Donor Manager Software

Here's the error I receive when trying to open DM:
Error loading file - record number 31. frmDonorMain <or one of its members>.Loading form or the data environment : Index tag is not found
I can cancel, Ignore, or Help. Ignore simply closes that error window, but doesn't allow me to really open my data on DM. I'm using 5.59.2 Any suggestions?

Sorry you are running into problems here.

Try this. "Zip" up your data folder (usually c:\donor5\data) and send it to me at john@donormanager.com. I'll take a look and figure out which file is not working quite right.

Sent it.

Anybody else have something similar? Is there a way to save my data, uninstall DM and reinstall it? It seems that if the data is corrupted, there's not much I can do about it, huh?
Stink b/c I really need that data...all my contacts & such is in there.

I don't think your data is corrupted, actually. It's an index tag that doesn't seem to be working right (and that's not in your data file).

So, the DM is trying to open your data, and open the index tag at the same time and that's causing the problem.

Now, reinstalling the DM won't fix that problem, as the problem is external to the program itself.

And all of the DM is in one file: donor.exe. Uninstalling and reinstalling is actually rarely necessary. If donor.exe gets messed up, then usually a fresh download will fix that. And, if it is indeed messed up, it always reports on startup that you have a bad installation and need to get a fresh copy of the program.

So, I've never seen a data issue like this resolved by a reinstall of the program.

I hope that makes sense!

That doesn't make it any less frustrating, though.

I got your data file by the way and found the problem. For some reason, one of the data fields was totally missing from your donor data file. It was an unused field, so it's no problem as far as your data, but it kept your file from opening. I've never seen this before, that is a bit mystifying to me.

Anyway, you should be back in business once you put your corrected data files in place.

I think I just had a similar problem but it sounds a bit different.
I also get an error message but it simply says "Error reading file". My options are also 'ignore', 'cancel' or 'help', but help doesn't show me anything and ignore just closes the box but I still can't do anything with DM.
Complication is: I think this is happening since I dropped my external hard drive, though all of the other files on it appear to be working.
I still have the folder with all the DM backup files, but you can't just open them...is there a way to restore everything somehow using the backups?? I hope!?

Jessica

I had just done some editing (oh, 10-15 files), and quit. I came back a few minuts later to correct a correction, but when I tried to open DM I got this message:

Program Error
Error loading file - record number 32 frmDonorMain <or one of its members>. Loading form or the data environment : Record is out of range.

Cancel Ignore Help

None of those options succeeds in getting me back into business. I'm given the gold background screen, with the Tool bar items File Edit Reports Tools, but clicking on any of them (e.g. File-Partners) produces the message: 'ACTIVEFORM is not an object.' That message goes away when I click on its Ignore option.

But when I try to shut down DM, I get the message, 'Cannot quit Visual FoxPro'. The only way I can get the unproductive gold screen to go away is to reset the computer. I sure hope I haven't lost all my data!!

Thanks in advance for your help!

:I'm having the same problems you all are, with the initial error when opening DM

"Error loading file - record number 31. frmDonorMain <or one of its members>. Loading from data environment : Record is out of range."

Options are cancel, ignore, or help.
If I ignore I can use the menu bar. In my case there was one option that would open: Tools>Browse Partner Files. Using that option I was able to make screen shots of all of my contacts, but I can't see any of the giving records or do anything else. If I try to make a backup, view reports, or do anything else on the menu, I get:

"ACTIVEFORM is not an object."

I made some entry changes yesterday afternoon and when I went to access it last night, this was happening. Obviously I don't want to lose my giving records or files. What can I do?

Possible FIX of this error, using Dropbox

I looked in the /data folder and found a donor (...conflicted copy...2011-05-05).dbf

I have this in my Dropbox folder to share it with my wife. Possibly we both accessed it before the dropbox could synchronize, thus damaging the data file in some way.

I renamed donor.dbf to donor1.dbf and renamed the above mentioned conflicted file to donor.dbf. The result is a fully functional program. Presumably I may have lost a change that was made by either my wife or I in that Dropbox conflict. I'll live with the loss of one session in order to get everything back.

Thank you jdlantz for your fix.

My wife and I also use dropbox with our Donor Manager, and although we've had a few times where two donor.dbf files have conflicted, this was the first time with this specific error:

"Error loading file - record number 31. frmDonorMain <or one of its members>. Loading from data environment : Record is out of range."

Using dropbox has it's advantages in automatically syncing files, and thankfully tags conflicts in an obvious way. As you said elsewhere, you have to wait not only for the other person to close Donor Manager on their computer before you open it on another, but you ALSO have to wait until those files are synced.