FAQ
FAQ
Q1: Why are there documents and parts?
Q2: How does the Open Document feature work?
Q3: Why is the time or date or date-based lot number wrong?
Q4: I have edited a form, report or field label and it is now printing in strange places
Q5: How do you make all the text in a field print (when building a form or report)?
Q6: The MFP will not open or it’s searching the network — Networking issues
Q: Why are there documents and parts?
A: The ManufactPro system is designed so that everything is a document and a subset of the documents are parts.
This structural separation is because documents need to be revised, trained, sent to suppliers and placed on change orders. Parts need to have a cost, unit of measure, supplier and can be place on purchase order or have lots.
This difference between documents and parts is based on functional uses of the data.
To aid in the creation of parts from documents, a document to part button exists to speed creation.
To aid in the control of parts, a related document button exists to connect the part to a controlled document.
To eliminate confusion, the part revision is the revision of the related controlled document. Change the document revision and all related parts and parts on bills of materials change revision.
It is possible to create a part without a controlled document by using the new button in parts and not selecting a controlled document. These parts will not have revisions.
Q: How does the Open Document feature work?
A: The open document feature works by building a UNC path for the document from several field values in the system and then launching the document at this location.
The ManufactPro system points to your document control system. It does not create a vault or control write permissions. These are set using the operating system file and directory permission by the IT department.
It is assumed that your controlled documents are organized in a logical folder structure. A custom open routine, located in the sys_num file is used to build the path and was configured for your network during installation.
Changes to network configuration, server names or location and organization of the controlled documents may require changes to the open document field values or scripts.
For document control systems with no organization, MMC can map and document the name and location of every document and push this data in to the document log database. This is always custom work, please contact us for details.
The path components are usually:
\\server\doc_system\controlled\doc_type\doc_number.revision.extenson
\\server\doc_system\controlled\ is stored and changed in the sys_pref file. When moving or renaming servers, change only this field.
\doc_type\doc_number.revision.extension are stored and changed in each individual record in the document log.
\doc_type\ may be stored in the sys_value_list file, under doc types for document control systems that have lengthy description of the contents of a directory as part of the directory name.
Please review your custom requirements documentation, the change log and the doc_path scripts in sys_num to determine the exact configuration.
Q: Why is the time or date or date based lot number wrong ?
A: The MFP system uses FileMaker Pro as the engine, which uses the local cpu date and time settings for its source of time and date. If someone has changed these, you will get incorrect dates, time and lot numbers.
The easy way to make sure these are set correctly on a Windows network is to add the NET TIME command to the log in script. This will set the date and time each time a user logs in. On the mac os, set the date and time preference to use a network time server. Alternatively, you can go to each computer and set the date and time manually.
Q: I have edited a form, report or field label and it is now printing in strange places?
A: In layout mode, if you single click an object, the four corners will display with small black squares. These are the object boundries and must be located within the layout part for the object to print in the part. If it overlaps a part above or below by even one pixel, it will print in that part. You can fix the problem by resize the object by dragging the corners, reduce the font size or make the layout part bigger by dragging the horizontal dotted line.
Q: How do you make all the text in a field print (when building a form or report)?
A: Your choices are
- Make the field bigger and set the field to slide (shirk) or use merge fields.
- Select field in Layout Mode>Layout Menu>Slide/Print. For this to work, the field needs to be near the bottom of the layout part. If there are objects below, the field will shrink, but the objects below will not move. The net effect is no change. It is sort of a trial and error process to see what works.
- Use merge fields by adding text blocks with the merge field tool in layout mode. Merge fields look like <>. You can combine many merge fields together with common spacing to get a text block (object) that will grow and shrink.
The most common example in an address. The boundaries of the text block must be pre defined to the maximum size that the block will ever grow to. Click the corners and drag to enlarge.
Q: The MFP will not open or its searching the network–Networking Issues
A:The MFP system runs in a client-server environment using the FileMaker Pro products as the platform. To access the ManufactPro system, the following software must be installed and running:
1. FileMaker server installed on a server
2. ManufactPro databases installed in the FileMaker server directory
3. The service on the server started
4. FileMaker client installed on a networked client
5. MMC software installed on the client
The MMC installer installs plugins, sets the correct application preferences/registry settings and places an opener database, not a shortcut, on the desktop. For the user to access the system, they double click the opener database and it looks for and connects to the server hosted system. FileMaker uses a UDP broadcast to locate the server and connect. The port numbers are 5003, 5353, 50003, 50006. This configuration works in most basic corporate networks. Problems can arise when going across routers, subnets, or if TCP ports have been blocked internally.
Troubleshooting:
The opener database. The “Open_MFP”, can get damaged, corrupt or point to a fixed IP address. Sometimes FileMaker is too smart and caches the IP address. The easiest way to fix this is to rerun the MMC installer and get a fresh opener file. The latest installer is available on the website at www.mmcpro.com. Alternatively, one can copy a working opener file from one client and paste it into the “All Users” desktop directory.
This problem happens when moving the server to a new network or moving the server application to a new server. If specific files are looking for a specific IP address, there are embedded IP addresses in the scripts or relationships within the database system and must be “relinked” one by one manually. MMCs software development environment is designed to prevent this problem so our basic product is free from these problems. However, live changes to a networked system could have stored IP address or databases developed internally by a user could have this problem
Subnets and WANs
FileMaker uses Bonjour to locate databases. The port number is 5353. This port can be blocked by routers or firewalls or timeout if there are too many hops. In this case the IP Address (best) or the DNS name of the server can be used to launch the system. You must know the IP or DNS name of the server before attempting this technique as there is no way to browse.
Launch FileMaker Pro Client from the client machine: Start>Programs>FileMaker Pro
Click “Open Remotes”
Click “Specify Host” Type in the IP address or DNS name.
Double click the first file to launch the ManufactPro system If this does not work, use the Ping tool, to test the IP and assure you have a connection.
Q: The MFP User Accounts expire or are inactive.
A:The MFP system complies with the FDA 21CFRPart11 recommendations concerning electronic signature and security. User accounts are required to expire at a date determined by the system administrator. The default in 720 days (or about 2 years) and can be changed in the Preference area for the the MFP Security System. Once an account expires, only the system admin can reactivate it. In early versions of the system, the admin had to uncheck the inactive flag and delete the date. This proved to be too difficult, so later versions had a “Reactivate” button and reset the inactive date everytime the password was changed or the button clicked.. It is common for the SysAdmin to forget to change the inactive dates. The solutiion is to uncheck the the inactive checkbox and type to change the inactive date or click the “Reactivate” button.
If the SysAdmin deletes all the Admin accounts, including their own and the supplier’s, MMC Software, LLC , or lets all admin accounts expire per written procedure, the only way to enable Admin Access is to send the file to MMC Software, LLC or have MMC Software, LLC login to reset the Admin Accounts.
If the SysAdmin is not trained and lets the Admin accounts expire,or if the customer declines to have MMC do the training, please refer to your SMC or Support. Maintenance and Consulting Agreement.
Q: How do you connect via RAS to the MFP.
A: There are several methods of connecting to the MFP from outside the LAN.
1. Internet
The easiest is to open some firewall ports and port forward requests from the gateway router to your FileMaker server. The user at home enters the IP address in the open remotes panel and opens the MFP_1.fp7 file. The application FileMaker Pro and the plugins need to be installed.
2. VPN
Connect to the LAN via the vpn and use the open remote dialog to connect to the server. Enter the internal IP address of the FileMaker Server. The level of encryption may slow things down.
3. RDC
Connect to the server using Windows Remote Desktop and a valid account. MMC Software always installs a copy of FileMaker Pro on the server for support services.
4. Terminal Services
Install FileMakerPro and the plugins on a TS machine. Have the users connect to the TS to use the MFP. Ports may need to be open or the IP of the FileMaker Pro Server hand entered in the Open Remote dialog depending on security restrictions.
5. Web based
Set up a Logmein or similar account to the server or a configured desktop
6. Remote hosting
Move the MFP to a remote host. Then everyone connects via method 1.
Ports to Open:
80,5003, 50003, 50006, 16000, 16001, 5353
Explanation of ports can be found in the FileMaker knowledge base on line.