Caching Preview - Some Questions
Hello,
I have some simple questions regarding using the Caching feature of the
ppReport object.
In the past I have used Quick Reports (no comments please) - and it
would seem that the Cache pages feature turned to true is the same as
their default print preview. By this I mean that all pages seem to be
held in Memory and the user can move up and down through them. I
greatly prefer the the RB way of doing it.
1. I take it that all the memory from the caching is cleared after you
print and close the preview? Basically I am asking if there are any
known memory leaks.
2. I use JIT Pipelines and I notice that for my reports - when Caching
is turned Off - when a user moves forward in the preview it looks fine -
but when they try to go backwards it generates the next page. And if I
continue to hit the forward/back buttons - it will just generate a emtpy
page. I think I understand why this is happening. My JIT pipelines are
getting data from in memory objects that are more tree like than like DB
tables - thus there really is no previous capability in these objects...
In this type of situation - it would seem to be a good idea to have
caching turned on? Thoughts?
3. Can you disable the Back button in the Print Preview? That way I
could prevent the user from being able to go to preivous when caching is
turned off. I realize that I could write my own Preview form - but it
seems like a lot of work for just disabling a button - when the current
print preview seems to work very well for me and my users.
4. How much memory does the Print Preview really use up? (Not looking
for exact figures here ) I was able to print preview 1000+ page
reports using Quick Reports (although very slow). Can anyone see a
problem doing this with RB with caching turned on? (They are not
complicated reports).
Thank you for any responses!!
Bradley MacDonald
bradley_AT_telus_DOT_net
I have some simple questions regarding using the Caching feature of the
ppReport object.
In the past I have used Quick Reports (no comments please) - and it
would seem that the Cache pages feature turned to true is the same as
their default print preview. By this I mean that all pages seem to be
held in Memory and the user can move up and down through them. I
greatly prefer the the RB way of doing it.
1. I take it that all the memory from the caching is cleared after you
print and close the preview? Basically I am asking if there are any
known memory leaks.
2. I use JIT Pipelines and I notice that for my reports - when Caching
is turned Off - when a user moves forward in the preview it looks fine -
but when they try to go backwards it generates the next page. And if I
continue to hit the forward/back buttons - it will just generate a emtpy
page. I think I understand why this is happening. My JIT pipelines are
getting data from in memory objects that are more tree like than like DB
tables - thus there really is no previous capability in these objects...
In this type of situation - it would seem to be a good idea to have
caching turned on? Thoughts?
3. Can you disable the Back button in the Print Preview? That way I
could prevent the user from being able to go to preivous when caching is
turned off. I realize that I could write my own Preview form - but it
seems like a lot of work for just disabling a button - when the current
print preview seems to work very well for me and my users.
4. How much memory does the Print Preview really use up? (Not looking
for exact figures here ) I was able to print preview 1000+ page
reports using Quick Reports (although very slow). Can anyone see a
problem doing this with RB with caching turned on? (They are not
complicated reports).
Thank you for any responses!!
Bradley MacDonald
bradley_AT_telus_DOT_net
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
1. ReportBuilder is thouroughly tested for memory and resource leaks by us
here at Digital Metaphors and by our users. There are no know memory leaks
with regard to the CachePages property.
2. Depending on where you get your data, the JIPPipeline is meant to
traverse data in only one direction. There is a bookmark feature that
allows you to move backward through the dataset but this would not be ideal
for your situation as you have a very large report. You are absolutely
right... in this situation, having the CachePages turned on is a good idea,
keeping in mind that you will be caching the report pages in memory so if
you have a 1M image on each page, you will run out of memory very quickly.
3. It is possible to customize the Preview form by creating a Preview
Plugin and registering it with ReportBuilder. Doing this is very quick and
easy (so easy that I went ahead and coded it for you). You can download the
example by following the link below.
http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/FirstPriorButtonsDisabled.zip
4. The preview is designed to use only the memory it needs to display the
current page you are viewing (unless CachePages is set to True). The
preview is essentially a bitmap representation of the components you placed
on the report in the Report Designer. If you're report is mainly made up of
text and lines/shapes, you should not have to worry about memory/speed
issues when previewing or printing your report.
--
Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com
An incredible response!! Thank you very much. You answered all my
questions and then some
Bradley MacDonald
bradley_AT_telus_DOT_net
In article <3f6738b8$1@dm500.>, "Nico Cizik \(Digital Metaphors\)"