Indexing 101 (FM8)

[mf]

Hi,

I am trying to better understand indexing. Is there any written article or paper that would describe indexes?

- comparison between "minimal" and "all"

- "word index" versus "value index" (are word indexes only for text? can value index exists for a text field? date?)

- what situation calls for one type over another

- what type is best if used for the occasional "find"

- what type is best for a field that is used in a relationship?

- what type is best for dates, numerical, text, ...

- what are things to watch out for when using "default language" other than English?

- when you pick 'Minimal' and 'automatically create indexes' how do you know which type was created (word or value)?

- of course all these answers, depending if you are going for performance or storage...

- is there a way to stop indexing during an important import and reindex? (script?)

- and other considerations that I am probably not even aware of

Does such document or reference exist?

(I have looked at FM Help: Defining field indexing options, I was hoping for something a bit more exhaustive)

Thanks!

[mf]

The other thing is that I have some scribbles from the conference last year, but I have not had a chance to validate any of this until now. (I apologize, but my notes don't mention who the presenter was).

- be explicit and turn off automatic indexing, "create" the index yourself: word or value index will be created depending what action is taken first

- to remove an index, choose "none" and un-click Automatic.

- "Minimum" index is either "word" or "value", "All" is both

- "value" index is needed for: auto-complete, relationships, validate-unique, value-list

- "Find" will create a word index

I don't want to mislead anyone with this information. If any ot this is wrong, please let me know. Feel free to add other considerations.

I am not clear on how to insure that a value index gets created (what action should be taken so it gets created before the word index does).