Jump to content
ComicBase User Community

Mark J. Castaneda

Moderators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,381

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    33

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Mark J. Castaneda

    Mobile Report Issues

    in Tech Support

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Douglas W. McCratic said:

    Also, in trying to get a new report up and running, I exported all my current data and imported it into a new database.  There were some issues with fields not found in the new database which I worked around, but the real concern is that my collection lost about $1500 in value in the database that I imported and when I went back to confirm the data where I had exported it, it now matches the new database.  Again, probably not something I would have caught but I just tipped the scales at a value of $500,000 so it stood out.  I'm now down to $498,500 or so.  The most recent higher value books are there, as are the last 5 or so regular books.  

    We have been doing some pricing clean up in the past couple of months. We'll be posting a new content update today in the afternoon/evening hrs. See if it adjusts your values afterwards. If things still look off, contact our team at support@comicbase.com and let them know your observations.

    Mobile Report Issues

    in Tech Support

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Douglas W. McCratic said:

    I'm having some trouble using Mobile Reports.  Nothing I do updates my collection and adding a new collection only gets me this message "No reports are available for that database.  ComicBase Pro and Archive users can use the Save to Web command under Reports to generate these."  The database I have been using was last updated on 9/22/19.  I honestly probably still would not have noticed it to be so old had I not tried to look up a couple of specific recent issues.  I have had Sidekick save to the web and done the same in CB under reports but nothing changes.  

    Any ideas? 

    Thanks!

    We noticed you have 3 database files associated with your account. The db file named 'Complete Collection 2021' has no reports under it at the moment. Have you tried using the Reports Menu in ComicBase to 'Save to Web' a new report for this db? You'll also want to make sure you add that db file to Sidekick' Settings (general tab) so it does auto-report for you.

    Using ComicBase with OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive

    in Tech Support

    Posted

    This particle article was originally pulled from a newsletter that Pete wrote that's worth sharing.

    If you ever get errors using the ComicBase software with errors relating to your database being locked or busy, read on...

    There's also a YouTube Video Pete discusses this here: https://youtu.be/YhZMB3SWci8?t=2031

    Using ComicBase with Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive

    Spoiler Alert: OneDrive Pulls Some Sneaky Stuff that Can Cause Trouble If You're Not Careful!

    With ever-increasing speeds for internet speeds, cloud backup solutions such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft's OneDrive are becoming increasingly popular--sometimes they're even pre-installed on new computers, or auto-installed when you activate other software like Office 365.

    What all these programs are designed to do is to automatically back-up and sync certain folders on your computer to a server somewhere, so that you can easily share files with others, or have a backup in case something happens to your computer's hard drive. Basically, just by copying files to particular folders on your hard drive, the sharing software takes it as a signal to upload it to the server. Similarly, it'll automatically download a copy from the server if it sees that the copy on your hard drive is older than what the server has.

    Most of these sharing programs use a separate folder as their magical "synched" folder. I.e., the "Dropbox" folder if you use Dropbox--so you'd have to intentionally copy something into that folder if you wanted to have the service manage it.

    Unfortunately, Microsoft OneDrive, as it frequently comes preinstalled, will attempt to take over your main Documents folder without asking--even going so far as to remap the content from your Documents folder into a special "OneDrive\Documents" folder. This can be a real problem for ComicBase users, since the ComicBase Database typically resides inside the Human Computing\ComicBase Databases folder inside your Documents folder. This means that OneDrive will often take control of that folder and start backing it up every single time you open a ComicBase Database.

    Important: Don't Put Your Active Database in the Synched Folder

    Since database files tend to be quite large (in ComicBase's case, almost 1 GB in size), and they change every time you open or use them to make even the smallest change, having your active ComicBase Database file in a synched folder like this will result in a huge amount of network activity. Moreover, since databases are loaded in pieces from disk into memory as they're used, the disk copy being backed up is likely not a complete picture of your database--it may not even be an openable copy--so all that network activity is generally for nothing until the database is closed.

    The real danger, however, comes if your computer's clock gets out of sync with the clock on the OneDrive (or Google or Dropbox) server. In that cases, the server could conclude that the copy of your work they already have on their server is more recent than the one on your local computer, and attempt to sync up the server copy over your local copy, effectively throwing out the work you just did on your local computer.

    If you decide to use one of these services with ComicBase, be sure to avoid letting it sync the folder your have your active database in. In OneDrive's case, go to the OneDrive control panel and either turn off synching of the Documents folder, or move your ComicBase Database to a location which isn't being directly synched by OneDrive. If you'd like to direct your ComicBase's Backups (under Setup > Preferences in ComicBase) to a folder that one of these services syncs, that's just fine--in fact, it could be a great backup for you in case your computer's drive fails. Just don't let them directly sync the folder which contains your main ComicBase Database.

    It's Your Computer

    Please reach out to your sync service's support desk for more information on using it, but also remember that if a cloud sync service like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox came preinstalled on your new laptop, there's no requirement to use it all. With any pre-installed software, it's a good idea to ask yourself whether you really wanted to use it in the first place--and go and and uninstall it if not.

    Getting Warning 4154

    in Tech Support

    Posted

    You can try Yes; maybe it will install.

    NOTE: Windows 7 is no longer a supported platform for us; particularly for CB2021. You may want to consider upgrading your OS to Windows 10 for software to install like it should.

    Installing on Mac (Parrallels)

    in Tech Support

    Posted

    for those of you running ComicBase on a Mac using Parallels, just wanted to share this bit of info with regards to the database file you use for the software.

    So we figured out the essence of the "Error-fail" thing on Parallels. Basically, somewhere in Parallels there's a setting to let you share your PC's content by turning it into a Mac network share; e.g. your PC Documents folder becomes \\Mac\Home\User\Documents\...   -- If ComicBase tries to open an SQLite database located on that "network share", it'll fail instantly.

    The cure: Probably there's a setting in Parallels to not do this mapping. You can also just make a new C:\ComicBase Databases folder on the Parallels environment, copy your database into there. Since that folder doesn't look like it's on a network, it should load properly into the ComicBase.

    If anyone running ComicBase on a Mac with Parallels can chime in to confirm or clarify that would be greatly appreciated.

     

    CB2021 - installation/start up trouble

    in Tech Support

    Posted

    On 12/5/2020 at 8:38 AM, Myron W. Taylor said:

    I downloaded the CB21 file directly from Registrations page.  Install wizard began as usual, but was interrupted by dialog box stating "the specified account already exists".  The update aborts.  I then went and uninstalled my existing CB20 program entirely.  Retried the CB21 update.  Same result.

    I then retreated to download the CB20 from registrations page and went to install.  Same result still.

    I no longer have an optical drive so original CB discs are beer coasters.

    Now I am left with ZERO Comicbase access of any version!  Please help.

    Screenshot 2020-12-05 104104.jpg

    Screenshot 2020-12-05 104150.jpg

    Log_MSI93D8.LOG 2.3 MB · 1 download

    Hey Myron, email our team at support@comicbase.com. Provide the User ID you're currently using for your account and we'll see if there's any issues with it. We wonder if you may have more than 1 account with us.

×
×
  • Create New...