Workgroup references VANISH!!

[Jake]

On occasion (much too often for anyone's tastes) workgroup references disappear; upon opening a file containing referenced layers, I get multiple messages saying something along the lines of "layer *#(@))#*$" (basically gibberish) could not be found, etc.) After OKing these dialog boxes, the file opens with the layers not attached. Is this is a common prob, and it there any kind of fix?? We keep all the refenced files in the same folder on our server as the files we're referencing the layers into, and they have not been renamed or anything like that.

[ionw]

Jake,

We have seen this issue as well. I just saw this in the release notes for 9.5.2.

With Workgroup referencing, layer references will sometimes be lost with the message:"The layer 'blank-or-corrupt-name'' was not found in the referenced document 'source-file.mcd'. The reference to this layer (only) has been cancelled." This will happen when any VW9 document with workgroup references is opened after a VW8 or VW7 document has been opened in the same application session.

Because as you know it takes a bit for the problem to manifest, I don't know yet if 9.5.2 makes the difference, or if it causes other problems.

Prior to this we have done manual updates only, which seemed to reduce the frequency of the problem.

the download link is:9.5.2 Download Page

hope this helps.

[Guest]

Jake,

As Ion suggested, VW 9.5.2 has fixed some of the substantial bugs, including the workgroup referencing problem. Try updating and see how it goes.

[Kristen]

We have just updated to 9.5.2, but are still having this problem. Is the update supposed to fix the workgroup reference bug in documents that were first created in 9.5.1, or just in docs that are created after 9.5.2?

It doesn't seem to be the case that references are lost only after having opened a VW8 file in the same session; there doesn't seem to be a predictable sequence of events that causes it.

[Kristen]

We have a theory on what's causing the problem of referenced layers being lost. It seems to occur when working between Windows and Mac platforms (Win98 and OS9). Our server is recognized by different names on Macs than on Windows machines. This means that the workgroup references follow different path names. This did not cause any real problem in VW8 -- once it had been opened on both machines, it would "remember" both paths. We are considering renaming the server (a Mac) with the number by which it is identified on PCs, so that the pathname will be the same in both platforms. I have several questions about this:

Any idea whether it's likely to solve the problem? (One thing casting doubt on the path name theory is that the problem seems to occur only when we reference multiple layers from one document -- a single referenced layer seems to be OK.)

Is renaming the server likely to cause problems in our VW8 documents with workgroup references, which work correctly?

Any other problems anyone might anticipate with renaming the server?

[MikeB]

Kristen, Here's a theory on your problem. The WGR problem you describe was caused (at least in our office) by opening VW 8 files while working on VW 9 files. Something about the translation process to get the VW 8 files into VW9 was causing any open VW9 files to have corrupt references if they were saved after the VW8 file had been translated.

You may be seeing one of two things. (or more, hell this is just a guess anyway )

1. You have several VW9 files that had been corrupted by this process befor you upgraded to 9.5.2. If they were saved under 9.5.1 they are already corrupt and using 9.5.2 to open them will not fix them. You will have to reassign all the references and save the file. After you do this all should be well.

2. Someone in your office hasen't upgraded to 9.5.2. I've noticed that sometimes the upgrade process is confusing for people who don't fully understand what the computer is trying to tell them. Several people in our office either didn't sucessfully upgrade (user error) or simply ignored my memo telling everyone to upgrade. If I were you I'd go around and check all the machines.

The problem you describe is exactly what we experienced. It was terribly frustrating, mostly because we couldn't find the source of the problem. Once NNA notified the mailing list of the problem, I warned everyone in our office not to translate VW 8 files unless the closed all other drawings, opened the file, saved it as a 9 file and the quit VW and restart VW. Once we followed this procedure the problem went away.

Additionally, now that everyone is using VW9.5.2 we haven't seen the problem reoccure.

Good Luck

[MikeB]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kristen:

Any idea whether it's likely to solve the problem? (One thing casting doubt on the path name theory is that the problem seems to occur only when we reference multiple layers from one document -- a single referenced layer seems to be OK.)

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I just reread your post, I really think you problem has to do with the translation of the VW8 files. What you stated above was exactly what we experience. The first reference in the list will be retained, any other references are corrupt.

But again this is fixed in 9.5.2, or rather the cause of the problem is fixed, but any existing corrupt file will still be corrupt.

Good Luck

[Kristen]

Thank you! We figured out the the upgrade hadn't worked on the Macs -- we had to reinstall VW first. Beats renaming the server, though.