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App Loading Slowly

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    App Loading Slowly

    XP Home SP2
    512 MB
    Build 2042

    I have just finished an app ready for distribution. The app is only 6.40 mb with no pre-loaded data. Opening the app through A5 to the main startup screen takes about 5 secs.

    Turned the app into a single user runtime install package, which then increases to 57 mb. The install places an icon on the desktop to open the app.

    Selecting the desktop shortcut takes the app 23 to 25 secs to open. There is no autoexec.

    I have tried this on other machines i.e Windows 2000, XP Pro with plenty of memory but it still takes 23 - 25 secs to open the install version.

    Any ideas why it is taking so long, this is my first V6 app I don't get this delay in V5.

    Regards

    Alan

    #2
    RE: App Loading Slowly

    Alan:

    I've noticed the same thing - just about the same delay as yours. Maybe someone will answer your post. It seems that all of the forms load 'slushy' compared to ver 5 and 4.5.

    I'm on Win98-SE

    Ken

    Comment


      #3
      RE: App Loading Slowly

      I guess it's a norm among us.
      My clients also complaint with the long startup delay...

      and I just forward the "official answer" to them.
      "Faster harddisk and more memory would help" :)

      Comment


        #4
        RE: App Loading Slowly

        Sata 180gb hard drive, P4 4ghz 1gb ddr3200 memory, guess what still loads slowly.

        Might be the official answer but It's a bit of a cop out. I don't consider my system to be slow or short of memory

        Ian

        Comment


          #5
          RE: App Loading Slowly

          Ian,

          Clearly your system is not limited in power, and thus not a limiting issue.

          I would ask if the startup time is noticed when you bring up a local table initially or when you use a table located on the network. If it's slower on the network table, then look to your network.

          If it's still slow on the local table, then best thing would to have an autoexec script measure the time it get's control (by setting a global variable) and identify the minimum start time for A5. If the autoexec get's control early, then potentially, you can display a menu or splash screen or login for the user that would tend to obscure the long initialization process.

          Regards,

          Ira
          Regards,

          Ira J. Perlow
          Computer Systems Design


          CSDA A5 Products
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          Comment


            #6
            RE: App Loading Slowly

            HI

            Thanks for the comments, I follow the logic but as I dont' as yet use a network and the database is local the problem has to be as you say internal. "My field of expertise (if any ) is web design and what you suggest in myb terms is a preloader which is a means of stopping a viewer becomming board whilst a large flash graphic loads. Surely in Alphas case this is obscuring a problem which is within the program?

            cheers

            Ian

            Comment


              #7
              RE: App Loading Slowly

              Ian,

              "Surely in Alphas case this is obscuring a problem which is within the program?"

              Well, that's what you are trying to ascertain. My suggestion of the autoexec is the best way to know when the code can get some control.

              Alpha 5 has a lot to do when it starts. It needs to read in all of the function libraries, initialize it's structures, check licensing info etc. It's possible that there are no way to significantly speed it up.

              On the other hand, many people stay in Alpha all the time without ever executing it again (well until Alpha or Windows decide to crash, the latter being most prevalent (But let's not go there!)).

              Regards,

              Ira
              Regards,

              Ira J. Perlow
              Computer Systems Design


              CSDA A5 Products
              New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
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              CSDA Code Utility
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              Comment


                #8
                RE: App Loading Slowly

                I just tested a big app on an also very fast system, from both the full and shadowed and it takes about 18 seconds the first time I open it. But since I am in and out many times during the day, developing, subsequent loads take only about 4.5 to load - the cache.
                Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
                972 524 8714
                [email protected]

                ____________________
                "A young man who is not liberal has no heart, but an old man who is not conservative has no mind." GB Shaw

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: App Loading Slowly

                  A 'pause' occurs on startup when V6 is accessing the Internet to check Alpha site for updates. Check View, Settings, System, Preferences, Internet and select a setting appropriate to your system.

                  Dave
                  Dave Jampole
                  www.customalpha.com

                  Women and cats will do whatever they want. The sooner men and dogs realize that, the happier they will be.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: App Loading Slowly

                    That's not true Dave. While Alpha Five does check for updates if you have this feature enabled (which it is by default), it only does so when the Welcome/News screen is displayed. And even then it is done as a low-priority background task. This will in no way impact the performance of opening a specific application.

                    -Lenny

                    Lenny Forziati
                    Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
                    Alpha Software Corporation

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: App Loading Slowly

                      Lenny,

                      Thank you for the correction. Didn't know that.

                      Dave
                      Dave Jampole
                      www.customalpha.com

                      Women and cats will do whatever they want. The sooner men and dogs realize that, the happier they will be.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: App Loading Slowly

                        Ian:
                        >> Sata 180gb hard drive
                        While SATA will afford you higher speed (some might argue to the opposite albeit very few), keep in mind that using the bigger drive will slow you down, so there is a bit of a trade off.
                        Other issues to consider:
                        1-What brand hard drive?
                        2-What is your RPM?
                        3-Is this the only hard drive?
                        4-I don't believe 180 gb has NCQ, but if it does, does your motherboard support NCQ?

                        The most important question to ask: Is alpha the only program that loads slow?
                        Gabe

                        Comment


                          #13
                          RE: App Loading Slowly

                          Hi

                          I am fully aware of hardware issues reflecting loading speed however Alpha is a slow loading programas is the run time version. BFSB speed, hard drive cache, and memory speed all play their part but I've tried Alpha run time on all machines on my netwrok ranging from 550 spped to 4.2ghz and it is just a slow loader. It's not a problem to me although I have had clients complain at how long run time versions take to load.

                          cheers

                          Ian

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: App Loading Slowly

                            I have a small application which takes 2.6 secs to load under V5 and 6.9 secs (or almost three times longer) to load under v6.

                            On our larger application the comparative timings are V5 3.2 secs and V6 7.7 secs.

                            These timings all relate to running a local copy of the application

                            Now moving the app to a network scenario produces the following results
                            V5 Direct 42.5 seconds
                            V5 shadowed 3.5 seconds

                            V6 Direct 42.7 seconds
                            V6 shadowed 7.9 seconds

                            Bob Whitaker
                            Bob Whitaker

                            Comment


                              #15
                              RE: App Loading Slowly

                              Hi Bob,

                              These are good comparitive numbers.

                              In either case, was the inital opened data a set or a table? I would suspect a set would take longer (but not significantly longer)

                              Also, did you have any virus checking enabled for either the data directory or the private (user) directory. I'll bet for some people, this is what happens, as when files are created/changed, the virus checker is probably trying to check them.

                              Regards,

                              Ira
                              Regards,

                              Ira J. Perlow
                              Computer Systems Design


                              CSDA A5 Products
                              New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
                              CSDA Barcode Functions

                              CSDA Code Utility
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                              Comment

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