Macola ES print dialog hangs when running reports

[lcrutch]

A small handful of Computers on my network (mixture of Win 7, Win 8, and Win 10) are having an issue when trying to print reports from within Macola ES. The print Screen goes unresponsive and hangs for 15 to 45 seconds.

This issue started a couple of months ago, but for whatever reason, I wasn't informed of it until a week or so ago.

Here is an example: Macola ES, Printing the “Shipped not billed” report in OE

The moment the Print Options dialog window opens the print process hangs, you don’t even need to click on the OK button just having the screen open causes it.

The mouse still works, and you can open other applications, so it is not a system hang.

When I open up the resource monitor on the affected systems I can see that the FJMACEXE.EXE file is the problem area.

• A new instance of FJMACEXE.EXE starts each and every time that you open a Macola Screen (In this example it is the Shipped not Billed screen).
• If you have a lot of Macola Screens open, you will have multiple FJMACEXE.EXE instances running.

Right clicking on the process and selecting Analyze Wait Chain returns the following results.

Funny thing is, as long as I don’t close the Shipped Not Billed screen, the next time I go to print (even if I change the criteria) the hang will not happen, if however, I close the screen and reopen it the hang will occur.

From my initial troubleshooting I have been able to rule out the following:

1. Antivirus / Firewall
2. Network Connectivity
3. The SQL Server

Other things that I have tried:

1. uninstalling the Macola ES Client and reinstalling it. (Issue still happens)
2. Installing the client on a fresh OS (Issue still happens)
3. Uninstalling all local USB print drivers (leaving the ones from the print server) Not tied to local USB print drivers
4. Uninstalling the network print drivers (leaving the local USB ones) Not tied to network print drivers
5. Logging in as one of the affected users on an unaffected machine and vise versa. (The problem is with the computers not the users or user permissions)
6. Verified Macola settings for running on workstation (UAC off, etc.)

The issue only affects a couple of workstations, not all of them. Any assistance I can get troubleshooting this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dgillz]

You did an incredible good job of documenting this! Excellent. You did not mention however what version of ES you are using. Can you provide that? Also are you using Synergy as well or ES stand alone?

Software Training, Implementation, Programming and Support for Macola Progression, Macola ES, Synergy, and Crystal Reports. Check out our Macola tools:

http://www.gainfocus.biz/exceladdin.html

 

[lcrutch]

I am on Exact Macola ES, Version 9.6.300

After 4 weeks of on again, off again troubleshooting, I was finally able to resolve this issue earlier this morning.

The Cause:

Macola is not updating default printer information in the printdft_sql table on the SQL Server.

When I opened the printdft_sql table I discovered that it contained many incorrect references to network locations and printers that we no longer have or use.

I do not know why this table does not update when the individual user changes the setting at time of print, but by clearing out the contents of the entire table I was able to resolve the issue.

Now lets see if it stays resolved.

 

[dgillz]

Interesting stuff. Please keep us posted. I have never heard of this one before.

Software Training, Implementation, Programming and Support for Macola Progression, Macola ES, Synergy, and Crystal Reports. Check out our Macola tools:

http://www.gainfocus.biz/exceladdin.html