Tell Me: Griffo Info

I have a program I am trying to get ready for potential users to download and test. This is a program developed in Clarion For Windows (6.3). The testing database is a MS-SQL2005 system which is hosted on a shared server at discountasp.net and the server is located in Los Angeles. My users will most likely be located in Australia.

The problem I saw was the initial time it takes to make a connection to the remote database, and then a further delay with each Table I was opening. These turned out to be two separate issues.

Initial Connection:

The time taken to establish the initial connection was in the order of 20+ seconds. The connection was being attempted before the main APPFrame screen was being displayed. So expecting someone to start a program and wait 20+ seconds before the first screen response was not going to work. This lead me to build a separate “Starter” program with just one screen that received staged updates from the main program, and then once the AppFrame opened, the “Starter” program simply closed, or displayed any error applicable. The Starter program also had a Seconds Elapsed display and a notice that they may need to wait 20 seconds to connect to the database.

But why was this initial connection taking so long? I could fire up MS-Studio Express and connect in about 4 seconds. It was only the Clarion program that was very slow to connect. This I would research further and eventually solve. See below.

Slow File Opening:

The time taken to open a Browse/List screen was also slow. It was taking about 5 seconds per table to open. Again, this is just too slow. I solved this by adding the Driver switches /FASTCOLUMNFETCH = TRUE to most tables. That has helped. I also set the program to Keep Files Open and I opened a few of the larger tables (those with more columns, not rows).

Testing:

After spending several days fiddling with the various Driver switches, I was resigned to the fact that it would take 20+ seconds to connect. I started looking for another closed SQL server that would be hosted in Australia. Then, along came Christmas and I took some time off from the development computer. I was relaxing out-doors and just for kicks, decided to try running the program from a 10″ netbook with an Atom processor and on a local wireless network. I started up the program, which worked just fine, and got connected to my Los Angeles database server in about 4 seconds. Could not believe my eyes! Looked at the data and yes, this was indeed coming from the LA database. This little netbook had no database stuff loaded, no MS-SQL and had very few programs installed. Basically it had IE and Firefox for travelling.

So, back to the development PC which could not be 20 seconds slower than the netbook.

I tried several things… Stop all running MS-Servers, Stop a bunch of system services that were running (pretty much anything that looked like a network service). Still I could not get any faster connection from the PC.

Next I remembered someone on the Clarion Database forum had mentioned SQL Native Client. This certainly was not installed on the netbook. But it was on my PC. I had another notebook PC laying around that did have some SQL stuff installed. It was running MSSQL2005 database. I tried running my program on that notebook and it also would connect in 4 seconds. The laptop also had MS SQL Native Client installed, albeit an older version of SQLNCLI.dll. OK, after backing up my newer SQLNCLI.dll I copied the older one from the Laptop to my Development PC. Testing the program again I was still taking 20+ seconds to connect. Then I renamed the file SQLNCLI.dll (located in \windows\system32 ) and tried again. This time I finally managed to connect in about 4 seconds. I put the original SQLNCLI.dll back and connection time again went out to 20+ seconds.

So there was a problem with the SQLNCLI DLL that was causing the problem. I researched this in several places on the internet and found one other report of this problem. But there was no resolution there.

Next I went to Control Panel, and un-installed SQL Native Client. Now I was back to 4 second connect times. OK, Let’s put the Native Client back in. So I downloaded the latest MSSQL2005 version( which turned out to contain the exact same DLL that I was having problems with, and now I was able to connect in about 4 seconds each time the test program started.

MS SQL Native Client (or a related setting) had been the problem all along. By removing and re-installing I had solved the major connection problem. But I had wasted about 4 days getting to that stage! Oh well, that’s computing.

John Griffiths

It looks like we will have Clarion 7.1 released in the next two weeks. A new announcement has been posted here

I am looking forward to all its new features, from a programmers point of view.

And this should flow through to some happier users. There will be quite a lot of conversion and testing to do, but it should all be worthwhile.

John Griffiths

Well I tried…

I have had a hosting account at DreamHost for about a year and have finally given up on it.

They do not provide a CPanel interface to manage the hosted site, but a script based site manager of their own design.

I found it most un-intuitive and have closed my account there. I know that they think their site management scripting is the best thing since sliced-bread, but for me, I was spending too much time trying to find things I wanted.

Give me CPanel any day!

So I have moved the site that was with them to a new host I am trialling, that being RapidVPS.com At least now I get a CPanel to work with.

John Griffiths

Having lived most of my life in Australia, I first saw actual snow about 15 years ago on the Swiss Alps. But it was summer there at the time so I did not see snow falling, and had never seen it fall until last month. We were driving up Mt Rainier (just south of Seattle), and it started to snow as we drove higher.

This was a first for me, but Candace had seen it all before!

Hey! What is all that white stuff falling here?

John

We recently visited the Seattle and Port Angeles areas in Washington. There was some fabulous scenery. We also liked Seattle. It was a good time of year to be there (not too cold yet), and the leaves on the trees were just beginning to change colours.

After Seattle, we headed to Port Angeles where we caught up with friends Sue and Arnor shown here…

It was a cool day, and we had just been to the top of a nearby mountain. In this photo, you can see a glacier in the centre of the photo. This photo was taken up at about 5200 feet in the Mt Olympia National Park.

We also visited the Boeing plant just north of Seattle. It was a great tour. Managed to see a few of the new DreamLiner 787s on the factory floor.

We recently returned from LAX to Sydney an a new Qantas A380. This was a good experience and the very large plane was great to travel on. It was perhaps quieter than the usual Boeing B747 we usually travel on when taking this route.

We were in Cattle-class and the seating was (or seemed to be) a little more spacious than the B747.

See my notes at my test Joomla site for more.

John

Being an Aussie, I grew up on Vegemite. I have been in the USA for the past six months and whilst I was away, Kraft introduced a new version of Vegemite.

Well, upon my return, I just had to try out the new product.

To me, this “new” product is nothing other than a marketing ploy to reduce production costs and thereby increase profits. CheesyBite is said to be a blend of Cream Cheese and “REAL” Vegemite. Cream Cheese is obviously cheaper to produce than Vegemite, so why not use it to dilute the original product? Similar to “New Coke” from a few years ago where Coke tried to substitute real sugar in the drink with Corn Syrup.

The new CheesyBite simply has NO bite. I get no more taste on my SAO Crackers than I do from regular Peanut Butter. Very disappointed!

I hope that the original product continues to be available. I know I have trouble finding it in Texas.

The new CheesyBite score:- 2/10 Sorry Kraft, you really need to try something else.

JohnG

After seeing Carbonite mentioned on a newsgroup, I thought I would try it. They offer a 15 day free trial. And then US$55 per year to store unlimited backup files on their servers.

I selected a few folders and let it rip. Took about 4 hours to upload my selected folders.

Then it was SUPPOSED to upload any altered files “soon” after they were altered. I had several files that were not uploaded again more that 24 hours later. This is not what they said in their spiel. It says the files will be uploaded whenever the running service detects in-activity on the PC. Well, I left it in-active for a couple of hours and still no upload.

Actually, here is what they say on their site:

When your computer is idle, Carbonite automatically backs up new and changed files. You don’t have to do anything! When you’re using your computer, Carbonite goes to sleep so it will never slow down your computer or internet connection.

I would be loathe to try it again. It is just not for me. But it may well suit someone whose files are not altered too often. If you think you may like it, go ahead. But check that your files are actually being uploaded once changed. The initial upload went very well, but not the uploads about a week into the trial.
I give it a rating of 2 out of five

John Griffiths

UPDATE: 20091005

Chasing down the problem where a changed file is not backed up automatically as advertised by Carbonite, I have found this in their FAQ area…

When Carbonite detects that a file has been modified, it checks to make sure that the file has remained unchanged for 10 minutes before the file is made eligible for backup. (By default, a modified file is backed up only once every 24 hours so that you’ll have the opportunity to restore the previous version if necessary.)

That would be why then! Carbonite goes on to say that i can manually right-click the file and select to force it to “Backup as soon as possible”. That sure conflicts with their sales pitch shown above, where they say:-

When your computer is idle, Carbonite automatically backs up new and changed files. You don’t have to do anything!

So it is not very suitable for situations where an important file (or group of files) are NOT automatically backed up!