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NM Collector Software JE

Manage any type of collection or Home Inventory

Known Issues

This page lists all known issues that have not yet been resolved or that have been recently resolved. Please let me know if you encounter any issues not already listed here.

But first, do you really need such large pictures?

The biggest performance hit when using NM Collector Software is large pictures stored in the database. Here is a very useful article regarding how big your pictures really need to be on computers. If you still insist on using large pictures, please do the following to help ensure optimal responsiveness of the program:

  1. Select Options > Pictures > Save In File System.
  2. When the system tells you the files are transferred, allow it to delete them from the database.

Even when storing in file system, too large of pictures may still cause issues. Please review guidance in article referenced above.

Table of Known Issues, work arounds when available, and when they were resolved (if applicable)

Problem Work Around Planned Solution
Due to recent changes by Apple, the downloaded app will not run on Macs. Purchase the USB option with the software already installed. N/A
Sometimes, on a Mac, the pictures show up as black. Pictures too large and must be reduced in size. Instructions can be found here. N/A
NM Collector Software JE will not run properly on Apple M1 Macs. NOTE: Please see download will not run on my Mac for a related issue.
  1. Download and install a version of Java that will work on your Apple M1 Mac. Here is one option that has been installed and tested by an Apple M1 Mac user. You may or may not find something better.

    • https://www.azul.com/downloads/zulu-community/?version=java-15-mts&os=macos&architecture=arm-64-bit&package=jdk

  2. Manually start NM Collector Software JE so that it will use the Java installed on your Mac rather than the Java that comes with it.

    • Open terminal window: Launchpad > terminal

    • Navigate to the proper NM Collector directory: cd /Applications/NMCollectorJE.app/Contents/Java

    • Start NM Collector using the system installed Java rather than the embedded Java: java -jar NMCollectorJE.jar
In the future a special Apple M1 Mac release will be made available.
Maintenance Report year truncated when 8 digits (for example: 12/25/2018) N/A Report fixed in version 4.0.2.
Currency amounts greater than 999,999 fail to save N/A Fixed in in version 4.0.2.
Here is a problem reported by two Mac OS X Sierra users that I have not been able to resolve: I open the app and follow your instructions for activating, which I found at “https://www.nmcollectorsoftware.com/support1/activationProblems.htm”, and it does display a message stating the activation was successful, but it continues to say “Evaluation license activation was successful. Click OK to continue”, whenever I open the app, and it still shows “This copy licensed to [evaluation] at the top of the screen. N/A This happens if you try to run NM Collector Software from the downloads directory on a Mac.  Please copy/Move the extracted NMCollectorJE to your Applications folder and run it from there.
pictures selected NOT to be included in reports are displayed in reports. N/A Please follow these instructions to update your reports.
Version 3.0.1 and earlier will not work if you upgrade to Mac OS X Sierra. N/A Please install the latest version of NM Collector Software. If you have data in a version earlier than 4.0 please follow the instructions for moving your data.
Pictures not loading properly on a Mac. They sometimes appear as black boxes. Unfortunately, pictures must be reduced significantly in size to work properly on a Mac. Nothing planned. This is a problem only for the Mac. I am open to ideas.
Picture Notes not saving. Ensure there are no apostrophes (‘) or other similar characters in the picture file name or the notes. Cannot solve the picture name problem so please use standard alpha-numeric characters only in the picture file name.
I get an error message that says ‘out of memory Java heap space’ . Essentially this means that NM Collector Software ran out of the memory that your computer made available to it. If you have a lot of large pictures they can use up your available memory rather quickly. You can try increasing the amount of memory available to java when you start NM Collector Software but that will be limited by how much memory you have available on your computer. 

 

This is what I would suggest.

  1. Locate the file named startupJE6Java.bat. It is in the same directory as your NM Collector Software executables. Depending on what options you have selected in your Windows file explorer you may not see the .bat extension.
  2. Please right click on the startupJE6Java.bat file and select edit. It should have a line that looks like this:

    java -jar NMCollectorJE6.jar

  3. Change that line to look like the following. These values assume you have 5 gigabytes of memory available. If not you can set them in megabyte values such as 64m (for 64 megabytes). The Xms and Xmx values should be the same for optimal performance.

    java -Xms5g -Xmx5g -jar NMCollectorJE6.jar

  4. This should increase the memory available on your machine to java. I say should because generally java allocates 25% of your machines memory by default so the amount of memory allocated to java depends on how much memory your computer has. Also, there is a limit to the amount of memory that can be allocated to java. That limit is again based on how much memory you have available on your machine. So, the Xms and Xmx values may not be enough or it may be too much depending on your machine.
  5. Once you have saved the changes, double click on the startupJE6Java.bat file. You will have to start the program with this file from now on to get the increased memory. This should start NM Collector Software with the new memory allocation. I say “should” because if your computer does not have enough memory you will see a black box flash and then go away because java cannot exceed the limits of memory available to it. If that happens, please edit the file again and reduce the Xms and Xmx values to a smaller number.
  6. If you continue to get the error then the number you entered for the Xmx parameter is too small and needs to be increased. If you can’t increase the number any more (because the computer won’t start java) and you still get the error, you might have to reduce the size of your pictures so they don’t take up so much memory. Here is a great article on how big images need to be on a computer: http://www.microscope-microscope.org/imaging/image-resolution.htm You might be surprised at how small your images can be.
Treeview scroll bar disappears when list gets too long. This is a “feature” of Version 3.0 only. Upgrade to Version 3.0.1 or later Resolved in Version 3.0.1
NM Collector Software is slow to start on first use. Upgrade to Version 3.0 or later Resolved in Version 3.0
Running NM Collector on Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 seems just fine until the next time you open the program and updates to your data are not there.  Unfortunately, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 do not allow the database to be updated when the program is installed to the “C:\Program Files\…” or “C:\Program Files(x86)\…” directories but does not tell NM Collector that there is a problem. N/A Per the installation instructions, the solution is to not install NM Collector to the “C:\Program Files\…” or “C:\Program Files(x86)\…” directories.
Program exhibits strange behavior and or data changes that you have made do not save. Assuming that you did not install to “C:\Program Files\…” or “C:\Program Files(x86)\…” directories this is caused by a disabled or improperly configured installation of Java on your computer. A properly installed, configured, and working copy of Java is a pre-requisite for NM Collector Software to operate properly. Please make sure you have the latest version of Java installed and running on your computer by visiting this site:  http://www.java.com/en/download/testjava.jsp
You use folders to organize items in your collection and do not want the folders to appear in the reports. Upgrade to Version 3.0 or later Resolved in Version 3.0
You get an error that says Arial Narrow font needed to print a condensed report.  This occurs because some systems do not have the Arial Narrow font installed. Upgrade to Version 3.0 or later Resolved in Version 3.0
Dollar fields lose the cents.  For example, if you enter $19.99 for a purchase price the system will record $19.00. Upgrade to Version 3.0 or later Resolved in Version 3.0
Data can be lost if the program is force closed by the user of the program. Do not force close the program!  When you do that you prevent the program from saving your data to the file system.  The result can be lost entries or a totally corrupted database. No solution for this since the program cannot prevent itself from being force closed by you the operator.  Please don’t do it!
Running off of a USB Flash drive can be very slow. Do not run off of a USB flash drive.  Instead, install to a system hard drive. No solution for this unless USB flash drives become faster.
Data can be lost when running off of a USB flash drive if 

 

  • the drive fails for unknown reasons.
  • the drive is removed before data is stored.
  • the drive is not removed safely.
When running off of a USB flash drive, 

 

  • Please backup your data for recovery in case of failure!
  • ensure NM Collector fully shuts down before removing the Flash Drive!
  • Safely remove drive. This is achieved in different ways depending on your operating system so find out how to properly remove a USB flash drive for your operating system.
  • Although rare, USB flash drives occasionally fail causing loss of data.  Please keep current backups of your data!
  • You must allow NM Collector to save your data BEFORE you remove the flash drive!
  • You must  properly remove a USB flash drive from your system in order to prevent damaging it.
If you hide collection types some of your changes in visible collection types will be lost. Upgrade to Version 2.5.2 or later Resolved in Version 2.5.2
The second date field in the right hand column of the Description tab will not save unless the first date field is set to a value as well.  Steps to reproduce the problem are as follows:
1.  Insert a new item.
2.  Select a date in the second date field.
3.  Press Keep button then close.
4.  Start NM Collector
5.  Go to description tab of new item.
You will note that the second date field is empty.
Upgrade to Version 2.5.2 or later Resolved in Version 2.5.2 – this was a threading issue that caused unpredictable behavior.
A tic (‘) in the large text fields anywhere in the program will grow exponentially! Upgrade to Version 2.5.2 or later Resolved in Version 2.5.2 – had to remove tic marks in code.
Find window not always well proportioned. Upgrade to Version 2.5.2 or later Resolved in Version 2.5.2
On Mac systems, when selecting a folder is required for various export and backup operations, the Mac will indicate that you are to select a file.  This is a Java bug on the Mac. Please select a folder as indicated in the title bar of the window.  Please see the user-guide and examples for more information. Unresolvable until java is updated for the Mac.
Manage Collection Types: When you rename a collection type any existing receipts will lose their connection to the items in the collection. Upgrade to Version 2.5.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.5.0
When delete an item it can delete the wrong Receipts, Dispositions, Maintenance, Events, and Pictures. Upgrade to Version 2.4.2 or later Resolved in Version 2.4.2
Now deletes the correct Receipts, Dispositions, Maintenance, Events, and Pictures when an item is deleted.
Notes are not saving. Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version 2.4.1
Notes will automatically save on close.
The old “Save” button has been replaced with a “Keep” button but the pop up window still tells you to go back and “save” your data. Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version 2.4.1
The pop up window now instructs you to “keep” your data rather than “save” your data.
NM Collector Software seems to hang when I am closing it so I force closed it.  Now most of my data is missing. DO NOT “force close” NM Collector Software .  In the process of shutting down it writes your data to disk.  To better understand the process, please Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version 2.4.1
1.  Screen added when shutting down that warns to be patient while the application closes and not force close it. 

 

2.  Provided a “Write To Disk” function that can be executed periodically to write data to disk when entering a lot of data in one sitting.

NM Collector Software can be slow to load especially when run from a USB flash drive.   Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version  2.4.1
Reworked database access methods for improved performance.
When working with large collections, the use of a USB flash drive can adversely affect performance.   Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version  2.4.0
Reworked database access methods for improved performance.
If you store a large number of items with a large number of pictures in the database the performance will suffer.   Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version  2.4.0
Reworked database access methods for improved performance.
If you store a large number of items in multiple large collections the performance will suffer.   Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version  2.4.0
Reworked database access methods for improved performance.
On some systems reports cannot be saved as PDF documents. Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version  2.4.0
Identified and resolved the issue internal to the report tool.
On some systems an error is generated when trying to run some reports.  The error generally reads:  “ Error attempting to load Report … ”  This is generally due to a missing font. Upgrade to Version 2.4.1 or later Resolved in Version  2.4.0
Made the error message more descriptive so that it is clear what font is missing when the report fails.
Collection types in the tree view can be dropped such that they become a folder with in another collection type.  When the program is closed and re-opened the collection type no longer displays and the items that were in it now show up at the bottom of the tree. Upgrade to Version 2.3.1 or later Resolved in Version 2.3.1
Treat collection types differently than other items in the tree view.  Do not allow a collection type to be dropped as a folder within another collection type.
When you make changes to the Drop down List Edits table and then go back the changes may not stick. Upgrade to Version 2.3.1 or later Resolved in Version 2.3.1
Added note to top of table instructing the use of tabs to make sure data changes stick.
When you make changes to the Collection Types table and then go back the changes may not stick. Upgrade to Version 2.3.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.3.0
Added note to top of table instructing the use of tabs to make sure data changes stick.
When you make changes to your data and then make changes to the Collection Types you will lose your recent changes. Upgrade to Version 2.2.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.2.0
Save data to underlying database before changes to Collection Types are allowed.
When you delete an item with other items indented below it the indented items below it will appear to also be deleted.  The indented items are not deleted.  If you shut down and restart the system you will find them at the bottom of your collection. Upgrade to Version 2.2.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.2.0
Move indented items out to level of parent item.
When you try to indent the first indented item below another item the system moves it to the bottom of the list of items.  If the indented item has other items indented under it these will also be moved to the bottom of the list of items. Upgrade to Version 2.2.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.2.0
Disable indent button when it does not apply to an item.
When you try to outdent an item that is already as far outdented as it can go, the system moves it to the bottom of the list of items.  If the item has other items indented under it these will also be moved to the bottom of the list of items. Upgrade to Version 2.2.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.2.0
Disable outdent button when it does not apply to an item.
The items typed in field number 8 (on the identification tab) seem to end up in the combo box of field number 2. Upgrade to Version 2.2.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.2.0
Add field number 8 entries to field number 8 drop down not field number 2 drop down.
Drag and drop several items one after the other then try to indent one of them.  Some of the items will be moved to the bottom of the list of items. Upgrade to Version 2.2.0 or later Resolved in Version 2.2.0
Allow immediate indent after drag and drop.