Hi,

I am wondering if anyone has some experience with this one:

Does the number of relations defined has any influence of the overall performance of a database? Or differently put: Should one try to make as little relations as possible, or can one use relations whenever it makes things easier in the context of a script?

I am looking forward to your point of view!

relations - do you mean relationship links to other tables or the amount of critereas to meet per each relationship?

the more refined you make the structure of your database the quicker it performs. The only thing that really impacts on speed and performance is the amount of calculations. If you can make do with using scripts for complex results, the faster it will perform. i.e.: Checking for overdue invoices might have been done on earlier versions of FileMaker by having a calculation that would compare a TODAY calc date field with an invoice date to decifer late invoices. This was not only inaccurate if the database was left open on a FileMaker Server, but a script can do this so much better and it only holds you up for the amount of time it takes to trigger and complete and specific to the clients or records in view.

Also, the less amount of portal sorting the better as well.

Fortunately, creating "extra" relationships and calculation fields does not effect overall performance. They only "kick in" when they are referenced, or displayed