Intermittent forms errors related to Hint.PLL (part one)

Edited text of question

Adjusted points to 300

Adjusted points to 350

Some suggestions:

It is odd that you are receiving the FRM-41045 and FRM-41058 messages. You have verified that they originate from within HINT.PLL, so I assume that these messages do not relate to missing menu items or something like that. The HINT.PLL code fires whenever the cursor enters a new object on a canvas. It verifies that the object is a button, and also that it is an icon button. If the object is not an icon button, it does not try to display balloon help. It sounds like in your case, the HINT.PLL code is somehow getting past this point for an object that is NOT an icon button, and then the code tries to get a property that applies to a button, but not to the current object.
Maybe you can add messages to HINT.PLL that identify the object that it is trying to display balloon help for, to see if it is trying to do it for objects other than icon buttons.

Also, verify that you are using the current HINT.PLL that comes with your current version of Forms. I once tried upgrading to Forms 5.0, and immediately started getting VALUE_ERROR errors from HINT.PLL.

I looked the code and discovered that a procedure is calling three times get_item_property built-in function. This code is using a system variable to get the item on which the mouse cursor is. This might be the reason of your first problem (FRM 41045 Invalid ID)

A good way forward to check if this really the problem is to display the value of that system variable from the code itself.

What you have to do:
  1 - Open the hint.pll
  2 - Copy the code into your form program unit section.
  3 - Edit the package body.
  4 - Go to sync_mouse_info procedure declaration
    4.a - Modify the procedure to display the system variable:  

-- Procedure after modification.
PROCEDURE sync_mouse_info IS
  BEGIN
    mouse_item   := Name_In('SYSTEM.MOUSE_ITEM');
   
    -- Modification to display the item on which the mouse
    -- cursor is.
      MESSAGE (MOUSE_ITEM);
    --

    mouse_canvas := Name_In('SYSTEM.MOUSE_CANVAS');
    appInst      := TO_PLS_INTEGER(
                      Get_Application_Property(APPLICATION_INSTANCE));
    IF mouse_item IS NOT NULL THEN
      hWind        := TO_PLS_INTEGER(
                        Get_Item_Property(mouse_item,WINDOW_HANDLE));
      mouse_item_hint := Get_Item_Property(mouse_item,HINT_TEXT);
      IF SUBSTR(mouse_item_hint,1,1) = CHR(0) THEN
        mouse_item_hint := NULL;
      END IF;
    ELSE
      hWind := NULL;
    END IF;
  END;


  5 - (Removed the library from the form in attached library section)
  6 - Run the form, try to get the error message


  When you get the FRM 41045 error, look at the mouse item value, and check if it is a propert item name. If this item name doesn't exist in your form (or is null) then this is the problem

Apologies on taking so long to get back to this question...I have been out of country for the past 5 weeks...

I really should reopen this question and grant the points to eoing... the problem turned out to be due to the fact that we shouldn't have been using this call in the first place...it is not a button. (DYO!!!)

I had really got this one figured out before I went away...with some help from one of the Oracle Newsgroups (go figure)...here is the exact solution:

  IF :system.mouse_item IS NOT NULL THEN /*Condition A*/
    IF GET_ITEM_PROPERTY(:SYSTEM.MOUSE_ITEM,ITEM_TYPE) = 'BUTTON' THEN /*Condition B*/
      HINT.ShowButtonHelpHandler;
    END IF;
  END IF;

/*Condition A*/
This gets rid of (FRM-41045: Cannot find item: invalid ID) because the timer is expiring while the mouse is not on an item.

/*Condition B*/
This gets rid of (FRM-41058: No such property for Get-Item-Property) because even if your mouse is on an item while the timer expires, it may not be an item which has a LABEL. Procedure HINT.ShowButtonHelpHandler calls HINT.mouse_item_label which attempts to get this property of the :system.mouse_item.

In summary, HINT.ShowButtonHelpHandler should only be called when your mouse is on a Button.

However, I offered the points and I would be happy to let you have them...

Jonathan