I was working with him today and thought it might be easier to keep the thread going. Here's some context then I'll ask a few questions...

The Description field that shows on the calendar calculates several fields including two notes fields that sometimes contain punctuation. When the users try to move "certain" events, they get the error in the screenshot in this original post. Here's the thing. The same exact events throw the error on Windows 10 PCs at their office (32-bit installs). The same exact event DOES NOT throw the error on my Win10 machine (64-bit install), my Mac, OR on their iPads on their wifi. The ONLY machines that throw there error are their Win10 desktop PCs and only on CERTAIN events.

Now, when we remove the text from either of the two notes fields that get calculated, we have to restart everything they can move the events on their machines. It doesn't matter if there is punctuation in either of the fields. In other words, there can be question marks, slashes, periods, etc. and my machines are fine. We can't just remove the punctuation to make it work, we have to take the text completely out of at least one of the notes fields. I don't know if this gives any extra insight, but I have a couple questions that might help.

- Is there a difference between 32 and 64 bit, when it comes to the FMP url protocol or editing events?
- Does the URL get cached somehow that doesn't flush? We noticed that if we get the error, then change some of the text, we get the error again, but the error message shows the original text, not the updated text.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Jason
SeedCode Staff
SeedCode Staff
Posts: 2764
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2003 11:01 am
PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2020 4:52 pm
Hi Jason,

- Is there a difference between 32 and 64 bit, when it comes to the FMP url protocol or editing events?
- Does the URL get cached somehow that doesn't flush? We noticed that if we get the error, then change some of the text, we get the error again, but the error message shows the original text, not the updated text.

Seems like both of these things may be true from what you're experiencing. I wonder if the 64 bit difference includes a URL length limit changes since it sounds like the punctuation, etc isn't the issue it's the content of one of the notes fields. Have you tried reducing the simple length until it succeeds?

Two more ideas: assuming this calendar isn't up to date, have you tried the latest version of DayBack classic? We made some URL encoding changes in recent versions that may help. Maybe throw the offending event text in a fresh copy from here and see if you can get a failure (assuming it's that reproducible): https://www.seedcode.com/filemaker-calendar/

And I suppose I should mention that the new DayBack for FileMaker 19 doesn't need to use fmp URLs any more so your issue may go away. Of course, FileMaker 19 only runs on 64 bit installs.
John Sindelar
SeedCode
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:12 am
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 8:37 am
Thanks, John. These are great ideas. The length of the URL in the 64 bit install may be the key since we can have values populated in one of the fields, but not both on the client machines. It would also explain why it would work on both of my installs. I'm going to explore this idea. I'll post results here for future reference.

I'll also pitch that we move the FM19 in the near future and possibly look to upgrade calendars at that time.
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:12 am
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 9:34 am
One of the problems I'm having (even testing this) is that the URL stays the same even after I update the fields.

So, for example, the URL includes text from the two notes fields. If I test moving an event and get the error, I go back to the database, edit the notes field(s), commit the record, go back to the calendar and try moving it again. In the actual event, the changes that I made to the notes fields are reflected, but when I get the error, the URL still contains the old (longer) text.

We can refresh the calendar, run the "Upon Opening" script, move to a different view and comeback, and nothing seems to update that URL.

When does that URL get calculated?
Is there a place where I can see the URL in the interface?
Is there a way to manually recalculate it?
SeedCode Staff
SeedCode Staff
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 2:27 pm
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 10:36 am
Hi Jason,

Thanks for the update.

- When does that URL get calculated?
- Is there a way to manually recalculate it?

Those "Submit Event From WebViewer" urls get generated by DayBack's js code in the web viewer. The data they include *should* be the current contents of the event (after an edit), so I'm currently puzzled why the url shown in the error dialog contains the same data before your edit. If you fully quit FileMaker and reopen DayBack, do the events that you modified still show the error (with the old data)?

- Is there a place where I can see the URL in the interface?

I'm sorry I don't know of a way to capture the full fmp url, other than what you're seeing when the error message appears. However, with the script debugger on, if you let the "Submit Event From WebViewer" script run past the $parameters "Set Variable" step, then you can find the $eventData variable in the Data Viewer. That variable contains the event data passed from the url.

If you haven't yet, I would give John's suggestion a shot, seeing if you can reproduce the error in the latest version of DayBack Classic. Download a fresh copy of DayBack at the link below, and copy/paste the contents of an offending event into an event to see if the same error appears on event edit. https://www.seedcode.com/dayback-classi ... -calendar/

Hope that helps,

Dan
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:12 am
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 12:19 pm
I believe the only way to "clear" the URL is to close everything down completely and reopen. I'm not able to replicate it on my systems, so I'm dependent on the client to test and their availability is limited right now.

I will see if I can reproduce this in the latest version.

Thanks!
Jason

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