report running slow

rbuser

I am using RB 6.2 with D5 and ADS 6.2. I have a report the customers are
complaining is taking a really long time to display. To go from one page of
the report to the next the customers are stating its taking from 15sec to
2.5 minutes. One is even stating as he goes through the report it takes
longer and longer with each page. I'm not really sure where to even begin
looking.

Any help is appreciated, Thanks in advance,
Rodger

digitalmetaphors

How is your data access configured? Are you using parameterized detail
queries? How many event handlers are part of this report? Is there a speed
issue on a simple table dump report with one dataset? Is there a slow
network connection to the Advantage server? Are you using DADE for data
access? If so, then this should be faster for linked datasets in comparison
to trying to parameterize detail queries. This is problably the cause. You
can link pipelines in RB Standard. Which version of RB are you using? You
should order the detail dataset by the master and have the detail dataset
return all detail records for all masters in the proper order. Then you can
set the two pipeline linking properties to tell the report engine that you
have prepared the detail dataset for a fast master detail configuration and
you won't have to use parameterized detail queries (which are slow).


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

I think you lost me.

I am running Master detail queries. They are parameterized queries. I am
running 6.2 waiting for my order for 7 to go through. I'm using a local
server on most customers machines. I'm not using DADE (at least not that
I'm aware of). Is there an example of linking the pipelines? I have a
before print event handler on the TppReport component and also one on the
OnPrint for the TppRichText component.

I think that was all the questions you asked.

Rodger

digitalmetaphors

Yes, the reason the report is slow is because every time the detail band of
the master report fires the event, it fires a detail query. The event can
fire multiple times when a page break occurs, thus slowing this down even
more by your code firing the same event more often than the record count
implies.

So, a solution is to fire one query which returns all details for all
masters. This is what we do in DADE and for almost all cases it is MUCH
faster than the Delphi way of linking datasets because there is only one
query to get the detail records. Basically, make sure the detail dataset is
ordered by the master, meaning you may have to join the master table to the
detail table in the detail dataset to be able to apply the appropriate ORDER
BY in the detail dataset.

Here is an example in which DADE was used to generate the SQL which is then
copied to two TQueries on a form for demo purposes. You don't need RB
Professional to run this demo, simply remove the da* units from the uses
clause that cause compile problems.
http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/MagicMasterDetail.zip


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

When I try to change the Database settings all I get for choices are ADO,
BDE, and IPX nothing for ADS. Am I doing this right?

thanks,
Rodger

rbuser

Well I figured out how to get the Advantage access installed. But now every
time I try to run the Query Wizard or Query Designer I get an error that
states I need to put in a connection string first. but I already put a
connection path into my TAdsConnection Component. Why am I still getting
this error?

thanks in advance,
Rodger

rbuser

Well I fixed the connection string problem by creating a Alias to my
database. but when I open the query wizard or designer it lists no tables.
What am I missing?

thanks in advance,
Rodger

digitalmetaphors

The advantage alias approach should work with the ADS DADE plugin. It works
for us here. Verify that the alias can be used to fire an ADS query at
runtime to get data to a simple dbGrid on a TForm. Set
Designer.AllowDataSettingsChange = true and check the settings at runtime to
be sure they are configured correctly while at rutime. Maybe it is getting
cleared out?


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Jim,

I managed to figure out what I was doing wrong and got the DADE pluging to
work properly.

When I run my report only 1 detail band gets displayed. I have been all
through this report and I'm just not finding it. According to my detail
TAdsQuery component its returning 1300+ records which is about right, but
only is displayed. Any thoughts or suggestions I can check?

Thanks in advance,
Rodger

rbuser

According to my detail TAdsQuery component its returning 1300+ records which
is about right, but
only one band is displayed.

digitalmetaphors

Make sure the report is connceted to the data. From the Report menu, there
should be a Data menu item that lets you select the dataview's pipeline from
a drop down. This is most likely the culprit.


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors