Hi,

I've gone a bit crazy building some pretty interface stuff... for example, red, green and yellow lights that show up on a record based on unstored calcs... unfortunately, when the script changes the value of the calc by setting a field, the images change somewhat sluggishly.

I know I'm not providing specifics, but could someone talk to me a bit about what, in general, can speed up such responsiveness...

for example:

- the size of the bitmap image I'm using... e.g. 5k vs. 50k ?

-whether it's in a global in the same table versus pulled from a related image table ?

-whether some of the calcs the unstored calcs are based on are indexed at the "none" vs. "all" setting ?

-having too many fields in the table, even if they don't show on the layout.. like over 200 fields in the table (it's one of my first databases that originated well before I fully understood normalization) ?

-is "commit record" a slow-down when inserted into scripts.. ?when is it necessary ?

Re-writing the whole database is impossible as it's heavily in use now.. I'm just hoping for some ways I might be able to speed things up... things to look for etc..

I downloaded a demo of Inspector and it found plenty of Missing Fields however they're not used on the layouts and scripts that I'm referring to.. can they affect speed even if they're not on the same layouts and main tables?

It shouldn't matter how many total fields or records are in the table, and it shouldn't matter where the global images reside.

I think the biggest factors are:

•Image file size

•Unstored vs. stored calc. Stored will be faster

•Network speed between client and host

•Computer hardware (CPU speed, RAM, video card)

So optimizing those things would help.

I would also recommend that you optomize your file - compact and the other one.... i forget what it's called but that one. One of my DB's has a few hundred thousand images stored as references and it starts getting a bit sluggish every few months - file opt does a good job of speeding everything up again though.

... and everything Ender said.

thanks Ender and Genx

some of the calcs have to be unstored because i need them

to react instantly to changes in parameters.. I'll see about reducing file size of the images... but I think at least one of them is quite small already...

i'm set in these areas:

•Network speed between client and host

•Computer hardware (CPU speed, RAM, video card)