Method Community

Greetings,

I have this invoice custom screen that I have been using for the past 2 years. It has a print preview button.  No changes have been made to this button. If i decide to preview the invoice then save it to my computer it does all that.  I can see the invoice in the preview window as well.  When saving to  my computer it saves the file, makes a icon. When opening it up it get the following message. There was a error opening the document the file is damaged and can not be repaird.   

I can open method created invoices from last month but anything past this dec 10 i cant open.  The stock invoice screen works i can open and see those docs. This is happening to all my custom screens.  

Did you guys make a update to the way method creates pdf's? 

Update:  Found out its my main computer in question. My laptop works.  Downloaded this program called bluestacks.  Looking into this. 

JohnM

Using E as the browser it worked.  I was using Chrome.  Turns out it was Adblocker in Chrome.  Strane how i have adblocker on my laptop without a issue but on the desktop its a issue.  So it works. 

Strange how adblocker only effected my custome screen buttons and not the stockscreen buttons. 

FYI!!

John M

Hi John,

Take a look at this Help Center article. This is an issue with the latest Google Chrome browser update, there are some potential solutions as well as a link to Google's bug tracker.

Hope this helps.

- Justin

This has been happening to me as well on both my laptop and PC.  Will look into the Chrome link thanks

Mine is working now that i took out the adblocker extention.  

It also works on E  

John M

John,

Would you mind sharing which version of Chrome you're using? You can find this information by clicking the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner of Chrome and then clicking About Google Chrome.

Thanks!

- Justin

Justin

New evetns just happend.  

Laptop computer>Chrome VS 39.0.2171.95 m>Method>Custom Screen Invoice> Print Preview Button> Save to desktop>Icon shows up>double click on icon=PDF shows up

Laptop computer>Chrome VS 39.0.2171.95 m>Method>Stock Screen Invoice> Print Preview Button> Save to desktop>Icon shows up>double click on icon=PDF shows up

Desk top computer>Chrome VS 39.0.2171.95 m>Method>Custom Screen Invoice> Print Preview Button> Save to desktop>Icon shows up>double click on icon=PDF does not shows up. File damaged. 

Desk top computer>Chrome VS 39.0.2171.95 m>Method>Stock Screen Invoice> Print Preview Button> Save to desktop>Icon shows up>double click on icon=PDF shows up

Taking the PDF file the lap top and move that to the desktop, i can still see that file opend. 

This does not make any seanc  from a chrome perspective.  If i can take your standard method stock invoice screen and it works, but it does not work with the custome screen could the report be causing this?

John,

The issue with PDFs in Chrome isn't replicable 100% of the time, it's somewhat random. If you're worried about your report being corrupt, try opening it in Firefox or Internet Explorer. If you have issues in one of those browsers, then Chrome isn't to blame.

Let me know how it goes.

- Justin

Justin,

Ok try this.

1. Press the print preview button, watch the screen pop up with the invoice.

2. Press the save disk icon to save to your computer

3. Choose the desktop location then click on save.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 

You should have two icons showing.  Press the first one that should be damamged and it wont show.  Press the second icon and it should show up.  

Seems like it wants to print on the fist try but its lasking data?  Really not sure.  This explains why some of my customers are not getting a complete invoice.  I get calls from time to time saying they see the outline of a invoice but no data just static datea on the invoice.  Static data meaning A logo, the word discription, Month of service, Due date.  Stuff like that.  No customer addres or prices. 

Hi John,

I have been unable to replicate the issue as per your instructions, using Chrome for Windows Version 39.0.2171.95 m.

Would you please try replicating the issue with a different browser and reporting back here on the results?

Let me know.

- Justin

I do not have a issue with E or firefox. 

John,

This may be totally bogus, but for all my report generation sequences in Method the first Action that I have in the sequence is a Save.  I also save again at the end since I update Invoices with the print date when the print Invoice button is pressed.  The report generation all happens on the Method server, I believe, but I just want to make sure that all the browser information is fresh updated to the server.

I looked at your problem since at first I thought you might be talking about another pdf problem where a pdf attachment to a record won't open.  Which is also fixed by reselecting the record in question.  For example if you have a screen open that has a pdf attachment on another tab and you switch to that tab, often you get a 404 resource not found.  But if you reselect the record and reload it on that tab, the attachment will load.

It's not easy to keep browswer contents truly synch'd with the server reliably and not sacrifice performance.  I don't really know how to effect these kinds of cache refreshes programatically in Action Sequences and for the most part the Method code is really good about this, but sometimes I throw in something I think will force a reload of form or screen data just in case.

I do the same stuff when trying to automate grids.  Sometimes I throw in a full Save action just for good measure since some of the grid row or grid saves are not complete.

Again, all the above may be totally bogus as I haven't regression tested some of this stuff, just hacked up some fixes some time ago.

Cheers,

James

Hey James,

The number one thing that gets me is it works great on my laptop but my desk top all the custom screens will not save a pdf file on a custom report unless I save it to my computer twice.  If i use a custom screen but use method issued report then i do not have any issues.  

Just courious can a process or action happen so fast that it can skip instructions?  

John M

John,

I have never seen a "race" condition error in an action sequence.  I think they always complete each action before proceeding to the next.  I was always expecting to find one, but never did.

I had this problem saving pdf files from Chrome to the desktop before. It's like a could save the file one time, then I would need to completely close chrome or reboot the PC to save a second file.  I think this is why the problem is intermittant or is hard to reproduce.  I think there was some kind of cache or file locking mechanism happening between Chrome and the PC.  I don't think it was related to Method or the pdf file type.  I think I just go through the Chrome updates and the problem went away.

I vaguely remember with some other issues I've worked on in Windows 8.1 that it can be hard to completely remove Chrome and get it completely reinstalled without inheriting some potential security functionalities that stop Chrome from working correctly.  I think File Saving to the desktop sounds like something that could get hung up in Windows security.  I'm guessing moving data out of the browser session onto the hard drive is a something Windows would care about.

My best guess is look at security issues with your Windows version and Chrome.  Updates should fix this, but you might need to scrub Chrome off and re-load from scratch.

Jamie