ACL issues

[LynnHales]

I'm not sure how much anyone can do to help me on this one.

I came in from running some errands this afternoon. Sat down to do some more work and started up Epic. Prior to leaving, everything had worked just fine.

I have a set of custom scripts that I run on start up. The first one is working. After that, I'm still trying to figure out what happened.

Anyway, when I select the document type I want to work with (part of my customization). Epic does one of two things. It either totally shuts down, no error messages, NOTHING, just shuts down; OR it will show a message in the message line saying 'missing argument'.

I've run these scripts for well over five years. I have occasionally enhanced the functionality, but all in all the basic precept has remained unchanged.

I run the scripts from a network drive (mapped to the same drive letter) and I am having this problem on the two computers that have Epic.

I am going to copy my backup files over just to see if something happened to the network drive. I've also been testing the various individual files to see what (if anything) has happened. I know for a fact that at least two of the files (one that has not been changed in over two years) are now telling me they are missing an argument.

This has me both perplexed AND PO'd. One script is a menu modification (adding some simple functions I use a lot) and it won't run ("missing argument") and all it does is source other files and load a 'local' menu for me.

So if anyone has any suggestions, I am up for them.

Thanks

Lynn

[LynnHales]

I had tried to make a change to one file today. The change didn't work, so I THOUGHT I'd reverted back to my original file.

Well I did, ALMOST.

Because the change was at the end of the script, when I removed the new line, I also removed the closing curly brace for the entire function.

I just did not check the change AFTER I'd reverted back.

Not sure if I should write this off as a "No Defect, Operator Error" or as a Senior Moment.

Lynn
---- Lynn Hales <-> wrote:
> I'm not sure how much anyone can do to help me on this one.
>
> I came in from running some errands this afternoon. Sat down to do some more work and started up Epic. Prior to leaving, everything had worked just fine.
>
> I have a set of custom scripts that I run on start up. The first one is working. After that, I'm still trying to figure out what happened.
>
> Anyway, when I select the document type I want to work with (part of my customization). Epic does one of two things. It either totally shuts down, no error messages, NOTHING, just shuts down; OR it will show a message in the message line saying 'missing argument'.
>
> I've run these scripts for well over five years. I have occasionally enhanced the functionality, but all in all the basic precept has remained unchanged.
>
> I run the scripts from a network drive (mapped to the same drive letter) and I am having this problem on the two computers that have Epic.
>
> I am going to copy my backup files over just to see if something happened to the network drive. I've also been testing the various individual files to see what (if anything) has happened. I know for a fact that at least two of the files (one that has not been changed in over two years) are now telling me they are missing an argument.
>
> This has me both perplexed AND PO'd. One script is a menu modification (adding some simple functions I use a lot) and it won't run ("missing argument") and all it does is source other files and load a 'local' menu for me.
>
> So if anyone has any suggestions, I am up for them.
>
> Thanks
>
> Lynn
>

[steve.thompson4]

Do have a suggestion, as one also potentially subject to a 'Senior moment'...

Any time I'm updating an ACL file, there's a copy of the original, named 'packagename.acl.filemoddate'. 'filemoddate' may or may not include time, but will always have the date in the form 'yyyymmdd'. If there's more than one old 'original', that makes them sort in date order.

That way, if I need to revert, there's no doubt that I'm back where I started. And the files are generally small enough that a number of generations can stay in the folder with no great loss of space.

Just a thought...
Steve Thompson
+1(316)977-0515

[BobSpangenburg]

Lynn,

Knowing what the mistake is was the hard part. When ACL files fail, many times the crash simply interrupts the process of several files/functions from working. Your calling function responds with an error message indicating the number parameters needed and missing. You have to figure out what happened beyond simply that the function crashed. When the function is broke, such as that of a wrong syntax or something, usually you'll get the line number of the improper syntax. They're easy when that happens.

I'm notorious for the building of "IF ( thisVar = '1' ) {...}". The IF will break, but it doesn't know it's broke.??? or, I'll miss a closing ")" on the statement. That's the one that will give me the results you're talking about.

Anyway, chalk it up to a learning experience with ACL.

Have a good one,

Bob