Data Sheet and forms: crashes and losing sync

I have a database with about 14500 records. When working on it, the Data Sheet and one form are open.

I have noticed that if I use the Data Sheet to add data to fields, all goes well. But if I use the form, I get some crashes. The database is not corrupted and opens again with the last saved data.

To avoid these crashes, I’m trying to add data using only the Data Sheet but it’s hard to keep to this especially when modifying text fields that have many paragraphs. It’s often really tempting to use the form.

I have also noticed that the two views sometimes get out of sync, and the selected record in the Data Sheet is then not what appears in the form. Sometimes it’s really messed up. Closing the database and opening it again usually fixes the problem.

I’m wondering if the two problems are related and if there is a known problem with entering data in forms. And of course, if there is a way to avoid these problems.

There is no known problem that would cause crashes during data entry,

There is only one “source of truth” in a Panorama database, and both the data sheet and forms are connected to it. So there is no way to for a form to display different data than the data sheet. They both use the same code to access the raw data. In fact it would be nice if there was an option to allow a form to switch to a separate record from the data sheet if you wanted to, but there is no such option. The way Panorama’s core data access code is written it would be quite difficult to add such an option. It’s really hardwired at a very low level to only allow ONE current database record at a time, no matter how many windows are open with different views of the data.

There is one exception to this. When you switch a form to graphics mode, the form is disconnected from the actual database. Because of this, the display of existing form objects “freezes” on whatever the current record is at the time it was switched into Graphics mode. You can click to different records in the data sheet and the form will not synchronize. However, as soon as you switch to Data mode it will immediately synchronize again with the data sheet. Since you didn’t mention Graphics Mode I assume this is not what you are talking about, but that is the only way I know of that a form could display a different record than the data sheet.

Thanks for your reply, Jim.

No, I’m not in Graphics mode when the two views get out of sync. This is actually a much rarer occurrence than the crashes when entering data into the form.

Since the two problems are not linked and are not known bugs or quirks, I will try to document them a bit more if either happens again.

Be sure that the fields in your form are not trying to perform some action when data is entered. If it’s at the same point each time, check the field in Graphics Mode to see if it has a Formula or Procedure attached. An issue in a Formula or Procedure can cause a crash.