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I've been using 2 different versions of Fusion Pro VDP Designer on 2 different Macs, and getting different Composition reporting results.

 

I've attached a screenshot to help show this.

 

With the same project (the Presidio Postcard tutorial actually), using version 9.2.31, I correctly get a Composition error that tells me the "Value for variable Season not found in instance data". This is because the source data doesn't include for the month information, so this makes sense. This is seen on the right screenshot with the attached file.

 

But, using the latest version (9.3.6) on Yosemite, I don't get that error message even though it fails as well. The error message from the older version is actually quite helpful in troubleshooting, so why is it missing from the latest version of the software? You can see this in the left screenshot. :confused:

 

Is this a bug?

Version-Differences.png.82913ce8e6b1e1f0b5095e1b789d4861.png

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Well, the data about the months for the "Seasons" rule is missing. It took me awhile to figure out why the new version wasn't working right until I noticed the test data file "input-data.txt" didn't have any data for the months category. Same thing when I tried it in version 9.2, but it gave me feedback on why it wasn't working unlike 9.3.
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Well, this issue came up while doing your Real Estate Mailer tutorial that is supplied with the software install. It's found on the Mac at HD > Users > Shared > PTI > FusionPro > Tutorial > Real Estate Mailer > Working Files. If you open the PDF named "PresidioPostcard2.pdf", you'll see the variable data box that says "Come see us <Season>". The instructions in your video state that the Season rule should return Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. But it doesn't work because the supplied sample source file "input-data.txt" doesn't appear to have any data regarding the months/seasons. I assume this is an oversight when creating these tutorials. You'll even notice that the sample PDF in the Output folder also does not include the seasons information.

 

My concern isn't so much that the tutorial appears to have a flaw in it, but rather the Compose error reporting between version 9.2 and 9.3. When I did this tutorial in 9.2, I received an error after clicking Compose that suggested there is no data for the Seasons rule, which is obviously very helpful. When doing the same tutorial in 9.3, I received no error message at all, which is not very helpful when trying to figure out why data is missing. We are planning to upgrade our systems to Yosemite/9.3 here at the office, but I'm now concerned that if we upgrade, we'll be losing a pretty useful error reporting function from 9.2. Does that help clarify what I'm asking about? I can send you files if you like, but again, I'm just using the tutorial files supplied with the install.

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I have to ask again: Is the output the same from both versions? Are you sure? Because when I try it with the same job here, in 9.3., the output correctly has the result of the "Season" rule in it. If I then delete or rename that rule, then the error message shows up, as appropriate.

Well, this issue came up while doing your Real Estate Mailer tutorial that is supplied with the software install. It's found on the Mac at HD > Users > Shared > PTI > FusionPro > Tutorial > Real Estate Mailer > Working Files. If you open the PDF named "PresidioPostcard2.pdf", you'll see the variable data box that says "Come see us <Season>". The instructions in your video state that the Season rule should return Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. But it doesn't work because the supplied sample source file "input-data.txt" doesn't appear to have any data regarding the months/seasons. I assume this is an oversight when creating these tutorials.

No, it's not an oversight. The "Seasons" variable is supposed to come from a rule with that name that you create as part of the tutorial tasks, not from a data field with that name. I suppose that the wording of the message, saying that the value is "not found in instance data" is a bit misleading, because "variables" in this sense can come from either rules or data fields (or from calling FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable).

You'll even notice that the sample PDF in the Output folder also does not include the seasons information.

Okay, that probably is an oversight. I think that the rule was added after that "sample" PDF output was created.

My concern isn't so much that the tutorial appears to have a flaw in it, but rather the Compose error reporting between version 9.2 and 9.3. When I did this tutorial in 9.2, I received an error after clicking Compose that suggested there is no data for the Seasons rule, which is obviously very helpful. When doing the same tutorial in 9.3, I received no error message at all, which is not very helpful when trying to figure out why data is missing.

No, you've got it exactly backwards. You're not getting an error message in 9.3 because the "Seasons" rule is working properly (mostly) and returning a value. You properly get the message in 9.2 because the rule is not working. The bug is in 9.2, not in 9.3.

 

Well, okay, there is still a bug in 9.3, where the the rule does return something, but it just returns "this Winter" every time, no matter what the date is. That Drag-and-Drop rule editor has had some bugs in it for a while, and some more were added in 9.2. Some of the bugs introduced in 9.2 have been fixed in 9.3, which is why you get something output from the rule in 9.3 instead of it failing completely as in 9.2, but obviously not all of the 9.2 Drag-and-Drop editor bugs are fixed in 9.3, because what gets returned in 9.3 is not the right something. But it's enough to not trigger the "value for this variable not found" error.

We are planning to upgrade our systems to Yosemite/9.3 here at the office, but I'm now concerned that if we upgrade, we'll be losing a pretty useful error reporting function from 9.2.

No, as far as I know, you won't be losing any functionality in terms of error reporting by upgrading from 9.2 to 9.3. If anything, you'll get a version which I can't claim is entirely bug-free, but does have fewer bugs than 9.2.

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Dan,

 

Thanks for such a comprehensive answer! I follow what you're saying, and at least I'm not going crazy with my lack of success with the Seasons rule. No matter how many times I do this tutorial, I don't get any results, not even "Winter". Although, wouldn't that make sense if the rule is based off the current calendar date? I'd think all results would be winter since we're in month "2"?

 

Are you doing the tutorial from a Windows PC? I wonder if the date reading is different than the Mac which is why I'm not getting even the Winter result. I can send you my file if that helps.

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