I have an unstirred Calculation field with this

If(not IsEmpty(rtd_order_items_webassistant_URL_side1) ;
	WAGetURL( rtd_order_items_webassistant_URL_side1 ; "type=container" );
	""
)

On a Sales Order layout, the container is in a portal from Line Items. Any interaction with the portal causes a delay with beach ball spin from 1-3 seconds. How can I speed this up?

Hello,

An unstored calc is going to run any time something triggers it, in this case it is probably accessing the portal. The delay you are seeing is probably because it takes some time for WAGetURL to download whatever is at the URL specified. If you do not want that calculation to fire every time the portal is accessed and/or it is not necessary to update that field constantly, you may can change this to a stored calc or switch the process to a script that can be executed on demand or triggered by a script/layout trigger.

Edited April 13, 20214 yr by ryan360Works
reworded my response

Hi Ryan. I did that, but now have a ? in the container. I do need the graphic from the url to be visible at all times. Can I get that to be shown? The graphic is always a png or jpg

FYI the source is from a url and not a file.

 

A ? generally means that FileMaker doesn't understand something so it can't evaluate the expression. If the graphic in that field is static meaning it doesn't need to be constantly updated then I'd recommend using WAGetURL in a script and call it on demand to set the container field. 

Could a supercontainer be used here instead of a container? Insert the image from the url into the supercontainer? That would be preferable to easily keep the images external.

There's not really such a thing as a "supercontainer". If you download something from the SuperContainer server into a container field, it would still just be a FileMaker container field and subject to whatever storage you have set. You could set that container field to external storage but that may make SuperContainer redundant. That said, you could use a web viewer that is pointed to the file that is hosted on SuperContainer. That way the images stay out of the database and don't have to be stored on the local drive where the database resides. If you are going to download the files from SuperContainer, I would recommend using the companion plugin function SCGetContainer.

Quote

I'd recommend using WAGetURL in a script and call it on demand to set the container field

The best solution for now as the stored files are only 150kb. I've looped the call through all related records when the order is created and it seems to be working just fine. It's Speedy Gonzales. Thanks for the help.