Report explorer taking an hour to open

rbuser

Greetings,

I have a few customers that have called me telling me that their report
explorer takes over an hour to open. I've had them delete all of their
reports and it still does it. I've had them send me their rb*.* data files
and it opens immediately on my machine. Further, they tell me if they run
another report that is NOT part of the end user report writer before trying
to activate the report explorer, it comes up right away. I am using almost
the same code as the demo app and I'm using the same rb tables.

I don't have enough of an understanding of what is happening when the report
explorer loads to know why this intermittent problem can arrise. I'd like
to put in some preventative code to fix this since I can't duplicate it on
my system.

I am using Delphi 5, RB 6.03 Enterprise, Advantage 6.11. The end-user
solution is right out of the demo application. Here is the code on the
button that activates the end-user module:

procedure TfrmReports.ExplorerButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
if not(DataModule1.ppReportExplorer1.Execute) then
begin
ShowMessage( 'Error: ' + DataModule1.ppReportExplorer1.ErrorMessage);
MessageBeep(0);
end;
end;

Thanks for any help and expertise,
Brian Clevenger

rbuser

Hi Brian,

I'm pretty sure that's not a Reportbuilder issue.
First I recommend Advantage 6.2. Are you using ADS or ALS?
The strange thing is the fast opening of your predefined datamodules.
Since when do your users recognize the slow opening?

regards,
CHris Ueberall;

digitalmetaphors

What is their native access times for queries on their database from these
same machines? How about creating a test app that runs two queries to
retrieve the rbFolder and rbItem datasets. Place them in a DBGrid. You could
measure the time it takes to run each one.

Remove the data dictionary data access components as a test. Perhaps those
are really really really large?

When the report explorer loads, it opens the datasets on the form. Then it
creates a tree view and a list view. Not much going on there. If the printer
driver is being initialized by RB, then they should make sure that they have
the latest printer driver installed, thi shsould only take a few seconds
anyway. Advantage should be fast, but it will be limited on thier network
based on the network traffic and speed of thier connections. In the past, we
have had Advantage running on a 180 mhz machine for testing, and across the
network it really performed quite well given the hardware limitiation.

1. Test without RB components involved, just query the folder and item
datasets in simple test project.

2. Disconnect the data dictionary and retest.

3. Use data dictionary and rebuild data dictionary entries and retest.

Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Thanks Jim,

I'll try these things. I'll have to create these and get them to the
customers since I can't duplicate it on my system. Their native access
times are 2-4 seconds. I am really puzzled why running a standard report
before opening the end-user explorer would make it open instantly?

Thanks for your outline of what is happening when the explorer loads. I'll
start testing.

Brian

rbuser

Thanks Chris,

I'm using both ALS and ADS in different sites. I have 6.2 but I need to
open a beta with it since some of the locates and sql syntax is more rigid.
I'll be upgrading the sites to 6.2 in January.

The slow opening started with a version update of the program that I sent
out. I didn't change anything in the end-user area. I added a few new
tables and more code but that's about it.

I'm going to try to get a copy of the customer's system and duplicte the
behavior.

Thank you for your help,
Brian