CLOSING TIME 1.0

Closing Time is a small application designed to safely and easily close files hosted by FileMaker Server running on OS X. It does this by closing the files one at a time, the method recommended by FileMaker, Inc. in TechNote 108428 (http://www.filemaker.com/ti/108428.html).

It is designed to be run on the computer where FileMaker Server 5.5 is installed. The computer should be running Mac OS X 10.2.6 or higher. To install the program, just drag it from the disk image to your hard drive. You can put it anywhere that is convenient.

To use Closing Time, just double-click on its icon. You will then see its main window:


The list of files will update every 30 seconds. To close all of the files one at a time and then stop FileMaker Server, click the "Stop Server" button. If you want to close the files but leave FileMaker Server running, click the "Just Close Files" button. Once the closing process has started you can use "Command-period" to to cancel it. To see FileMaker Server's Event Log, click the "Open Log" button.

How does it work? FileMaker Server runs as a daemon under OS X, and can be controlled from the command line. For example, "fmserverd files" will return a list of files that are currently being hosted. And "fmserverd close <filename>" will close the file you specify. Closing Time gets a list of open files, then asks FileMaker Server to close the first one. It then checks the list of files until that file no longer appears in the list. It then moves onto the next one and repeats the process until all of the files are closed.

I was inspired to create Closing Time after Wim Decorte posted a shell script that does the same thing. I thought it would be useful to have a graphical interface both to start the process, and to see the progress. I used AppleScript Studio to make the application. Albert Harum Alvarez provided some very valuable feedback on the design of the program. Thanks to Mark Berndt for creating the application icon.

Closing Time is provided free, as-is, with no warranty, guarantee, etc. If you use it, you do so at your own risk. Please send any comments to "closing_time@imagingsol.com"




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