Variable X suddenly changes value when another variable Y set is if length of field x is too large... (25 Comments)

Issue report by fed

Product

FileMaker Pro

Version

FMP13 Advanced

Operating system version

OSX 10.8.5

Description of the issue

I upgraded to FMP13 recently, and most things work fine. When I ran my billing renumeration, a severe issue arose. I spent 2 hours narrowing it down to the following issue, which I presume is a bug in FMP13:

Please see the attached file and use FMP13 Advanced Debuging

$text is set to the content of the field 'text'
$Excerpt is set to the field 'Text Excerpt', which is a calculation field based on the field 'text'
when $Excerpt is defined, $text changes!!!

I cannot figure out what is the issue. This did not happen with FMP11. If I shorten the length of the 'text' field, the error does not occur, so I guess it is a limitation of the string size itself. Again, the size of the field string WAS NOT AN ISSUE WITH FMP11.


Please help. This effect billing in my business.

I changed all text to "a" to protect confidentiality of my clients.

Thank you in advance,

Fed

Steps to reproduce the problem

See the file in dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/or892k24kydmgz5/Jq6v4ZC1iL

Set variable X to field x, which is a very long string.
Set variable Y to field y, which is a calculation field based on x
Variable X automatically changes to a combination of X and Y (seen in debugger)
When X is set into field z, X seems to be Y (i.e. field z has an entry of Y)

Expected result

No change in X, and when X set to field z, the result is X being set in z.

Actual result

Variable X automatically changes to a combination of X and Y (seen in debugger)
When X is set into field z, X seems to be Y (i.e. field z has an entry of Y)

Exact text of any error message(s) that appear

no error message

Configuration information

Set variable X to field x, which is a very long string.
Set variable Y to field y, which is a calculation field based on x
Variable X automatically changes to a combination of X and Y (seen in debugger)
When X is set into field z, X seems to be Y (i.e. field z has an entry of Y)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/or892k24kydmgz5/Jq6v4ZC1iL

Workaround

Nothing simple.

This was NOT an issue with FMP11