Big dynamic checkbox list, slow refresh

[evancooney]

Hello,

I have a big checkbox list that get's its content from a field in another database. This list refreshes whenever the user clicks anywhere or does anything, and it takes a few seconds for the list to refresh. How can I speed the refresh up? Like only refresh when the database is first opened. It is really annoying waiting a few seconds between each click.

Regards,

Evan C

[CobaltSky]

Hi Evan,

I have a feeling that there is more to this problem than you have told us. Value lists which are taken from a field in another file generally update instantly. I've seen and worked with literally hundreds of them and have never yet encountered one that took seconds to update.

Some questions:

- How many items are on the value list?

- Are you working over a slow network connection?

- Do the values come from a field in the other database, or from a value list in the other file?

- If from a value list, where does that list derive the values from?

- Is the value list dependent on a relationship?

- If so are there any unstored calculations that the relationship depends on?

I suspect that in the answers to some of these kinds of questions may lie the reason why your list is slow to update. It may be better to identify the source of the problem and address it, than to develop a work-around.

[danjacoby]

A dynamic checkbox field?

Danger, Will Robinson!

What do you do when you have updated the list, and go to a record where the contents of the field are no longer shown? I hope you have another copy of this field that shows all the entries, 'cause you're gonna have problems if you don't.

[evancooney]

Coblat Sky,

Thanks for getting back to me, here are the answers to your question::

-How many items are on the value list

500

- Are you working over a slow network connection?

No, but it is over a network.

- Do the values come from a field in the other database, or from a value list in the other file?

The values come from a field in the other database

- Is the value list dependent on a relationship?

No, it is all the values from the field (21,000). Most are duplicates, so the list is only about 500.

--------------------------------------

Danjacoby,

The records that make up the list are never altered or changed, only new entries are added.

[CobaltSky]

Hi Evan,

Well, that is certainly a sizeable value list to be displaying as checkboxes! If it grows much more it will be in danger of reaching or exceeding the maximum length of a value list (32k).

As a rule of thumb, in terms of interface design, it is generally better to present the user with lists of a more manageable size. Textbooks on the subject will mostly tell you that anything more than a couple of dozen items on a list is not ideal. Personally I'm not so hardline, but nevertheless my first response is to ask if you can provide an alternative interface and solve the problem that way.

Depending on the kind of data and the way it is used, one way to proceed would be to 'filter' the value list, providing a global field from which the users select a category, range or letter of the alphabet, then have the list display only corresponding entries.

If you must present users with the whole list at once, I'd be inclined to offer them a different kind of interface. For example, you could present them with a modified list view in the file in question, and provide an interface from which they can easily click rows to select them. This would be achieved by a combination of techniques:

1. a script to locate a single instance of each value in the related file,

2. a selection system which gathers the items they click on into a global field and writes them back to the other file.

If you want to go down this track, you'll find demos files showing techniques relevant for 1 and 2 above at:

1. http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos5.html#d2

2. http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos1.html#d8

Notwithstanding the above comments, if you feel you must persist with a checkbox list of 500 or more items, I suggest that you create a single record file and set your start-up script (or a script which takes the user into the layout where the checkbox field is located) to write the current values for the value list to a single text field in the single record file.

This would be done using the ValueListItems(Status(CurrentFileName), "YourValueList") function in a Set Field [ ] script step (via a relationship based on a calculating constant field).

Then base the value list that your field displays on the field in the single record file.

It may not be a perfect solution, but it should refresh more quickly than the list drawn from the field in the file which has 21,000 record in it.

[evancooney]

Ray,

Thank you for going above and beyond the call of duty. I am going to try out the latter concept, and see how that works. I will let you know.

Best Regards,

Evan Cooney