Export vs. Save/Send Records As...

[LaRetta]

Hi Everyone,

I'm performing a simple export from a Contact layout (three Contact fields with only 287 records). No matter which export I select (TAB, csv), it takes 5 seconds per RECORD!

But if I select Save/Send Records As (Excel), it is done instantly!!? I had really hoped that the slow export would have been resolved in vs. 8. I am struggling to understand FM's theory on why it would take so much longer as an export! At this point, unless I can figure out how to speed it up, I'm considering ditching exports entirely. But it is sad to have a feature which is almost worthless to me. Can anyone explain why there would be such a speed difference? Or am I doing something wrong here?

This is on stand-alone system (XP Professional SP2, P4 3.20 GHz, 1GB RAM) and I have the latest FM updater. If nothing else, I would just like to understand WHY it is so different.

Update: Oh, and I have rebooted also but it didn't help.

LaRetta

Edited January 31, 2006 by Guest

[SteveB]

How about a Filemaker bug? Why don't you report it!

Steve

[LaRetta]

Hi Steve,

I've read about slow exports in vs. 7 (and experienced it) but I haven't read anything about vs. 8 having this problem. I thought I would have noticed if it was mentioned here before. The fields I am exporting shouldn't matter since it's working with the SAME fields from the same table.

It reminds me of the difference between exporting and cloning. FM can clone an entire file faster than it can export a tenth of its records. I realize it must be optimized for the Excel format and that's why it is faster but ... it still throws me.

L

[SteveB]

What happens with double the number of records? Does the time to export double? It sure would be interesting to know whether there is just some base time involved, or whether its proportional.

The fact that it still exists in 8 is not too surprising given their track record.

Steve

[LaRetta]

Well it was no bug, Steve. It was poor development. I'm not crazy about exposing this blunder but the lesson was so powerful (for me) that others may benefit as well. First, nothing made a difference in speed. I optimized & compacted. I tested using very small (50-record) and very large(100,000-record) found sets for export. Export consistently ran at 1 record every 5 seconds no matter what I did. So I checked the fields and here is the trap to watch for ...

I was exporting 3 fields from a CUSTOMERS layout. One standard text field (CustomerName) and two calculations (cFullAddress and cPrimaryPhone). I deleted cFullAddress from the export (suspecting it as the culprit). It still ran 1 record every 5 seconds. I added it back and instead deleted cPrimaryPhone from the export. Entire export took 1 second! It will become clear why this calculation (and other improper structure/calculations) can hurt FM's reputation for export when it really is poor design. I've read point-of-view and context is EVERYTHING (vs. 7/8) and Lord is it ever hitting home on THIS one!

cPrimaryPhone (text calculation in Customers) =

PhonePrimary::number [color:red]from the context of CustomersFound

Relationships:

ContactsFound::CustomerID = Customers::gCustomerKey

PhonePrimary::CustomerID = Customers::CustomerID

AND

PhonePrimary::cTypeCategory = Customers::cPhonePrimaryKey (and Lord only knows what THAT calc does)

Can you spot the mistakes? Well, really everything is a mistake. If you put this together in a demo file and look at your graph, you can track it (and watch it export DAWG-SPEED!!). Uh, I was quite tired when I designed this (and I've learned another lesson as well).

As I untangled FM's path through the TOG, I realized FM exported very quickly considering. And I'm now very impressed by FM's export speed!!!

So when you have slow exports, track the context and point of view. One small TOG mis-step might make a huge difference!! Of course none of you would have an example this bad (or this good, depending upon your perspective). But sometimes patterns are only obvious in extreme cases such as this. And I'm GLAD it happened!!!

LaRetta

[LaRetta]

Oh. I should add that it still doesn't explain why the new Save/Send Records As would not be affected since I would think FileMaker must still go the same data-pulling path!!!

I would love to understand how the 'jumping through TOG hoops' was bypassed in this new feature! It must somehow handle transferring the data (whether fields are on the layout or not) differently but how/why?