Handling Slow Access and Crashes
Help! PubGizmo/FileMaker Pro is crashing! This is a frustrating and time-consuming occurrence, and we are sorry you are experiencing it.
There can be a variety of causes, some of which are us, some of which are you, and some to chalk up to the mysteries of computers and networks.
Is it a Crash or a Freeze/Stall?
Firstly, we should distinguish between a crash and a freeze or stall. These are different events, and require different handling.
Crash
A crash means FileMaker Pro has quit. All windows have disappeared from the screen. There's no spinning beachball.
On a Mac, you'll usually receive a dialogue that tells you FileMaker Pro has crashed, with a few options: re-open, report the problem to Apple, or cancel. If you look at the Dock, the icon is gone, or, if you keep it in the Dock, there's no black dot below the icon to indicate it's running.
On Windows, it no longer appears on the Taskbar. If you look at the Task Manager, FileMaker does not appear.
Freeze or Stall
If FileMaker Pro is still running but unresponsive, it has frozen or stalled. There's a good chance it's still alive, but it has stalled, possibly because it is:
- trying to run a complex calculation
- attempting to fetch a large volume of data from the server to display, or to calculate
- struggling the negotiate a bad network connection
- impeded with your computer's speed
- struggling with a heavy server load
Wait it Out
In this situation, you may just have to wait for PG to yield data and update – give it a chance to complete its processes, and your results will appear. It can take many seconds, or even many minutes, in extreme cases, to respond.
Frequently, the nature of the operation you are trying to perform, or the volume or complexity of data you are trying to access, will help you understand why the freeze is happening.
For reference, these operations will be slow:
- Opening royalty statements with escalation and/or lots of sales records
- Using the Reporter with many of record selected, or covering a large span of time
- Viewing records is List View, especially Royalties if the amount column is toggled on (PG must calculate royalties for all the statements in the view)
Viewing data on a popular title, i.e., one with lots of sales records, can cause FileMaker to freeze or stall
Your computer speed, your connection speed, and loading on the server can all affect