* Pictures causing V6 to crash

[philmcleod]

I have been experiencing repeated crashing of V6 after importing pictures. If I import a new picture it sometimes will not appear in the Media window despite it actually being present in the Media folder of Windows Explorer. Closing and reopening the Media window does not help and even closing down the program and reopening does not solve the issue of the missing picture. Every time I open the Media window with the picture not visible, the program crashes and loses the last few facts I have put in. If I manually delete the picture in Windows Explorer and import again, and then manually save the Project immediately it seems to solve the problem.
Has anyone experienced similar problems or can offer an explanation.

[tatewise]

That is annoying Phil.
How exactly are you importing?

When you say it does not appear in Media Window, do you mean the Media Record is there but the image pane is a grey box?
Are you displaying just thumbnails or the full image?

You say opening and closing the Media Window does not help (and presumably FH keeps running), but then say whenever you open the Media Window that FH crashes. So it is not clear which behaviour occurs.

FH creates thumbnails of new images to display in the Media Window, and this may take some time (but should not cause a crash).

What format is the picture image (JPG, PNG, BMP, etc...)?
Is it particularly large or complex (what is its size on disc)?

[philmcleod]

I am importing standard jpeg files of about 200KB file size (photo of a residence) by using ADD; PICTURES; and then finding my file on my PC. The exact sequence is difficult to remember but I believe the thumbnail initially appears in the image pane and in the record list. If I then go to the record to which I want to attach a link to the picture, when I click on Media: Add New; the program crashes. When I restart the program and go to the Media pane and record list the picture is in neither. If I go to try and add it again it says it already exists (but it is not visible). If I go to FH Projects.......Media folder in Windows Explorer it is there. The program is then likely to crash again if I select the record I was dealing with. If I delete it manually from FH in Win Exp and then resave the original file on my PC, in case it was corrupted in some way, and then try the whole process again in FH6 then it seems to work but I then have saved the FH file immediately the picture appears in the Media pane and record set.
It has happened consecutively on 2 imports after doing 21 similar photos over the last few days with no problem. It could be corrupt picture files but it seemed like the image did not get properly saved in FH and hence it could not be seen and caused the crashes.

[tatewise]

If it is not easily repeatable then it will be difficult for Calico Pie to track down the problem.
However, I will add it to the list of FH V6 problems they are investigating.

May I clarify something that from your description you have not quite understood.
When you Add any Media file, several things happen:
1) The image file is copied to the Project Media folder.
2) A Multimedia Record is created as part of the GEDCOM data that links to the file.
3) A thumbnail of the image is created.
Note that the Multimedia Record only exists in the FH program memory until a Save (or Auto-Save) is performed.
That explains why if you Save before proceeding, the Multimedia Record persists (in the GEDCOM file).
Whereas, if you try adding the Media to a Property Box and FH crashes, the Multimedia Record vanishes because it was never Saved, although the Media image file will still exist in the Media folder.

[philmcleod]

A further observation as it is continuing to happen. The exact sequence is: ADD; PICTURES; and then finding my file on my PC. Pictures import and show in records and Media pane. Then as soon as I click on focus to go back to the individual I was working with the program crashes. Then as said before the pictures will not appear and have to be deleted via Windows Explorer and then imported again and the project saved before doing anything else. It seems that if the import has not finished fully and saved the data correctly then the program crashes.
Perhaps Family Historian developers can investigate

[philmcleod]

Just read your reply regarding the process of saving media files. I think it is now solved as it has only been when I have tried to use a image immediately after import that it fails. All previous imported pictures were imported and not used till a day or so later, hence properly saved.
It would however be helpful if the program did not allow this to happen and either autosaved after every imported media file or had a pop up to say the file must be saved before leaving the media pane.
Thanks for your help

[tatewise]

What you describe Phil is definitely a bug that should not happen.
I have tried to recreate the scenario without failure.
Could you clarify a few things that might make a difference.
Is your configuration 'unusual' in any way?
Is FH installed in the default C:\Program Files... and C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\... folders?
Are your Projects in the default ...My Documents\Family Historian Projects\... folder?
Is anything stored on external/network drives as opposed to standard internal hard disk drives?
Do any Tools > Preferences have non-Installation Settings values?
Which FH window is on display when Add > Pictures is used, and does it matter if any other window is on display?

[philmcleod]

Configuration is not unusual
Is FH installed in the default C:\Program Files... and C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\... folders?
YES

Are your Projects in the default ...My Documents\Family Historian Projects\... folder?
YES

Is anything stored on external/network drives as opposed to standard internal hard disk drives?
NO

Do any Tools > Preferences have non-Installation Settings values?
Not that I am aware of - Nothing has been changed from default installation

Which FH window is on display when Add > Pictures is used, and does it matter if any other window is on display?
Difficult to be exact but I think it was normally the Focus window and probably the Records window, Individuals tab additionally in the Navigation Bar. When the pictures were added the Media window is automatically opened, but does not show all Media. I believe it was from that state that I clicked on Focus causing the crash.

I now do an immediate save each time I add new pictures so it has not happened since

[OrangePeel]

I too have experienced almost identical issues as described in this thread (FH V6.0.1 / Windows 7 64bit). Whist not occurring every attempt, certainly more often than not.
NB. I have just installed the V6.0.1 upgrade and the programme crashed at the first attempt to manipulate jpg's, although I cannot be specific at the sequence this time.
As previous stated, I have also learnt to save the project after media import, as the first occurrence caused much heartache after all my typed updates were lost!

[philmcleod]

I am also running Windows 7 / 64 bit if that is of any consequence but I have not yet updated to V 6.0.01 but save after new pictures are installed

[zoomdoggies]

I've seen a similar crash, but hesitated to report it because I couldn't reproduce it reliably. Most often I was adding frame links to media records. When I left the media window (either by closing it, or leaving it open and going back to the focus window or records window), FH would crash.

My Windows 7 64-bit system is generally unexceptional, but I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software and Enable Viacam (a webcam-based mouse emulator). They generally get along well enough with other software, but when something behaves badly, I'm never sure where to assign blame.

[philmcleod]

I too am still getting problems of FH crashing when dealing with import and handling Media pictures. I have recently had several crashes after importing and linking a new picture to an individual. A particular instance is that I imported a new picture, unlinked an existing one, deleted it or so I thought, via the thumbnail, (possibly a wrong think to do, but no warnings) and then wanted to go back to the individual to link in the new picture and then it crashed. On restarting all the recent work done was lost, except the deleted thumbnail was not there and neither was the latest imported picture. When trying to re-import the picture it said it already existed, and crashed again, and it was visible in the Windows Exp folder, so I deleted and reimported and saved and relinked new photo and saved and closed media window and saved.
Whilst I may have done some things incorrectly, this crashing when dealing with Media should not happen.
I am now getting paranoid about saving every time I do anything with Media importing or linking.

[tatewise]

The crashing problem is an annoyance, but as I am sure you understand, will not change until Calico Pie can discover and fix the software problem in a new program update.

A little background information may explain the Media behaviour you are seeing.
There are two distinct elements involved in linking Media into your Project.
1) The Media Files themselves that are copied into the Media folder.
2) The Multimedia Records within the GEDCOM database that are the gateway between those Media Files and say the Multimedia tab in Individual and Source records.
When using the option to Add a picture, both the above elements are procesed, and the Media File is copied, but the Multimedia Record does not become permanent until the GEDCOM file is Saved.
Conversely, when the option to Delete a Multimedia Record is used, only the Multimedia Record is deleted and not the Media File. Again the deleted Multimedia Record should not become permanent until the GEDCOM file is Saved.

May I make some suggestions to you all.
a) Can you please capture as much as possible of the FH/MS Crash Report, with it expanded if the option exists. Either post the report here, or send it to Calico Pie. The more details, the sooner the problem will get fixed.
b) Can you please specify you PC configuration, especially the monitor.
c) Try Tools > Preferences > File Load/Save and disable Autosave to see if that prevents the crashes.

[LornaCraig]

I am now getting paranoid about saving every time I do anything with Media importing or linking.

I can understand feeling paranoid, but while you are having this problem perhaps you could try a different 'route' to adding media, to see if that is more successful.

As I understand it, the crash occurs when you use Add>Pictures to create the multimedia record and then, from the Multimedia window, try to link it to an Individual/Source etc.

Have you tried starting with the Media tab of Individual's Property Box and using Add Media> Insert from File and there? From the users's point of view, that creates and links the multimedia record all in one go, so there is less chance that FH might crash (hopefully!!). If you need to make other links to the same media record afterwards, that can be done from the media tab of the Individual's Property box using Add Media > Link to Existing Media Record.

Good luck!

[philmcleod]

Re tatewise post, I have attempted to send 3 FH crash dump files as email attachments direct to calico pie. Don't seem to be able to upload as forum does not allow .dmp files. I've sent them to info@calico-pie.com and asked them to please forward to the software development section

My monitor is a 22 inch AOC 2236, set at at 1920x1080

My Pc has the following spec: ASUS P5QL- VM MATX Socket 775 motherboard; Intel Core 2 Duo (E7500) 2.93GHz processor; 8GB DDR2 Memory; 512MB PCIE dedicated graphics; Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit with all the latest updates

Hope this helps

[tatewise]

You should be able to attach a .zip of .dmp file to Forum postings, but the error messages I was thinking of you can copy & paste the text, or you can take a screenshot.

[philmcleod]

The only error messages are the standard Windows message that says "Family Historian has stopped responding The Program will close"

I have tried attaching the 3 dump files in zip format but they are too big, Each file is about 4MB and forum limit is 256Kb. The dump files I am talking about are stored in C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\CrashDumps and are Fh.exe.1540.dmp; Fh.exe.5816.dmp & Fh.exe.12104.dmp which are nearly 4MB each when zipped and about 6MB each as .dmp files. Are these the dump files you are talking about are there some others.

[tatewise]

Some popup error messages have an option to expand more details which you can copy & paste.
I am not thinking of those dump files, although I am sure they shold help Calico Pie.

[philmcleod]

Attached is the only Windows message you get with no options and Windows never finds a solution

[tatewise]

BTW: You don't have to put an image inside a Word doc to post it. Just post the image file.
A good free image capture tool is in all recent Windows versions.
See fhugdownloads:contents:utility_windows_snipping_tool|> Utility ~ Windows Snipping Tool.

[Jane]

Just to clarify, does the crash normally occur at the stage of adding a link, if so how are you adding the link, by add link button or drag and drop? and are you adding simple links or frames, if adding frames does it crash when you draw them or when you select the person from the record select.

These sort of problems are notoriously difficult to fix unless they can be reproduced, a bit like the "noise" in the car, which stops when the garage mechanic gets in.

[philmcleod]

Crash normally occurs after link has been done, and generally after file has been opened to add dates or notes and then you try to return to the individual or to the Records Window, at which point it obviously loses the picture and anything you have done since last auto save. It certainly is nothing to do with frame links as I have never used this

[LornaCraig]

Have you tried the alternative method for adding media, described in my post of 24 January? Does FH still crash using that method? You can add dates, notes etc in the Edit Media Item box without opening the Media window.

You might be able to get on with adding media by this method until the crash problem is resolved.

[philmcleod]

Its not a problem all the time, only occasionally and I've learnt to save regularly after adding media

[OrangePeel]

For those people experiencing random crashes, I have been liaising with FH Tec support and am now trying some options to see whether the fault can be isolated.
At the moment I have disabled 'Automatic Geo-Coding' and have yet to experience a further crash.
(Tools, Preferences, Map Window - Enable Auto Geo-Coding - Unticked)

I'm wondering whether others might try the same and see what happens?