PSoS: BE_PDFPageCount intermittently returns ? after successful Save as PDF

[yxu399]

When a script is run on the server (PSoS), the plugin intermittently fails to find or read a PDF file that was just created by the Save Records as PDF script step. The failure is not consistent; sometimes the entire script works perfectly.

Environment

• FileMaker Server: 21.1.1
• Server OS: Windows Server
• Plugin: BaseElements 4.2.6

The Goal & Workflow
A script running via Perform Script on Server (PSoS), automates the creation of a single PDF packet.

1. It creates a "face page" PDF from a layout.
2. It validates that the face page was created successfully.
3. It appends multiple receipt PDFs using BE_PDFAppend.

When it fails:

• The Save Records as PDF step reports no errors (Get(LastError) is 0) and the PDF file is created successfully in the Documents folder.
• The script then immediately calls BE_PDFPageCount to validate the new file.
• This function returns a ?, causing the script to halt before it can append any other documents.

Troubleshooting Already Performed
Our efforts have focused on what seems to be a classic race condition, but the problem persists.

1. Path Formatting: We've ensured the file paths are correctly formatted for both FileMaker's Save Records as PDF step and the BaseElements plugin functions.
2. Wait Loop: To handle potential timing issues, we implemented a robust wait loop that pauses and re-checks for the file for up to 5 seconds. The script still fails intermittently, even with this wait loop in place. Sometimes the file is found immediately; other times the loop times out because BE_FileExists consistently fails to see the file.

Code snippet

# This step always appears to work successfully.
Save Records as PDF [ ... ; $facepage_filepath ; ... ]

# Convert path for the plugin
Set Variable [ $plugin_filepath ; Value: Middle ( $facepage_filepath; 2 ; 999999 ) ]

# This loop is intended to prevent a race condition, but the script still fails sometimes.
Set Variable [ $counter ; Value: 0 ]
Loop
    Exit Loop If [ BE_FileExists ( $plugin_filepath ) = 1 ]
    Exit Loop If [ $counter > 25 ] // Wait up to 5 seconds
    Pause/Resume Script [ Duration (seconds): .2 ]
    Set Variable [ $counter ; Value: $counter + 1 ]
End Loop

# On a failed run, this function returns '?' and stops the script.
# On a successful run, it returns the page count and everything proceeds.
Set Variable [ $page_count ; Value: BE_PDFPageCount ( $plugin_filepath ) ]

If [ IsEmpty ( $page_count ) or $page_count = "?" ]
    Exit Script [ Text Result: "ERROR: Failed to validate the face page." ]
End If

What could cause such an intermittent failure with this specific combination of FileMaker Server and plugin versions? Since a 5-second wait loop isn't enough to guarantee success, we're looking for other possible causes. Could things like server load, disk I/O contention, or other system processes be intermittently locking the newly created file long enough to prevent the BaseElements plugin from accessing it?

Thank you in advance for any insight you could provide.

[nickorr]

Thanks for all this detail, it's very helpful. First I'd use the ConvertFromFileMakerPath function instead of Middle to get a plugin path. There's some examples here :

https://github.com/GoyaPtyLtd/BaseElements-Plugin/blob/master/docs/FAQ.md#notes-about-file-paths

So two extra error trapping I'd do to try to determine what is going on :

At the end of the loop, you're not checking if the file exists or not, so the ? could be from the file not existing, or a PDF issue. So add a step that returns an error code if the file doesn't exist, before doing the PDF Page Count.

When you run the PDF Page count, what is the BE_GetLastError value? You should trap for that as well as the "?" which could be any number of things.

So in the Exit Script, include both the $page_count value and store a $BELastError right after the BE_PDFPageCount function as well.

Let me know how that goes.

Cheers,
Nick

[yxu399]

Hi Nick, thank you for your reply. After implementing your suggestion to use the built-in ConvertFromFileMakerPath function instead of the Middle function, the problem appears to be resolved. I ran the script 30 consecutive times without encountering any errors. The link to the FAQ was particularly helpful. Thanks again!

[yxu399]

Hi Nick,

Thank you for your help last week. While your suggestion was initially successful, I later encountered BE Error 3 and had to look into it further.

After experiencing multiple PDF processing failures, I decided to step back and create a very basic plugin check script to isolate the issue. Interestingly, I'm seeing similar intermittent behavior even at the most basic level of plugin detection.

I implemented a simple server-side script to verify the plugin is responding:

Set Variable [ $installedPlugins ; Value: Get ( InstalledFMPlugins ) ]
Set Variable [ $pluginInstalled ; Value: PatternCount ( $installedPlugins ; "BaseElements" ) ]
Set Variable [ $currentVersion ; Value: BE_Version ]

With successful runs, everything works perfectly - Get(InstalledFMPlugins) shows BaseElements and BE_Version returns "4.2.6". At other times, the same basic functions return empty or "?" even though the plugin is visible and enabled in Admin Console. Very strangely, sometimes the BE functions work even if the plugin detection failed, which makes the behavior even more unpredictable.

I suspect external factors such as antivirus software, system maintenance tasks, or other server processes might be interfering with plugin functionality. The server disk space is currently 63% used. Have you encountered similar inconsistencies with basic plugin detection, or observed any correlation with system-level processes?

[nickorr]

Sorry for the late reply on this one. I haven't seen that sort of issue where sometimes it works and other times not.

Do you mean this is always the same script/server etc? Or different times with different accounts?

Also is this with FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server? Plugins need to be installed individually for Pro, and then ALSO installed in the scripting engine on FMS, but then also inside Web Publishing and also inside Data API. So potentially four different plug-in locations ...