Rebuilding of index even if there has been no crash

[SAINT GIRONS]

Hello from France to all of you,

Very often, when I wish to open my Reunion file, the index needs rebuilding which takes some time. It happens after a crash and this I can understand, but as well with no crash at all.
I am using a Powerbook G4 with version 10.3.8 and Reunion 8.05 (I don't know yet why, but I cannot update to 8.06).
Has anyone encountered the same problem and is there something to do to fix it ?

Many thanks for your help

Jean-Michel Saint Girons
Paris - France
jmsaintgirons@free.fr

[Steve W. Jackson]

Hello from France to all of you,

Very often, when I wish to open my Reunion file, the index needs rebuilding which takes some time. It happens after a crash and this I can understand, but as well with no crash at all.
I am using a Powerbook G4 with version 10.3.8 and Reunion 8.05 (I don't know yet why, but I cannot update to 8.06).
Has anyone encountered the same problem and is there something to do to fix it ?Except for post-crash, I would be generally suspicious of any situation that requires a rebuilding of the index. Perhaps you should let Reunion check the file for errors. If it finds none, you might also try saving a compact copy, which will remove the index along with (I think) found lists and perhaps some other items. Then, you can set aside the original while you open the new copy and see if it behaves better. Note that the first time it's opened after the copy, it will require an index rebuild, but otherwise that should be an exceedingly rare thing.

= Steve =

[Eirik Strøm]

Actually there are situations where Reunion regenerates an index that may not immediately be connected to a previous program failure.

A.
As indicated by Steve Jackson: Using the menu choice “Saving a copy” you may save a compact copy of your current family file. The ensuing copy is compact because it lacks, among other things, indexes. If you ask Reunion to open a compact copy of a family file Reunion will have to recreate an index before you get access to an initial family card.

B.
A Reunion family file may have up to ten indexes (the surname index generated automatically, the other indexes created by the user at will). When Reunion crashes with an open family file all indexes (which are stored and continuously updated in the computer memory) will be lost and have to be recreated. The immediate recreation of an index happens the next time the family file is opened. However, it is important to remember
1. Only one index is reconstructed, regardless of the number of indexes that originally were created for this file.
2. The index created is not the default index (the surname index), but the “active” index of the file (to put it somewhat inaccurately: the last index that were activated or used in the family file before crashing).

So, if you have a family file with six indexes defined, you were last working with the ID# index, and your family file crashes, Reunion will automatically reconstruct the ID# index when you open the file after the crash. If you want access to any of your other five former indexes, including the "default" surname index, you must wait for Reunion to recreate these indexes one by one when they are manually called upon.

Therefore, when opening a family file after a crash, it is good policy to open your former indexes one by one to force Reunion to build them anew. Thus you avoid some “unexplainable” surprises later on.

- Eirik Strøm

[Bob White]

Jean-Michel: Welcome from "sunny" California (glug-glug...). How long has it been since you repaired permissions on your trusty Mac? Many problems trace back to not letting the Mac run long enough for the underlying UNIX to do its regular housekeeping. Go to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility. Fire it up and do some housekeeping and see if any problems go away.