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Summary fields: Summary fields in list views are one of the main reasons for poor performance in many FileMaker applications. Often we enter a list view layout in which we want to show several hundred or thousands of records and we get a tiresome message saying “Calculating [x quantity] records …” and we simply have to wait for these calculations to be executed.

Solution: Evaluate if field is needed on this particular layout. Apply hide conditions so this summary field only show in specifics scenarios and certain foundcounts.

Calculation fields: This type of field is also more often used in the list views. The typical presentation that shows a list of invoices with valued sums (tax base, VAT amount, total invoice …), as was the case with the previous example, this type of field can be a cause for despair, especially if you display this field on layouts which are heavily used?.

Solution: try storing this kind of data in index/stored fields. This might imply some scripting routines which perform heavy calculations server side on certain intervals.

SQL executions: SQL functions in FileMaker can help to obtain information without having to resort to complex table relationships or obtaining data through a more elaborate script, but sometimes the execution of SQL itself on calculated fields can reach cause slowness. Wim Decorte from Soliant Consulting wrote a clear summary of the pro’s and con’s which you can read here.

Solution: Use SQL sparingly. Or perform server side with routines/server side scripts.

Multiple windows in script execution: Sometimes we need to execute a script that opens several windows with different data tables and also all of this put in a loop that repeatedly opens or closes these windows or jumps from one to another. Every time that process is carried out within the loop, upon reaching the active window, the content in records and the type of fields it shows can be a determining factor that causes a slowness in the execution of any request that we make to our application.

Solution: Try to perform this script on the server instead of the client.

There are solutions to all of these problems that take your FileMaker application from being a huge, tired, dragging elephant to an agile, powerful, effective and user-friendly tool.

Still struggling with optimising your solutions performance?

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Fill in the below form and and one of our experienced consultants will contact you to discuss together what the best approach to optimising these issues are. Without any commitments.