Database not opening

[John Harris]

Hi Brendan,

I am trying to open my main database. When I click to open the database I see only an empty database. Can you advise what might be the problem?

Please see screens attached.

With thanks John

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Brendan]

Hi John,

Either the forms list on the left is collapsed or there is something wrong with your file.

Do you have Time Machine you can restore with? Or a recent backup?

[John Harris]

Brendan,

Forms list has not collapsed. Looks like my file is corrupted somehow. Wouldn’t you know it didn’t backup for a few days. This hasn’t happened before – hopefully it won’t happen too often.

Otherwise the lag issue I mentioned has not happening now.

Question. – Can I access the file directly – where is it located?

Cheers – John

[Brendan]

If you select it from the main Database Documents window you can click on the Show in Finder button at the bottom of that view.

Do you have Time Machine? You can restore with that too.

[John Harris]

I didn’t have time machine set up to run daily – and I hadn’t backed up since the 26th. My bad.

I’ll have to re-do some formatting and re-enter about 60 students. Could be worse. On on.

John

[John Harris]

Hi Brendan,

My database file is corrupting in TF5 – will not open. (see dialog – no files attached) Have backed up the file to another mac – will not open on the second computer.

Can I send you the file to be checked at your end? A bit concerned as TF must be stable to be used seriously at this end. Do you have drop box – what means do you recommend?

Hope this can be resolved :)

With thanks – John

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[John Harris]

Just to follow up … Please find a screen shot showing that the problem file (XXXX) is 13.6 MB. See also that the same file (XXXX) has no content – formatting or data.
Bear in mind that the file will not load on a secondary computer running TF5.

I hope this helps.

John

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Brendan]

Are you able to restore that file using any kind of backup? Did you say you had it on your iOS device too? If so you can make a backup file from there and send it over to the Mac and open it up there.

[John Harris]

Brendan,

I am sorry to be troubling you with this issue. But here’s the synopsis.
I am not using IOS – only two macs.

+ My working file is showing 13.6 MB, but is loading as an empty file. (as shown in the attachment previously).
+ I am unable to retrieve lost data because I did not backup – I’m happy to wear that. My fault.
+ so . . . when I began re-entering data into a new file which I migrated from the previous version this to corrupted. So it has happened twice.

As this is likely to happen again, I’ve retreated to the older version until we know what is happening.

Put simply – The files have 13.6 MB. After crashing, they open as empty databases.

Happy to continue via email if you prefer.

Best – John

[Brendan]

Hi John,

Yes, please email me.

Also, try the version of Tap Forms from my home page to see if that fixes the problem for you. It’s newer than the Mac App Store version.

[Frances Cherman]

Brendan, I just exact same problem. I opened the file after the crash at around 7:30, and my blank screen looked just like his. If you recall, I said that the app quit without backing up. Well, just now when the document opened and appeared empty, I looked in my backup folder and found an unzipped copy of the file timestamped as “last modified” at 4:15. I opened it, and my It appears that maybe when the app crashed, it started to create a backup in that folder, but it didn’t get zipped. Is that possible?

[Brendan]

The process of making the backup file is simply to zip the .tapforms file, so I don’t think it would have made a backup file without zipping it. Do you have Time Machine? And which version of Tap Forms are you using?

[Frances Cherman]

Yes, I have Time Machine, and I make weekly backups – but losing a week’s or even a day’s worth of work is something I cannot afford. I’m running TapForms Version 5.0.6 (Build 1551). Somehow that unzipped file got into the backups folder, and I sure didn’t put it there, but I’m glad to have it.

[John Harris]

Hi Brendan & Frances,

I’m relieved that I’m not the only one. Not Schadenfreude on my part – but it helps put this problem on the radar. I’m hoping it won’t happen again – loosing data is heartbreaking.

John

[Frances Cherman]

Oh, go ahead and Schadenfreude. Anyone who spells it right deserves to do it. ;-)

[Frances Cherman]

On the other hand, you misspelled “losing.” LOL.

[John Harris]

Mein Englisch ist nicht so gut!

[Jacques GRAFF]

Hi Brendan,

I also had the same problem.

Here is what I did to recover data:
1 Library / Containers / com.tapzapp.tapforms-mac / Data / Documents / Backups
    take the file from the last backup and decompress it.
2 move it in the Documents folder to replace the corrupted file.
3 open TF normally this latest version should open

Recovery is possible if you have a recent backup version.

Since I am cautious before leaving TF also I do a backup (File / Save) and then after I leave TF and I let it do its own backup, I wait without doing anything, the progress is visible and take enough time long.

Jacques

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Author]

Posts