CODEWITHSUNDEEP
filemaker
Chuck
Chuck

Reputation: 4892

Why would LayoutObjectNames return an empty string in FileMaker 14?

I'm seeing some very strange behavior with FileMaker 14. I'm using LayoutObjectNames for some required functionality. On the development system it's working fine. It returns the list of named objects on the layout.

I close the file, zip it up and send it to the client, and that required functionality isn't working. He sends the file back and I open it and get a data viewer up. The function returns nothing. I go into layout mode and confirm that there are named objects on the layout.

The first time this happened and I tried recovering the file. In the recovered file it worked, so I assumed some corruption had happened on his end. I told him to trash the file I had given him and work with a new version I supplied. The problem came up again.

This morning he sent me the oldest version that the problem manifested in. I confirmed the problem, tried recovering it again, but this time it didn't fix the problem.

I'm at a loss. It works in the version I send him, doesn't on his system. We're both using FileMaker 14, although I'm using Advanced. My next step will be to work from a served file instead of a local one, but I have never seen this type of behavior in FileMaker. Has anyone seen anything similar? Any ideas on a fix? I'm almost ready to just scrap the file and build it again from scratch since we're not too far into the project.

Thanks, Chuck

Upvotes: 1

Views: 102

Answers (1)

michael.hor257k
michael.hor257k

Reputation: 116982

There is a known issue with the Get (FileName) function when the file name contains dots (other that the one before the extension). I will amend my answer later with more details and a possible solution (I have to look it up).

Here's a quote from 2008:

This is a known issue. It affects not only the ValueListItems() function, but any function that requires the file name. The solution is to include the file extension explicitly in the file name. This works even if you use Get (FileName) to return the file name dynamically:

ValueListItems ( Get ( FileName ) & ".fp7" ; "MyValueList" )

Of course, this is not required if you take care not to use period when naming your files.

http://fmforums.com/forums/topic/60368-fm-bug-with-valuelistitems-function/?do=findComment&comment=285448

Apparently the issue is still with us - I wonder if the solution is still the same (I cannot test this at the moment).

Upvotes: 1

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