G'Day,
This is a complex problem. Your description is a perfect fit for the issues with QRZ lookup. So , let me see if I can help with a few facts about how all this stuff actually works.
You did the correct thing - turn off Auto Web Lookup.
There have been a few other topics here on the forum that have essentially given the "short" version of the problem. Here I will try to explain using the "long version". Please bare with me.
This explanation is for a "subscription" to QRZ. See the end of the topic for an explanation, but read the material first.
The thing that changed may be the content of the web page for the call that LOGic looked up on QRZ, or it is the first time you have ever done a lookup of this particular call on QRZ. Maybe the change is in any one of the many pages your request may have looked up on your behalf. I can think of a few other reasons but let me stop there. Read on.
The message "Stop Running This Script?" comes from the web browser, not LOGic.
There are no updates to LOGic that will fix this problem with QRZ Callbook lookups and the Internet. There is a possibility this issue is likely to happen with any Internet lookup - but we see it with QRZ more often.
Because of the way the Windows system works, displaying web pages in parallel with the LOGic processing, LOGic has to "share the computer" with the browser, and any other programs running - and will always run a bit slower. Mostly, you will not notice - it depends on the number of CPU cores, and the amount of memory in your PC. Windows is a multi-tasking system. Programs get their work done, and become idle (or not), allowing others to do their work - what ever it is.
LOGic is totally oblivious to the content of the page for the call you looked up coming from QRZ. LOGic, using the libraries of Visual Foxpro, simply retrieves the calls web page URL from QRZ, and passes the URL for the page to the browser with the hope that all will be well. LOGic will run even slower, if not stall, as you describe, if the particular web page that the browser is trying to show you has scripts and code on it that is poorly written, or in turn accesses other web pages on the Internet, that come from "slow servers", or that in turn, access even more pages on the Internet ... you get the idea. The pages could be nested many levels deep, and each and every one may contain scripts. LOGic has no idea that they are or are not "displayable". Program threads within LOGic/Foxpro eventually stop and wait for the browser to say - "end of the top page, back to you".
The browser is really an "interpreter" - it reads the structure of the web page coming from the part of QRZ for the call you looked up, and paints text and images as it goes. This page was not created by QRZ. It was created by the owner of the call sign, mostly a novice when it comes to web pages. The browser paints the page inside a window inside LOGic, but LOGic is quite oblivious to it, and the browser is totally unaware that the window is inside LOGic. The "windows" are handled by the Windows system.
When the browser sees a request to execute a "script" on the web page, it calls yet another "script interpreter" - one of several possible - and at the same time, starts a count down timer to make sure control comes back to the browser at some point in the future. The first question to ask is "How long should the browser wait?".
Eventually the "script interpreter returns" or the count down timer alarm goes off - with a question to you - "Stop Running This Script?". If the browser does that too many times for the same script, or you keep answering yes, or the browser sees a script taking excessive time, the browser eventually sends a message to you -- "A script on this page is causing your web browser to run slowly. If it continues to run, your computer might become unresponsive.". I note your response.
You should answer YES, to the message "Stop Running This Script?" from the web browser, to try to get control back from the "script interpreter" to the browser, and in turn back to LOGic, when the top page completes. LOGic is quite oblivious to the fact that the Window system and the browser is using so much of your PCs capability. Remember, if you answer NO, the browser simply moves on the the next script, the next page, etc etc.
Given the pages are possibly nested, there may be many scripts, several timers, several more pages with scripts, yet to be processed by the script interpreter, yet to time out. The process will repeat, and could go on for a long time. I note you agree.
While all this is happening, or not, LOGic is totally oblivious. The amateur, the novice page creator, is also totally oblivious to the issues his carefully created page might cause. Even if you have the most powerful PC money can buy, this problem may happen. Even if your link to the Internet is the fastest money can buy, this will still happen. The slower the PC, the slower the Internet, the quicker and more often it may happen. The Internet is as fast as the slowest link the data the web browser is processing need to traverse.
It is a consequence of the way the Internet works, the Windows system works on your PC - not actually a problem with LOGic. It is related to the pages on QRZ and their content, and their dynamic nature, and the interaction of the components of your PC, of which LOGic and its components are part.
Keep in mind for any QRZ web page, images may come from anywhere else on the Internet. Flicker, Google, any photo sharing web site your like to name, located anywhere. Pages, images, links, get "redirected" automatically. The web page may be well constructed, or badly constructed. The amateur may be dead, his server long ago abandoned, but the page on QRZ still refers to it. One never knows.
There are even more combinations on this theme. But let me stop there.
What can you do, in no particular order ....
Encourage all your amateur friends to keep their QRZ web page to simple text and a single image located on QRZ. No links!
During a contest, turn OFF "Auto Web Lookup" in the Callbook dialogue. You did that.
During a contest - turn off Callbook lookup. Good idea.
Use a QRZ subscription, rather than the free web lookup. See below.
Always answer YES to the browsers "Stop running this script?".
Why use a QRZ subscription?
In simple terms, the complex process described above also happens for the QRZ home pages. You will see twice the problem if you use the QRZ web lookup. For the QRZ web lookup, LOGic tries to drive the pages defined by QRZ as if you were typing in a real browser outside of LOGic. All but the last page are hidden from view. When the QRZ created pages come back, LOGic reads and interpret the pages to "scrape" the data it needs from the page. Unfortunately, that puts LOGic at the mercy of any detail changes QRZ may make to their pages.
How do QRZ make changes to their pages. In the old days it was done by hand in an editor, just like you might do on your PC. QRZ knew precisely what changed were being made, and the changes were few and far between. Today, from moment to moment the page content changes and even QRZ do not precisely know what is on any one page.
How do we know that the page is a well structure page and amenable to "scraping" the data? We don't. One has to rely on what a sample page looked like when the "scrape" code was written - and hope it doesn't change too much.
"scraping" is the term used to describe what a program does to extract data from a web page meant only for human reading - as compared to machine readable data pages.
These days, pages like the official QRZ web pages, are assembled by magic. Magic in the form of a database reading web server based program that reads templates of the QRZ pages, and adds text, images, code, scripts, advertisements, almost anything, on the fly when you request the page - that is the URL you send arrives at the server. There are people in the background at QRZ changing the templates, but more often changing the content of the page database, the image database, the advertisement database. The templates can contain templates, the images can be "redirected" at will.
These days QRZ may even subscribe to dynamic Internet services that update the pages "on the fly" to tailor the advertisements just for you alone. The tailoring is done be the remote service, adding their code to the pages before they leave QRZ. I'm not smart enough to know all the ins and outs of what "they" might do to the pages as I browse on the Internet. But I do know that it is happening, and causes problems for programs like LOGic.
You can make the problem happen in Logic, even with a QRZ subscription, by turning on Auto Web Lookup, and doing a Tools, Callbook Batch Update. Make a backup before you do that, and restore the log afterwards. On my 8 core i7 Dell with 8GB of RAM, and a 10meg link to the Internet, and nothing else running, about every 100 QSOs the system will stall, guaranteed, trying to load some call's web page. Repeat and the same call lookup will stall LOGic - maybe.
Good DXing.
I hope my efforts are not in vain, and at least one person is better informed.
Peter VK4IU
You can help by posting images of
any errors and including your
Logic version.